Author: Eduarda Lira de Araujo

Laroyê, Exu! This story of archival sounds and silences begins far from the National Archive in downtown Rio de Janeiro, where I spent most of my time bent over the frail pages of 19th-century court papers. It starts in the neighborhood of Realengo, in the outskirts of the city, where I went to visit my godmother, Célia Cristina Pereira de Araújo, and her mother, Valdelice, whom family and friends lovingly call Tia Val.