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The digital landscape is a space of contradiction. For the Timorese diaspora in the United Kingdom, online platforms are vital for maintaining relationships and sharing cultural knowledge across borders. However, the algorithms governing these spaces feed on rapid consumption. When brief and isolated moments of street conflict are uploaded, the systems seize them and loop those aggressive fragments endlessly. This digital distortion buries the truth, including our status as the second largest financial contributor to Timor Leste national development.
Fitar is a word from my home that means a scar, a mark or a trace left behind. Rather than accepting the digital screen as a neutral space, I approach the printed photograph as a physical material to be challenged, cut and manipulated. The needle and the blade are my tools for tactile resistance.
By puncturing the paper and weaving red thread through the noise, I am engaging in a material intervention. This stitching directly echoes traditional Tais weaving. Red thread is used because it is identical to traditional Timorese accessories, highlighting a continuous physical connection to our culture.
Furthermore, this intervention mirrors the construction of traditional woven mats, which are laid down to create a communal space for people to gather, share ideas and resolve conflict. Instead of presenting the handmade object as a perfect cure for digital distortion, Fitar embraces the tension between the two. The resulting body of work ask the audience to navigate this physical encounter, look beyond the screen and sit with the reality of a community that refuses to be defined by a violent metric.
