#mahotas

Sunday was quiet. We drove up in the rain not really expecting much but when we got there the weather had calmed down and we suddenly saw Mahotas, normally dusty and yellow transformed by the rain into a deep green and bright orange from the wet vegetation and soil. 

Walking down the silent streets documenting walls we ran into Enoch Joao, the owner of the cement block casting workshop we'd met the day before. After the normal exchanges of "tudo bem" and so on Enoch invited us to see his mother's home where we were greeted by 2 litters of piglets in the 3 sties to the side of the house.

The day went by quite lazily after that since it was really a day for photographing rather than interviewing.  The only other surprising discovery after meeting Enoch, was the thatch dance hall which a builder kindly showed us around and the machambas (mozambican portuguese for 'allotments') around the area (above is a photo of the cashew nut machamba were the land had been scorched).

Mahotas is a quiet place but there's a quiet excitement going on. 

Effectively a suburb, the pace of life is slow and since we come in the daytime most people are at work. However, in the streets we find odd mounds of rubble and sand, and behind open gates we are constantly met by piles of cement blocks; these are first sign of the area's obsession with building which has now become our study.

We begin talking to people and find that everyone we meet in Mahotas is in fact building, whether it's welding, plastering, carpentry or block casting. It is everywhere, and it's most easily found and understood when talking with the people.

Since our first trip to Mahotas we've been able to begin filming workers and builders in the area to build almost 'portraits' of constructional professions here. Our method is pretty simple (bordering on casual). We simply drive around the bairro searching for building work, then stop the car and introduce ourselves. From here we explain that we are conducting an architectural study and ask for permission to film. If the person says no we simply interview and ask to photograph the items. It's been very enjoyable and is probably my favorite part of the project at the minute. Builders in Mahotas are quite happy to take us through the work despite the fact that as my family members inform me, almost every Mozambican is familiar with them. 

This is the beauty of the relationship between constructing and designing here, it is accessible to everyone. This is no more evident than in the high street of Mahotas. 

Your typical high street; mahotas's is filled with barbers, green grocers and a large amount of clothes and shoe vendors. Almost as abundant however, are the carpenters, block sellers, and building equipment shops which also pop up in the rest of the bairro. 

Building in Mahotas is something you engage with on a day to day basis.People here pass their own and their neighbors building sites every day for the majority of their lives as they enter and leave their houses for work. What's more is that everyone is constantly designing and part of the process. It is like a world of architect's.

I have so much more the say on this but I think it is too much for this blog and needs some more development. Also sushi is waiting. 

Fica Bem!

Also the photo above is of a pile of thatch for a new events hall (not night club as I just poorly attempted to translate) and not a house like the majority of building work here. One thing we've found here is that thatch has suddenly become fashionable for public buildings whereas the majority of houses use aluminium.