WITH Coastal Style was a one-year project researching and promoting women’s identities and concerns linked to marine heritage in Katembe District, Maputo, Mozambique.

Last updated: 10 February 2022

About the project

As a symbol of Mozambican heritage, capulana cloths have been preserved and passed from one generation to the next and with them the stories of the women who wear them. The project focused on collecting these stories from the women who live and work among the fishing communities of Katembe, situated on the southern bank of Maputo Bay. The projected urbanization development of the region following the building of the Maputo suspension bridge will impact on material practices and living traditions among women in these coastal communities. This project has made visible the role of capulanas as markers of female identity and as archives of women’s histories and memories. The project was carried out in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality).

This project was an international collaboration between National Museums Scotland, the Fortress Museum (with Eduardo Mondlane University), and the Fisheries Museum in Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique, Eastern Africa. The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Rising from the Depths Network in the United Kingdom.

Lead image: Capulana with ‘Museu das Pescas’ pattern commissioned by the Fisheries Museum: Africa, East Africa, Mozambique, Maputo, 2018.

Outcomes

Outcomes included a photographic exhibition at the Fortress Museum and a mobile community exhibition in Katembe led by the Fisheries Museum. These stories are also shared on the National Museums Scotland website. A new collection of capulana has been made for National Museums Scotland to augment the Museum’s existing collection acquired by Scottish missionaries working in Mozambique between 1994 and 2000 and donated to the Museum in 2008.

This project has built on previous research related to contemporary textiles and dress in Malawi undertaken by Project Principal Investigator Sarah Worden, Senior Curator of African collections, and was an opportunity for National Museums Scotland to develop further experience of international museums collaboration with outcomes which include creating new connections between local community and museum public engagement.

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