There are a lot of people who don't know me and may think I'm a privileged boy, none of that, we came from great battles ”- Capela

Poetic photography with Féling Capela. This text intends to translate parts of the conversation with the poet, activist, photojournalist, Féling Capela, moderated by Jeconias Mocumbe, which took place in the WhatsApp group of the Tindzila Project with the following theme: poetic photography.

Capela Biography Due to the length of our guest's biography, in an unsuccessful attempt to summarize it, we find that Féling Capela is one of the most important voices of today in Mozambique, who has carried out various artistic works, photo reporter, poet, social activist and coordinator of several projects artistic events, such as the “Noites de Poesia” project, which promotes about 10 years, being the largest and oldest art soiree in Mozambique with approximately 16 years of existence, in 2019 it held the first INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, POESTAS D 'ALMA with the participation of artists from more than 20 countries and is also Cultural Manager of the Centro Cultural Mozambique-Germany (CCMA).

Capela worked on cultural projects such as “Power In The Voice” promoted by the British consulate in Mozambique and “Eu Gramo de Ser Mozambicano”, from the Foundation for Community Development (FDC). The poet traveled and represented Mozambique in several international festivals and countries, notably, Kwani Litfest -Narobi, Poetry Africa-Durba, II International Conference on African Cultures - Cairo, Festival on the Margin - São Paulo and among others, therefore, from different countries in which he passed, he also highlights his passage through Berlin, Madagascar, Linz, Kampala, Dar es-Salam, Mumbai, Bengaloure. ………….

In order to start the conversation, Capela let out his recitation with the ingenuity and professionalism that is characteristic of him, however, we will not do the full transcription of the composition and audios, since we are facing a synthesis of the conversation and we hope to transmit the essential notes, for the record, below the excerpt of the recited poem: 

My well-felt poems do not lie / my poems have bombs / bombs of the consecration of peace and love / my poems of pain / pain from a Bantu elderly woman who was robbed of her fatherhood by the supposed globalization /… globalization, globalization / my poems are humanist / no are racist / my poems exclude the selfish / (...) / my poems cry Africa / my poems are dreams in the factory / factory of life / my poems are life ... / my poems is a life / future of the dreams / Africa / Ubuntu / onwards. - Capela

To continue the conversation, Capela, also known as poet of the diaphragm, preferred to focus on the practice of his work, on what he has been exercising as an artist, as a social activist and as a thief of souls (Capela's own name from his records photographic). The poet of Diafragma, an expression that associates him with the poetics that is transmitted from his photographs, begins in photography even because of his life history.

When he was young, after the death of his father in 1992, at the age of 11, as he told us, he wanted luck or fate, to put him before Craveirinha's poems, in a moment of consternation and a lot of depression. He was also fortunate to be in front of a book that greatly incited his writing, entitled The Papillon by Henri Charrière, an autobiographical novel, with Henri being sentenced to life in prison for a murder he did not commit, he was one of the few to flee the island do Diabo, a prison located in the impenetrable forest of French Guiana where prisoners paid for their crimes, suffering degradation and brutalities. Henri aroused deep emotions in Capela and it was also through him that he was motivated to face the world in a more open and confident way, now let's see: “it brought me the light for being a book that gives people hope. After reading this work, I started writing a lot of personal poems. Some say that, we actually write what we read. You build yourself as a writer, as a poet, after reading something, despite, or better, I am very aware that all of us, Africans, Mozambicans, in particular, here, people come from orality, we do not want to devalue that oral thought, but this writing thing for us is new, in quotes. ”

Capela shares with certain tenderness the different moments of its artistic history. I wrote a lot and fell in love with it, so he sentenced. On the other hand, he let us know that before, in the flower of his adolescence, he had already had strong contact with music and that it had resulted in the recording of some songs, alongside his friend BHAKA and was also part of a musical group called Big Bang. He let us retain, on the other hand, the following, being in the artistic scene comes from afar and, it was from there that through the Hip-Hop movement I met a friend named Amarildo Valeriano, and who is currently in Italy ... “The part of the statement came to me,” said Féling Capela. About the path he took on the declamation, he highlights that, he started very young in the organization of artistic events in Gil Vicente and having continued to write, he met Amarildo as time went by, and the part of the declamation came to him. He recalled with some nostalgia, when Amarildo had invited him to be part of a group of young people who would pay tribute to the mother of Mozambican poetics, Noémia de Sousa, at the time, I think it was in 2005/6 and 2008, years passed, made in college of medicine by a collective of poets among them, Tânia Tomé, Pedro Mbate, who today has his publisher and a resilience festival, Leo Nhavoto, Arsenio Macaliche, Sanducha, Gérson among others, said and added, we organized these sessions, ... I confess that afterwards, I never stopped ... He told us about Poetas d’alma. Who are? How do they arise? And what do they aim for? Capela as an event organizer and reciter, he had recited a lot at soirees, not only at government events, in government speeches, alongside Amarildo and at zero cost: “The staff loved to recite and that is why, if you look at the name of our movement that is now World, Poetas d'alma, conveys this, because we, put art and soul always in front of anything… our base starts there, so my relationship with poetry was born there and me, was always in the cultural life of the city of Maputo. He was active in all cultural events ... long before he even entered Eduardo Mondlane University, he took part in the courses and literature circles that took place, and which still take place at Instituto Camões at the end of the year in partnership with the Eduardo Mondlane University. I attended so many courses there and that came to solidify the literary part more. He confessed.

Poets are vagabonds, he decreed. From his professional career, a note that is worth recording, about the point of this having boosted his career as a photographer, as Amarildo and he were looking for a job, poetry was not giving them money to live on. with dignity, however, in an exhibition in the Mozambican Franco, Ricardo Rangel, Malangatana, there for the year 2007, was also Roberto Chichoro, a great plastic artist who lives in Portugal and it was precisely in his exhibition that Capela appeared with a digital camera although he worked and had worked on a project related to poetry called Poder na Voz of the British consulate, in fact, it was his first job, where he worked with Mr. Arsen, Simba, Ivete and others, a collective of 10 artists selected in Mozambique with the function of going to schools in order to form groups and teach them to recite, giving them techniques to later compete among them, and it was thanks to this project that she got to know Énia Lipanga, by the way, her student at the time, as she confessed to being fortunate to see her grow up, nowadays, one of the great social activists of this pearl of the Indian Ocean, she is not just any artist, she is a person that we must respect a lot for her activism, however, that in poetry, in literature, in the arts is the most important, the professional quality of Capela's photography was called into question by Rangel as we will tell below, so as not to lengthen this long paragraph further. Returning to the main storyline of the paragraph above, at the same exhibition event at Franco Mozambican, when I saw Ricardo Rangel, he was taking some pictures with his digital camera and boldly took a picture of Ricardo, and he turned around with the looking at Capela, proud of the kick, Capela went to Rangel very happy to show the photo, however, Rangel directed the vision to the photograph and said, wau, this is out of place, blurred, everything des, denegative [sic] ..., and looked at Capela again and expressed, but you feel like it, look for me there at the photography school and show up there, then we talk

When looking for Ricardo at the photography school, he was told that he had to register to take an exam, it was an exam on general culture, as he confessed, and in the end, he managed to enter the course. He took the intensive course and when he finished, Ricardo asked him if he wanted to go to Notícias. At the time, Capela was the youngest intern to join Jornal Notícias, as he said in his statements, I can say with my mouth full that I was the first young man to join the newsroom of Jornal Notícias, which was extremely difficult. It was written by his voice, in a tonic tone that: .. there are many people who do not know me and may think that I am a privileged boy, nothing like that, we came from great battles ... In the previous paragraphs we find a radiograph of Capela's professional, artistic, personal path and as a motivating trigger for what he has done, whether in cultural and social life, this time, the conversation gained even more shrewdness in sharing controversies, experiences and expectations of the path of our speaker as can be seen below: Regarding poetic photography, considered by some to be a diaphragm poet, Capela believes that it is so seen because his photography is covered with poetry, has poetry, and when showing some images of his work as a photographer, Capela went on to state that poetic function, poetry, it has this characteristic due to the concern with the form of the speech, how we transmit the message and this function, it is really emotional and people confuse it with emotions, so this poetics and photography, for me, is the ability that the photographer or other work has to move viewers, readers and people who will see the work or appreciate it ...

Poets are antennas of society, says Capela.

 In general, Capela admits that poets are antennas of society, they capture the elements, they often translate frontally, but as we know, we are in a country, in particular, in Mozambique, there is a lot of dictatorship, there is a death squad and a lot of things limiting, then, artists reinvent themselves. Poets have this ability to fetch, capture, from society, he said. For his part, Capela is a young man who identifies himself very much with the Ubuntu philosophy, African union, of the blacks, of the people, so he has the belief that no one is white or black inside, I believe that, the sun shines for everyone… if you cut white and black, everyone will spill blood, of course the blacks were lucky to have more melanin… A young man, a collector of revolutionary philosophies, a staunch fighter for African integrity and freedoms, but who is Capela in the artistic landscape? Capela has a voice that sounds piercing between the drums of Pan-Africanism, a fighter for African freedoms and integration, as is self-judged. And also, it is part of you as a social being, the philosophy of union, of the integrity of the black and black peoples, we are being trampled on all the time, slavery happened more than 500 years ago, our continent came and plundered and today, the black people continue to genocide [sic], and these issues worry me, he said.

As for the local problems, he refuses to be an ally of corruption, of the banditry practiced by or in the name of the Government, of the murders and sees himself as a militant against these things that take away the integrity of the people, humiliate the people. Poutingly recalls the blood that irrigated the fields, blood of our ancestors, of our parents who fought to liberate the continent, and today, it is humiliating to see, in his opinion, the liberators of the homeland being the ones who are generally “ Fuck ”the motherland, excuse the expression, but I don't like that as a young man because I have daughters and I would like my daughters to grow up in a healthy country and it all depends on us, the West has its eyes on our oil, on our diamond , in our workforce because it is the cheapest there is 

.. From photography to denunciation Capela's photography is interactive. Her poetics lies in social intervention, but also provocative. It provokes government officials, the idea is basically this provocation, to call attention to something change, said in your voice. He recalls that he took some photographs in times gone by, probably 07 to 08 years old, about street children, a 6-month report that aimed to make a complaint and show the reality that our leaders did not know. Looking at the city of Maputo today, there are more than 500 children in search of survival and most of them, probably from Gaza and Inhambane, who come to work as slaves, we all saw it, artists, society, the government and nobody acts… they sell eggs, chips, around the city so that in the end they receive 1000 meticais monthly, and it is in this same money that they have to send a part to their parents in Gaza or Inhambane. This is happening and we pretend that we are not seeing. First, this is child exploitation and we normalize the thing.

In this context, Capela made this report that appeared in Jornal Domingo, after much censorship in Jornal Notícias and thanks to a great friend of his, a godfather, brother and master Belmiro Adamugy as he considers him, and this, helped him to publish this report associated with a text by Adamugy portraying these photographs, they went on two pages (…) this same material was commented on a lot, there were many social activists who wanted to help the children… they invited me to do an interview on TVM, they really did volunteers, there are very good people in the country, people who can change our social condition through kindness, they can change a lot… and these people organized themselves… they gave the children a bid, on a winter night at Gil Vicente, where I started organizing my events, there were around 19, 20 until 9 pm and about 80 to 100 street children were present. Exposure of images 

NB: In relation to photographs, credits must be given to the author. 

First image. By Capela

“… On the first image, this child is sleeping, it was around 3 or 4 am in the winter, so much so that, in this other photo, you have a child, I made a report with a friend named Albino Moisés that God has him, a great master brother. Miss you! He left recently, we are also going to meet, sooner or later, come on! We went to do a job and we called the neighbors of Guebas because this child is cold, at Christmas time he is wearing a Santa Claus hat and he is right next to the red tip, which is why you come down there sea, the channel, the coast of Katembe, however, look for poetics there and write poems talking about these photos if you want, there is a work being done at this moment and I have a launch project. I never released my book that will come out with poetry and photos. I often look at my works and say: wau, I'm not ready yet…

“There is a camouflaged reality” 

Capela’s Photo - “This is me, the narcissist, but I'll explain why… 

By Capela

- “The fight continues, I take inspiration from this boy, this photo was taken in Caia…, it was 08 years ago or 09 years ago, no, or 10 years ago in Macomia, Caia, we were in a period of floods, I arrived from helicopter, I worked with images, we traveled and such, to do jobs, when we arrived by helicopter the children had nothing to wear, they had no clothes, it was the first time that I left the city of Maputo for the district community, I remember that I was still an intern at Notícias when I took this photo, so I saw the pale children, I saw people with broken skin. There is a camouflaged reality here that you don't see when you live in the city of Maputo, city, suburb is the same, people, many people have no idea, I know that there are people who know that there is poverty, but this country is immense, it is vast and there is a lot of poverty here… ” Capela also said that this thing about being a diaphragm poet, we are inspired by our leaders and, Samora Machel is the leader, he is the figure who wanted him to be alive at this moment, he wanted more disciples, more followers for this country go ahead with dignity. 

by Capela 

- “create your lessons in this photo! Look in the boy's eyes and do your poetry, a poem is not justified, however, poets are the antennae of society. ” Capela 

by Capela

 “This photo in particular is very shocking, I have several of them, there was a time when the level of domestic violence was high here in Maputo and Gaza.”

Capela worked as a reporter, and they went on one of these days, to make a report in an area called 3 de Fevereiro, when they arrived there, they encounter the lady in the photo who had been beaten by her own son because she had not cooked for her son, however, the son had a woman and she lived in the lady's house, that is, our mothers take care of us and we rape them, so it is not okay Men, brothers, we are not going to rape our mothers ... but I prefer to leave the photos open for you to learn your lessons… ”He said as a way to excite the imagination of the participants that opened up to the fluorescence of his work and then proceeded with some shares that can be seen below. 

By Capela 

“these are the portraits of urban living, Maputo, as rotten as it is.” Sentenced

by Capela

- “And what is most disturbing is the ability that we often have to pass through the street and remain indifferent as if this were normal and we fight for freedom, however, we oppress others, we continue to oppress others… there are people that we treat as non-people [sic], but that she is also people… ” 

By Capela

- “… the boys, the adults of this country want to be free like this boy who runs on tires…” –Capela

***

Within his device as a poet and declaimer, Capela again shared a declamation of his own authorship entitled Senhor opressor and translated into full text we have: Lord oppressor / you took away the light of the smile / you took away the voice of judgment / and you took away the possibility of dreaming / you took away my life / Yes, sir oppressor / you crucified me today, yesterday, but not tomorrow! . -Féling Chapela

In the interactions, the questions posed to our speaker are recorded in some, being: ... is your voice heard? Do you feel you can reach the target with these reports? About the placement, Capela shared that his work does arrive, so much so that he believes he was one of the first, if not the first Mozambican to publish photographs in the largest newspaper in the world New York Times. It means that this same material transcends local borders, gets out there and causes changes in some way… I remember that after publishing the photographs in the New York Times, bodies like CNN international invited me, they came to Mozambique to make a documentary about my life. After that, Nacional Geograph came, hired me to work with them on a project in Zambézia that was the Director of Photography and also the interviewer because he worked with scripts, it was an intense job, but other than that, I already had very big interviews on the BBC… He added, I think the message does arrive! Right now I'm hibernating, I'm calmer! … I haven't been active in photography for about 4 years, but I don't know how you guys discovered me, I don't give interviews anymore, I don't show up, I don't like to show my face, I'm hibernating, but of course when things are released, will happen here at home (laughs) ... What about the question Do you think there is a perfect marriage between photography and poem? Capela replied, obviously, for him, good photography is one that manages to bring poetry into the image. Photography is art. It is necessary to look at photography as art.

Question: Master, I would like to know your critical thinking regarding the future of our arts in general, taking into account, for example, the context of the city of Maputo where cultural events take place mostly in private houses as cultural centers in some countries with diplomatic representation in Mozambique. How do artists manage to produce according to national objectives taking into account this reality? Capela, sees himself as a person who wants to deconstruct a little, wants to change the history, the contours and intends to work on this in the future. Works and integrates as a poet in the group Poetas d'alma and with the collective Poetas d'alma, last year they held the 1st edition of the international festival of poetry and performing arts that took place in Mozambique, I say with my mouth full that we organize the biggest event literary in the country that had about 20 countries… the event took place for 03 days, and this event has been happening since the days of ICMA for those who know the history of urban poetry, marginal poetry, poetry of the masses , the staff was always Underground, it gave youth space to recite informally… the important thing about poetry nights at ICMA, you didn't have a defined social status… a space that created possibilities for new readers… As final remarks Capela said that we should take the time to reflect on the situation of Cabo Delegado, Cabo Delegado is part of Mozambique and there are Mozambicans who are dying there and many of our family members, I am from Namapa, there on the Lúrio River, the last district of Nampula that bridges Cabo Delgado, so I have family members who are there, in Mozambique. Let's think about the country, the country is ours, the fight continues. Stay safe. Read a lot and change history, make history too.

Written by Jeconias Mocumbe and translated by Edna Isabel Chadreque