Corpo-de-obra // Body-of-work

This work follows the life stories of four people who have moved to Trancoso, Bahia, Brazil, in search of a better life. At times, their voices tell similar stories; at others, they deviate, creating breaks in meaning. What emerges is a movement between past, present, and future aspirations, with each person situating themselves as they wish.

It is about the grit of making a life, of moving through its motions, and the varying realities of everyday life for physical labourers in the extreme south of Bahia. And yet it becomes larger, as this polyphony of voices reveals broader questions of childhood, struggle, and fantastical aspirations that remain deeply grounded in everyday life.

Set in the town where I grew up, and where I at times do not feel I belong, the work is also a journey to understand change as homemaking, and the unmaking of what one once considered home as the possibility of new futures. It creates a break in narratives of development and luxury, questioning what they cost and what they make possible.

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By Penelope Corinaldesi
Cast: Alef, Edileidy, Gil, Valteir, Wallas.

Special thanks to Venturella Torretta, Brandon St. Catherine, Paolo Corinaldesi, Ali Haddad, Tiana Hsu, Sophie Klampferer, Asili Taylor Muhammad, Roz Mortimer and Andrea Zimmerman.