ENTRY DESCRIPTION
This photo, from my “Amor Deus” project, was taken on the island of Boa Vista in July 2024, within the neighbourhood of Bairro de Boa Esperanza. The island of Boa Vista, a former Portuguese colony, known and chosen as an international tourist destination, famous for its spectacular beaches caressed by the trade winds and relaxed lifestyle, retains pockets of widespread poverty, and Bairro de Boa Esperanza is the neighborhood where the most destitution is concentrated. Also known as the “shacks” area, it is a kind of city within a city, where residents still live in precarious conditions. According to the UNSDG (United Nations Sustainable Development Group), 24% of the world's urban population lives in slums, favelas and shantytowns. With my project I chronicled the genesis of Bairro de Boa Esperanza, and the slow redevelopment project in the area. The government want to relocate the residents to public housing. Houses similar to others that surround the area and where in recent years many former shack dwellers have moved to.Despite all this, walking through the streets of Bairro de Boa Esperanza I saw serene and even smiling faces, families and neighbors helping each other and, at least apparently, there is no perception of any kind of hardship or sadness. Surely it is also thanks to the great ability of Cape Verdeans to adapt, to enjoy the very small things in life. However, Bairro de Boa Esperanza cannot help but appear to me as a deep wound in this little paradise that is the island of Boa Vista.

AUTHOR
Anna Consilia Alemanno is a freelance professional journalist, author and photographer based in Milan.
After studying Cinema in Florence, at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, she worked for many years in fashion and travel publishing as journalist.

In 2021 she became interested in photography and embarked on the path of photography with a self-taught approach, which then found its fulfillment in the meeting with mentors and teachers.
She has deepened her knowledge in photography by taking courses at the Italian Institute of Photography in Milan and has completed two Master's degrees, including one with award-winning photojournalist Paolo Marchetti.
Her personal projects focus on social and environmental issues.

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