Location: MOZAMBICO

Africa is often portrayed through loud narratives that grab attention by amplifying dramas, contradictions, stereotypes, and folklore. But amidst this clamor, authentic stories, the real experiences of those who inhabit the continent, and the traces that shape its historical and social memory are lost.

This project, carried out between 2022 and 2025, takes us into the heart of Macuti, a coastal neighborhood in Beira, one of Mozambique’s major cities, facing the Indian Ocean. Here, the population is growing at an astonishing rate, in a country experiencing one of the fastest demographic expansions in the world. In just a few years, it has nearly doubled, and today Macuti is home to about 30,000 people. Urbanization is advancing rapidly, but in a disorderly manner, lacking proper planning.

Through the images and sounds of Macuti Labyrinth, we immerse ourselves in a maze of streets, alleys, canals, and houses built closely together. The visual journey guides us from a broad view of the neighborhood to the most intimate details of daily life: moments of community, fragments of domestic life, scenes of work, and human relationships. A narrative that captures the beating heart of Macuti, far from the stereotypes that often distort the perception of these places.

These photographs do not aim to astonish or sensationalize, but to sincerely convey the beauty and fragility of everyday life, captured in its subtle gestures and extraordinary care. At the same time, they highlight social and environmental challenges that are not unique to Beira but affect many cities worldwide: the precariousness of housing, degraded infrastructure, uncontrolled urban expansion, and the lack of essential services such as access to clean water, sewage systems, and waste management.

With Macuti Labyrinth, the invitation is not only to observe and listen but to lose yourself in this reality, to navigate its contradictions, to recognize ourselves in its challenges, and to be enveloped by its vital energy. Macuti Labyrinth is an artistic project carried out within the framework of MUDAR, a decentralized cooperation initiative co-financed by the European Union.

ABOUT PAOLO GHISU

Photographer and filmmaker who tells stories through images that explore sustainability, diversity, resilience, and the environmental and humanitarian crises of our time. Dividing his time between Italy and Mozambique, he collaborates with NGOs and international organizations to give voice to stories that deserve to be seen and told.

Among his most recent works: Fully Booked (2021), a project created within the Grande Hotel of Beira, Mozambique — one of the largest and most populated occupied buildings in the world — exhibited in various locations across Italy and Mozambique; Cabo Delgado (2024) about the IDPs and the conflict in Northern Mozambique; and Il Canto del Ghiaccio (2025), a documentary that captures the melting of the Lares Glacier in the Adamello-Presanella Alps.