Reflection on the meaning of minority, the definition is clear and well understood, but part of my job is to question what exists. If numbers define minority, then what defines vulnerability? Is it the number or the conditions of life in which this number finds itself? ", because we can be numerous and, in the minority, poverty is the perfect example. It is not easy to open certain chapters of our life without the apprehension of the interpretation of the story and the general image that all the psychologists of this life and people will think about you. But whatever your story is yours, as delicate as the chapter was it remains and will forever remain yours, what will result from it is only ephemeral!
Here minority = impossibility given to the individual to provide for their primary needs while respecting their dignity and human condition.
In 1997, what we call a war began in Congo (Brazzaville). But what is war when barely three years old? Well, war is the one that takes everything from you, but leaves you enough to remember it. So, it was under the war, with the war and through the war that the first years of my life were punctuated. An endless melody of screams, tears, fear, hunger and shells. So what do we do? we run or at least learn to run and why do we run? For his life, but what is life when you are barely three years old? We don't know how to answer it but we know how to run. One day we find ourselves in France at barely six years old, far from everything but close to life and we wonder where the others are, because there were many of us running and a minority of them shooting. But the question arises, which of our two groups were ultimately in the minority?
It's extraordinary what this chapter of your thirties brings you in terms of perspective, particularly in the context of my work and my orientation in industrial design. Think and design solutions, services and objects adapted to our realities (infrastructure, etc.) and our needs focusing on the African continent.
Continent of everything and almost nothing, majority in number and minority in weight. All these questions of redefinitions, not to say definitions, arise in the current state of our continent. Industrial designer certainly, but human above all and my design can only be based on culture, which is a mixture of environments and life experiences. Hence UNESCO, guardian of cultures.
The burden is heavy, working with the continent is no easy feat: the integrity, patience, flexibility, humility, resilience and character that you must demonstrate are sometimes of extraordinary proportions. But if I knew how to run under bullets, it's because I can survive life.
Designer, I am!
Dagraça Mobengo
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