Zerri: She’s a such a peacock. She wants to be the centre of attention. How else will she get people to follow her lead, accept her morality, learn about  THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP! And even ignoring her motivations for being the centre of attention, she’s drawing eyes to her. She’s a... dramatic person? In the sense that the way she expresses herself is very hammy/scenery chewing. (It’s also got to do with her backstory. She had to stand out to get any attention. And then, she had to stand out to join a Kabal and get her meal ticket.)

Makili: She doesn’t want to be invisible, but she doesn’t try to stand out. Partially because she is a vigilante, and you don’t want to be recongisable as a vigilante. And also because she doesn’t care if she’s noticed. She wants things to be fixed, she doesn’t want credit.

Sadly, I left Timor about a two months ago; I’ve since been in Denmark, making a large site-specific work, Skin to Skin, for the Wadden Tide Festival 2016, Fire Island National Seashore, New York, as an Artist-in-Residence, and I am now writing from Art Farm, Nebraska, where I’ll be an Artist-in-Residence until the beginning of November. Finally, I’ll be catching up in the next few posts with some photos from my last couple incredible weeks in Ataúro...

This post offers a few more glimpses of Makili, bookending July 3rd, the Fishermens’ or St. Peter’s Festival and August 8th, a few days before I left Ataúro, when Manas Adina and Igitza invited me to Makili to see the hot springs and take family pictures. 

The Fishermen Festival in Makili begins with new boats being dragged down off the mountain (where they are made) to the sea, and the second half of the day is devoted to a mass and the celebration of St. Peter (patron saint of fishermen). Unfortunately, I missed the first half of the festival because, as I was making my way out of Vila in the morning (no doubt looking confused), a nun kindly asked if I was going to Makili; she advised that the Festival doesn’t begin until 2pm and that I could get a ride in the church truck. The option of getting a ride was very appealing, so I agreed and went back to Manu Koko-Rek to wait, but -doh!- the celebration of the boats was in the morning... Note: never trust a nun to point you toward the pagan half of a festival. (Please see excellent footage of the celebration of the boats included in this short film, ExperimentAtaúro, by David Palazón).

Nevertheless, the day turned out special and unique (as days in Timor do) despite my late arrival. It’s a long story, but I ended up walking over with Mana Erminya and friends and, since it was high tide, we took a new (to me) trail (literally) straight up and over the mountain providing exceptional views of the village of Makili down below.

Once we arrived in Makili, we had lunch in the home of Mana Adina (Mana Erminya’s cousin and my good friend from Manu Koko-Rek), then headed to the catholic festivities. A large stage was set up around the permanent statue of St. Peter that graces the village’s shore access (isn’t the scope of Rome astounding!?) Upon completion of the long ceremony, we jostled for space in the back of the military truck heading back to Vila. It was a hurried, abrasive ride on the rough roads as we raced the falling darkness, but the most violent bumps were met by laughter and eye contact through shared grimaces.