Saudade
2024
The Portuguese word “Saudade” refers to that bittersweet feeling of longing, melancholy, desire, and nostalgia for a beloved yet absent person or place.
I spent my adolescent years in Brazil, in remote parts of Minas Gérais and Goiás. Although I moved to Rio as soon as I finished my studies in Europe, it was those formative pre-teen and teenage years, surrounded by forests, rivers and cattle ranches, that had the most profound effect on me. The moment I arrived, I felt an instant, visceral connection to the land, to the fauna and flora, to the language and to the people.
Although I lived in Brazil during the years of the brutal military dictatorship, my memories have been largely idealised. They remain nurturing, comforting and inspiring, despite the undercurrent of violence that permeated much of the country at that time.
Working on this project has been a cathartic process. It has helped me reconcile the loss of a place I loved, and of the part of my identity that seemed to vanish the moment I left. The project has helped me come to terms with the fact that part of my brain will forever be filled with a language I still dream in but hardly ever have the opportunity to speak. This project is, in many ways, my attempt to express a love that never faded.
Over the past few years, whenever a scene or moment evoked memories of my life in those places in the 70s and 80s, I photographed it. As the project evolved, I became more intentional and sought out locations that had cultural or historical connections with Brazil. I also photographed in countries with landscapes and fauna and flora reminiscent of Brazil’s. Together these collected images, made in various other countries, have become a visual expression of my saudade of Brazil.
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Handmade signed and numbered edition of 14 copies only, 21x15cm, with 3 signed postcard size prints on heavyweight matte paper. Sold exclusively through Photobook Store.