Ana Markl and Alexandra Saldanha “surround hate” with a children’s book

Ana and Alexandra did not know each other. It was the members of Ondamarela who understood that the two, together, could find a common language. “We were invited to find methods, within our areas of experience and non-experience, to surround hate and force it to surrender. And also to understand what this is, in our context as human people, experiencing life on earth, and creating something”, explains Alexandra Saldanha.

The “something” to create would end up being decided by both. They met at a distance, via Zoom, and talked – they talked a lot – about freedom, hate and love, among other topics. They started at the surface and delved deeper. “We ended up finding a plateau, which is our fascination with childhood. Whether through our inner children or through our outer children, which is also my son”, says Ana Markl. The “something” could therefore only be a children’s book. “But also talk to adults. That has this children’s language, but that is exciting for anyone who reads it. As, in fact, any good children’s book should be”, she emphasizes.

“What is this magic for?” It is complemented by an exhibition, also opened today, the result of the week of artistic residency that the two authors carried out in Gafanha da Nazaré, over the last week, with the community.

Much of the work to be exhibited also comes from observing the rehearsals of a community performance – developed by the yellow wave, with the participation of local citizens – which takes the stage tomorrow, at 5 pm, also at Fábrica das Ideias. After all, to curb hatred, the pulleys of the Ondamarela “machine” worked on several fronts in the last few days: two workshops – one for schools, another for families –, a show, a debate, a book and an exhibition. If the hatred does not surrender, at least it becomes more conditioned.