‘Saudade’, Aluminum Dye Sublimation, 100 X 150 cm (40 X 60 inches), 2020.Saudade is part of the Portuguese culture, a... Read More
‘Saudade’, Aluminum
Dye Sublimation, 100 X 150 cm (40 X 60 inches), 2020.
Saudade is part of the Portuguese
culture, a term that describes a deep emotional and nostalgic state of mind that
has become a “Portuguese way of life” since the 13th century: a constant
feeling of absence, the sadness of something that's missing, wistful longing
for completeness or wholeness and the yearning for the return of what is now
gone, a desire for presence as opposed to absence - as it is said in
Portuguese, a strong desire to ‘matar as saudades’ (kill the saudades).
Moreover, Saudade often carries a
repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never be back again. I
created this work just recently, as a direct response to the trippy era we’re
all experiencing, the Covid-19 pandemic attack and the unbelievable fires on
the West Coast, to mention only two. As soon as I realized that the virus is
here to stay at least for the whole 2020, with its accompanying lockdowns and
consequent precarity, the Saudade sentiment engulfed me. I then knew that
related artworks will inevitably be created. Saudade is one of these creations,
trying to mirror the fact that, contrary to my long-lasting habit of traveling,
I am forced now to be secluded by lockdowns, not to mention the fact that
traveling between countries is not yet free as it used to be.