As a Peruvian migrant living in England, I was often referred to as a 'Pocahontas.' This comparison prompted me to revisit the story of Matoaka, the Powhatan woman whose life was transformed through colonial encounter and later mythologised under the name Pocahontas.
I followed her journey from the place of her birth in Virginia to Gravesend in England, where she died in 1617. Through photography, video, performance, and handmade objects, I retrace these landscapes and create a space for reflection on displacement, colonial memory, and the transformation of women's identities through history.
By returning to the name Matoaka, I seek to move away from the familiar, romanticised image of Pocahontas and toward the person behind the myth. The journey becomes both a historical investigation and a personal act of identification. As a Peruvian migrant navigating England, I reflect on how women who cross territories can be renamed, represented, and understood through narratives created by others.
The work takes the form of a sisterly act of remembrance. Through ritual gestures and encounters with the landscape, I consider what might be recovered from stories that have been erased, displaced, or transformed, and how the body can become a vessel for remembering across distance and time.