Sergio Santimano, born in 1956 in Mozambique of Goan origin, contributed as a photographer to the project of creating a Mozambican identity after the country's independence in 1975. He began working as a photojournalist in the early 1980s. At that time, he started an extensive documentation of the new nation that emerged after the independence from Portugal in 1975. He followed his generation, the joy and human misery of the civil war that broke out in the country during decolonization, both for domestic and international press. He moved to Sweden in 1988.

In 1995, he visited India as an adult and had an exhibition being shown in Mumbai entitled "Caminhos-the long and winding road" with text by Calane da Silva. His photographs taken in Goa and those taken in the northern provinces of Mozambique (Nacala, Niassa, Cabo Delgado and the Island of Mozambique) tell the story of the memories of families living on both sides of the Indian Ocean.

Mozambican history witnesses the connections between the coast of East Africa, Arabia, India. Due to the Portuguese colonial history, there are very strong connections between Goa (India) and Mozambique with continuous migratory movements between the two colonies. Identities were evolving in this large contact zone as continuous processes of dynamic encounters. Sergio Santimano's work gives an insight into the crossed glances across the Indian ocean: “Olhares Cruzados”, “Crossed Glances”.