Promised Land examines the significance of personal archives within the context of “social death.” The series features “Mementos,” where the faces in family photographs are obscured with Kauri shells—once used as colonial currency but also holding spiritual value across the Afro-Caribbean diaspora. The images are sourced from Angelista’s father’s albums, who migrated from Curaçao to the Netherlands in the 70s. By concealing the subjects’ identities, Angelista invites viewers into intimate moments while simultaneously questioning visibility, identity, and the concept of home across two continents, thereby creating a transatlantic dialogue.

Memento 7, 1, 4
Digital montage on Hanemule etching paper
Archival pigment print
2024