This webinar links to the EMBracing the Ocean artist-in-residence programme.
Yara Costa is a Mozambican filmmaker and artist working at the intersection of ecology, indigenous knowledge, and storytelling. Based on the Island of Mozambique, her work connects coastal communities with global audiences through film, immersive media, and cultural oral archives. Her practice explores the role of ancestral maritime knowledge in facing today’s climate crisis, highlighting the strength and wisdom of ocean-facing communities. For her EMBracing the Ocean project, she collaborated with marine scientist Myriam Beck (Humboldt University of Berlin) to explore the interaction between science and ancient oral tradition of the coastal communities along Mozambique's Swahili coast to protect marine biodiversity and strengthen our bond with the Ocean.
Myriam Beck is a scientist of Mozambican-German descent. She grew up in Maputo, the southern Mozambican savanna and along the western Indian Ocean, where she developed a strong interest in marine biology and conservation. In 2024, she led a research project in southern Mozambique as part of her BSc thesis at Humboldt University of Berlin, resulting in the discovery of several previously undescribed ascidian species. Myriam always works in close collaboration with coastal communities to make scientific research more inclusive and locally accessible. Through her collaboration with artist Yara Costa, she explores how art can serve as a bridge between scientific research and the general public.