The series of apparently candid portraits aims to problematize the relationship between the demining profession and the Sapadoras’ personal lives in contrast to the images produced by the mainstream media where women appear in uniform, with boots, bulletproof coats and a smile behind their visors. or in the family environment where they are represented as providers who have no other option than to sacrifice themselves for the family.

I was moved by the important life-saving task of demining and the stories of courage, but I was also moved by the personal problems they face directly or indirectly linked to their work in the minefields of eastern Angola.

I have been meeting the Sapadoras in the areas where they live with the aim of producing images in places that are familiar to them and where they feel comfortable, such as the backyard, the river where they spend leisure time or a landscape close to home.

The project is a tribute to Anita Vujuazi who passed away on November 25, 2022, in life Anita was a young woman of 24 years old, born in the province of Cuando Cubango Municipality of Cuito Cuanavale and worked as a Sapadora.

When I started the project Anita was to date the last fatal victim among demining professionals, even following all the tracking protocols, Sapadora was unable to avoid it and activated the device. Anita’s death caused deep commotion among the Sapadoras due to the brutality of the accident and remains one of the most tragic.

I wonder what the last thing Anita saw was and I think that it could have been light with the same intensity as the one we see at birth and that perhaps Anita died so that other people can see the sun rise on a new day.

Rui Magalhães

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