Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel and the Heat of the Past
Author Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel recalls his youth in Equatorial Guinea
The Maturity of colourDesign Indaba
Remembering home through taste and color
In a series of photographs and prose writing, author and activist Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel remembers his childhood in Equatorial Guinea. A guiding theme within the series is the sting of the chillis which grow in his home country, and their distinctive taste and color.
Meet Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel is an author, essayist and activist from Equatorial Guinea. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including novels, plays, poetry, essays and film scripts, and has several unpublished manuscripts.
Colour and survival
Before reaching into the past evoked through the taste and color of chillis, Juan notes how color guides survival.
In the small African villages that are devoted to subsistence farming, if you lack the ability to be guided by colour in nature you would harvest your fruits at the wrong time because you would not recognise when they were ripe. So, if you know the colours, you will help nature to help you. It is a matter of survival.
Childhood and chillis
Juan delves into the past and brings, and the nostalgia of childhood in his writing.
The Maturity of colourDesign Indaba
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