Project

More and more villages are becoming depopulated. Villages of which we no longer know what life and society were like there once. The small village where I travel to every year in Portugal is slowly beginning to empty out, but I don't want its identity to disappear with it, I don't want it to become another depopulated village like so many others. My parents are both of Portuguese descent and my remaining family still lives in Portugal today. For as long as I can remember, we always travel to Portugal in the summer. Every year I look forward to August and I even enjoy all the preparations that come with it. I even look forward to the 18-hour journey to Vasco Esteves de Cima. Because after that I see my family and friends again and I can relive my memories and create new ones. Words cannot describe my love and feelings for the village. A bit like the word saudade cannot be described either. Every year I have saudades for Vasco Esteves de Cima. Every year there are fewer residents in the village. Most have moved to a city or even another country. Those who are still there are already retired. Soon the village will empty out and lose its identity. Yet another depopulated village whose history will fade and whose life will no longer be remembered. I don't want the small village where my heart is at home to become one of so many depopulated villages. I want the identity of the village to be remembered. That is why for my master's thesis I spoke with the last residents of Vasco Esteves de Cima. I documented their stories in order to preserve both their own identity and that of the village in a book.