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Fitar is a word from my home, Timor Leste, that means a scar, a mark, or a trace left behind. Having lived in the United Kingdom for a decade, I am using this project to mend what the algorithm has broken. Since 2021, data from the World Bank and the Central Bank of Timor Leste has proven that our diaspora in the UK is a backbone of our country’s development. We provide the second largest contribution to Timor Leste’s national income, yet this reality is buried under ten second videos of street fights.
Social media platforms feed on rapid consumption and sensationalism. When brief and isolated moments of conflict are uploaded, the algorithms seize them and loop those aggressive fragments endlessly. For an outside audience, these violent flashes might become the defining image of our people if not addressed accordingly, it automatically distorts and flattens our lived reality into a negative stereotype.
The needle and the blade are tools of resistance. The stitching acts as a repair gesture, a physical scar that reveals we have survived the digital wounding of our reputation. By puncturing the paper and weaving through the noise, I am mending a fractured narrative to invite the public to witness the true reality of our community. Ultimately, I am asserting that our identity is not defined by a violent metric, it is a deep, woven history that supports a whole nation.
