“The Body as an Archive “composed of Yala’s grandfather’s documents and performative self-portraits, this work becomes a layered documentation and personal reproduction of history and life choices. Her current practice deals heavily with cultural and historical contexts, made even stronger by the tight family bonds established through and for this work. Without this bond, the artist would never accomplish the actual understanding and acknowledgement of the body as a caption and echo of the family’s path and history. That is one of the reasons for her working in a more interdisciplinary way, to reflect the complexity of history and the depths of the identities. This approach is always subject to rethinking, retelling, and revisiting the past. It includes leaving a margin for more critical reflection in the future without compromising the essence and its outcomes in the process.

The visual representation of her family, generally shown on photographs, reveals and outlines unique details, representing Angolan families from the '50s to the '90s. Furthermore, it traces their movement abroad to Portugal and the formation of the PALOP communities as a background to it. The grandfather’s documentation used in the artwork, including private notes, his birthplace, date of birth, full names, passport, work contract, I.D. and international mail post. When looked through the distance of time, these documents become elevated above the daily administration that they represent and are used as evidence to reveal and reflect on a specific historical and political era. The artist assumes that there is always more to be found related to the family, some records are lost, such as his "native I.D." in Angola or records from being incarcerated in Portugal by the authoritarian regime.