This book was created from an artistic residency that Gabriela Noujaim carried out in June 2023 at RAMA — Residências Artísticas da Maceira e Alfeiria. RAMA is a project aimed at national and international artists, researchers and curators, operating in the villages of Maceira and Alfeiria, with the support of Torres Vedras City Council, whose purpose is to promote interaction between professionals and the crossing of artistic practices, the sharing of experiences and knowledge, and the relationship between creators and the local community and territory, the culture, crafts and traditional knowledge, history and landscape of the region.

From this residency Gabriela Noujaim has created a series of works — photographs, installations, and audio — in which she explores some of the themes she has been developing in her work, such as female ancestral heritage and the sacred feminine and the cultures of indigenous Brazilians. In the artist’s words, “Da terra à fonte is a poetic reflection on the relationship between humans, nature and the essential elements of life”.

The book is presented by Gabriela Noujaim, followed by a talk with the artist Paulo Brighenti and Ana Anacleto, coordinator, and curator of RAMA, about the Brazilian artist’s presence at the residency, the work and research process she carried out there, as well as the way she related to the community, the shamans of the villages in the region and the indigenous villages in Rio de Janeiro.

Gabriela Noujaim is one of the artists represented in the Art Library’s collection of artist’s books and independent editions.