JAMAIKA by José Sarmento Matos

JAMAIKA follows part of the story of Bairro da Jamaica - a community in Seixal, Portugal, made up of around 700 inhabitants, often racialised and marginalised -, in its fight for the right to decent housing.

This documentary work, developed over three years, portrays the life of this community made up of immigrants from former Portuguese colonies - Angola, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe - and Portuguese people of African descent.

Between 2022 and 2023, around 98% of the Jamaica neighbourhood was demolished. The families that lived there were relocated to decent housing, but their community prevails beyond Vale de Chicaros the place that has been home to so many since the mid-1980s. The book not only captures life in the neighbourhood; the relocation of some families as well as the demolition of buildings.

JAMAIKA aims to act as an intimate visual memory of Bairro da Jamaica, also representing many other racialised communities and others living in similar housing conditions in the metropolitan area of Lisbon and Porto. Many of these families continue to suffer daily stigmatisation based on their ethnicity, marginalisation by city councils and harassment by the police.

© 2024 José Sarmento Matos

1ª Edição janeiro de 2024 . 1st Edition January 2024

Título . Title: JAMAIKA

Fotografia . Photography: José Sarmento Matos

Edição . Editing: José Sarmento Matos & Mário Cruz/ Narrativa

Design gráfico . Graphic design: Teresa Sarmento Matos 

Texto . Text: José Sarmento Matos & Ana Rita Alves

Letra . Lyrics: Kid Robinn Gráfica . 

Tamanho . Size:  170 x 225 mm

Printing: Gráfica Maiadouro, S. A.

Todos os direitos reservados a . All rights reserved to:  José Sarmento Matos