We Are All Daughters: Ancestral History and the Disappearance of Magic and Mystery
“I was brought up in a rural area of Brazil, by a fierce mother and a dreamer of a father. I’m somewhat a combination of the two. The older I get, the closer I am to my past and my ancestors and their sensibilities. I left home (Brazil) when I was twenty years old, and I moved to the USA. I wanted a chance to be an adult discovering the world for the first time. I always wanted to leave, ever since I was little, I talked about moving some place where I could make art for a living. I saw that it wasn’t possible where I grew up, we had no easy access to movies, theatre, museums. But creative living was a given. However, to be a professional artist in Brazil you have to have connections, access, friends and family and/or money. I had none of that. I literally had never even been to an Art Gallery until I moved to Boston. My first time seeing a real play in a Theatre was when I got a job painting sets and doing costumes for said Play. I say that my second life education was Boston, and how I learned how to be me, in its entirety. I fell in love. I married a Californian. A few years later, we moved to Los Angeles together from the East Coast. So, as you see, my identity is a bit blurred. I’ve been an expat for almost ten years now, and even though this is now my home, I never quite felt at home, and when I do go home, I’m no longer a good fit for that home. I say that my identity is exactly that, the line between the two, I’m not stuck, or sad or afraid of not belonging. In fact, it’s the part of me that gives me courage to embrace what remains hidden and what I can make possible.”
— Amanda Maciel Antunes, an artist living in Los Angeles
As we have been on this journey of discovery and healing after leaving our careers, there has been one thing that has been repeatedly proven over and over again: there are no coincidences.
We had interviewed Amanda back in September 2018, barely four months since starting Daughters. This conversation was one that had impacted us deeply because of the themes that organically came up — being a stranger in a new place, seeking knowledge about ancestral history to know oneself better, a growing disconnection from nature and its healing powers, the disappearance of mystery and magic from modern life.
During the editing process of the video, I listened again to the interview with a fresh new perspective, having gone through the last six months focused on trying new things that would help me release old wounds, turn the volume of my brain down and turn up my more gut-instinctual “feeling” side. Listening to how Amanda spent time with Amazonian tribes, learning how they live, are in tune with the land, and the natural gender roles that occur in their culture made me realize that there is much to learn and regain from communities that embody a complete different set of values than that of ours in urban areas. A set of values that I believe we all embodied as human beings long ago. In some ways, I wonder if we have lost our way a bit with urbanization and the influx of technology in this digital age. Voices like Amanda’s remind us that within the cracks and in-betweens — the inexplicable pieces of human life––lies mystery and magic and the things that inspire creativity and are where the spirit and soul reside. And rather than be constantly focused on production and caught in the churn of “doing,” isn’t it worth our while to spend some time digging into those more hidden parts of ourselves to unearth the truth of our purpose?
We think so.
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About Daughters.
We explore therapies, ideas and products that help us all live consciously, build resilience and manage burnout. Discover self care rituals for modern life at daughtersbrand.com.
