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Yara Costa

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 has explored the interaction between science and ancient oral tradition of the coastal communities along Mozambique's Swahili coast to protect marine biodiversity and stengthen our bond with the Ocean.

 

Yara uses film, podcasts, virtual reality, art installations highlighting the need to revive local oral traditions and find shared solutions to global challenges. She actively involves communities, fostering microtransformative changes. Her practice also explores contemporary Africa and the diaspora, blending modern technologies with traditional African societies, orality, cultural heritage, indigenous ecological knowledge, and climate awareness.

Along Mozambique’s Swahili coast, people chant in a call-and-response rhythm, passing down their wisdom, knowledge of oceanic events like tropical cyclones and warning of the sea’s fragile future. "Xokolo" is an ancestral practice carried out by women consists of harvesting different kind of mollusks and other species on the intertidal zones as they chant. Yara has delved into these chants, exploring how they have helped maintain ecological balance. In collaboration with marine biologist Myram Beck (Humboldt University of Berlin), she is creating an immersive sensorial storytelling experience "Tidal Voices". Inspired by the call-and-response rhythm, recent discoveries and ancient chants from southern east Africa will be weaved through storytelling, evoking a deeper listening, contributing to global Ocean “soundtrack”. In Mozambique, collaboration with local women’s groups and environmental organizations will foster awareness of traditional ecological knowledge and its connection to marine biodiversity. 

Find Yara on Instagram.

Outputs

  • A working visit by Myriam Beck to the Island enabled a renewed engagement with Cabaceira, further strengthening the collaborative and relational dimension of the work.
  • A first complete version of the soundpiece is available here. The narrative of the soundpiece is available here.
  • The first installation of the immersive exhibition of the sound piece has been open to local community members on Mozambique Island since December 2025.
  • Logistics for showing the work in Berlin in 2027 are currently being confirmed with venues.

 

Media

  • Interview with Yara about her work on French TV channel France24. You can watch it here at timing 5.40.
  • Interview with Myriam Beck about the project on Mozambican National Television (TVM), March 2026. You can watch the interview here at timing 30min.
  • A sonic glance into the "Tidal Voices" project 'Snipet of Xokolo women' chanting is available on YouTube. On Mozambique Island, Xokolo women chant to the sea as they harvest mulluscs—echoes of a living ocean memory. This early fragment explores ancestral technology, marine knowledge, and the pulse of relational ecology.
  • A short 'behind-the-scences' video is available on YouTube showing interaction between scientific collaborator Myriam, Yara Costa, and a Xokolo woman, discussing observed changes in biodiversity.

 

Previous work

Art installation “Nakhoda and the Mermaid” was awarded a one-year mentorship with scientists by the Dutch Prince Claus Award and has allowed for the work and challenges of Mozambique, to be share on an international platform including at pre COP30 events. Watch the 360 Virtual Reality piece here.

 

Action for Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters

This project is an action towards achieving the objectives of the European Commission's Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters, specifically contributing to the objective to "Protect and restore marine ecosystems and biodiversity" and the enabler “Public mobilisation and engagement”.