“The mothers were left, the children had no fathers. In Timor you don’t have one child, you have five or 10. I thought I had to provide a voice for this side of the story. The men fought with their guns, and their physical strength, and the women fought with their emotional strength and their bodies.”

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While in the refugee camp, Madeira joined the young East Timorese choir. It provided a portal out of the bleak reality that was the camp, with little food, illness and domestic violence. She also drew – often in the dirt on the ground. “Singing, dancing and traditional songs and talking about the culture of Timor-Leste made me realise how a creative language is very important to retain a connection, to maintain your identity,” she says. “Being part of the choir, it gave my soul a push to become an artist. It just naturally fell into my life and I never looked back. It’s a healing process.

“In textiles, ceramics and even performance art, the women are the ones in charge, and yet when we show culture and art of Timor-Leste, it’s the men who are up front,” she says. “It’s political in that way, providing a voice for the voiceless.”

A prominent figure in Timor-Leste’s recovery since it achieved independence 25 years ago, Madeira has recently been artist-in-residence at Dili’s Museum of the Orient (Fundação Oriente).

This year’s Venice theme is “Foreigners Everywhere”, which resonates with Madeira – and many Timorese, especially those who had to leave, she says.

Returning to the place she was born and loves so much is both joyous and complicated. “There’s a little bit of a boundary. I’m forever East Timorese, I never question that, but when I get there, there is an invisible little fence,” she says. “People look at you a bit differently because you were away for so long. That seems to be a big, non-visible division. It’s very confronting, it’s very hard.

“When you’re away for too long the locals believe that your spirit is not recognised. When I went back I had to do a traditional animist ceremony so that my spirit will be recognised in the land,” Madeira says. “In Timor-Leste still I am a foreigner.”

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