MARIA tells the story of Ana Maria Jeremias, an Angolan woman whose life as a domestic worker and caregiver mirrors the lived realities of countless other women. Her story brings into focus the quiet yet essential labor that women like her contribute to our homes, societies, and economies. As Ana Maria herself once said, she has spent her entire life cleaning.
The project is inspired by the questions posed by writer and activist Françoise Vergès: “Who cleans the world?” and “Why does this work carry a racial and gendered identity?” These questions guide an exploration into the often-ignored histories of racialized women in Portugal, a nation still profoundly marked by its colonial past.
Ana Maria was born Utima, the Umbundu word for “heart”—a name that beautifully captures her character. She is a woman of profound strength and care, who has worked in and nurtured the homes of numerous families for more than forty years.
At just nine years old, she was taken from her homeland under the false promise of an education—an opportunity that was never given. Brought to Coimbra by a Portuguese family, she would later learn that her father’s signature had been forged to authorize her departure. Ana Maria had, in fact, been trafficked.
Upon her arrival in Portugal, she was given a new name—Ana Maria—and assigned a new birth year: 1965.
What followed was a life shaped by domestic servitude, verbal abuse, and racial discrimination. But at 21, Ana Maria found the courage to leave the household that had exploited her. She met the man who would become the father of her only child, and together they moved to Lisbon, settling in a shantytown in search of the freedom she had long been denied.
In time, Ana Maria was able to purchase her own home in Rio de Mouro, on the outskirts of Lisbon. She continues to commute into the city center, working with determination and resilience.
By centering Ana Maria’s story, this project seeks to provoke reflection on the unexamined privileges of middle-class households and to reclaim the silenced histories that have been denied to women like her.
Combining photography with rigorous research, including personal documents and photographs from Ana Maria’s own archive, this work aims to restore the memory and identity that were taken from her. It affirms her rightful claim to visibility, dignity, and citizenship—while honoring the lives of the many women whose stories remain untold