Captured in the highlands of Paredes do Rio (Montalegre, Portugal), this photograph records a gesture shaped by geography and long continuity of practice. Working with traditional wooden tools, the woman performs a task learned through repetition, where the body carries knowledge accumulated across generations. In Trás-os-Montes, flax spinning once structured everyday life, especially during evening gatherings (serões), when women transformed raw flax into fabric while sharing time and rhythm. Today, the gesture persists even as its original necessity fades. What remains is not merely a craft, but a corporeal memory — a sequence of movements sustained beyond function, suspended between transmission and disappearance.

* March 16, 2013
* Paredes do Rio, Portugal
* GPS: 41.796567, -7.923783
* From the series: Spirit of Earth — Traditional Practices
* Object number: #4.POR-SET.2013
* Nikon D800, 24-70/2.8 • Iso 800 • 31mm • f/6.3 • 1/100sec
* Photograph. 70×50 cm. Ed. 1/12 + 3 AP
* Print on Hahnemüle Photo Rag Matt Baryta, 308 g/m²