SAUDADE is the second part of the project about feelings in the pandemic, saudade was written and photographed in the summer of 2021, part of a sequence of feelings represented by male dancers, this project aims to highlight the way the male expresses his feelings through art and dance. A way of externalizing what is not said in words.

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Saudade (English: / ˌsaʊˈdɑːdə /, European Portuguese: [sɐwˈðaðɨ], Brazilian Portuguese: [sawˈdad (ʒ) i], Galician: [sawˈðaðɪ]; plural saudades).

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SAUDADE is a Portuguese and Galician word that has no direct English translation.

They say that SAUDADE was "invented" to interpret, to give meaning and to express the sadness and longing for something that is no longer around, to express and interpret that emptiness, that desire to have or remember what is gone.

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Is "SAUDADE" sadness?

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Everyone experienced "SAUDADE" at some stage during their lives. Who has not felt longing and started to miss something from the past?

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I have been working for months to finish this text, waiting for the pandemic to end so I can feel and better comprehend how "SAUDADES" end, but with each passing day I see that "SAUDADE" has no end.

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This year of pandemic made me feel "SAUDADES", I miss things that I never would have imagined that I would miss.

I miss the smell of food, the smell of freshly cut grass, the smell of the soil and the rain in the city where I was born. 

I miss the dessert my mother makes that always ends up overcooked. I miss the hug and warm embrace of a friend, my dog happily licking my face to greet me and being able to see people smiling just to smile.

I also miss the people shouting to each other on the streets and being able to sing together during a concert.

I miss my father telling me the same bad jokes because hearing them over the phone is not the same thing.

I feel like I should have hugged my brother more... and even irritated him more too!!

I feel "SAUDADES" from not being able to leave the house without a set destination like before, not being able to have coffee with my friends and not being able to see the people I thought I did not like, or I did not know that I liked.

These small situations and little things make me feel "SAUDADES". Sometimes in a happy way, other times reflecting on the past in a sad way.

I feel the never ending "SAUDADES"…

 

 

 

He and the SAUDADE

He had his own SAUDADE collection, in the time drawer, as if it were not going to return and did not even want to look there.
When the drawer was full and at the same time nothing else was there, he realized it was time to organize the emptiness, decide whether to keep it, use it or throw it away.
With each SAUDADE he took from there he noticed that everything was a unique moment, even what was not there yet.
He then decided to keep nothing else, like new clothes that we keep for special occasions.
He started to dress in SAUDADE every day and enjoy it's presence.

He looked at SAUDADE and said:

- SAUDADES of you!

 

The Blues, Sehnsucht, Dor, Tizita, Hiraeth, Assouf, Appocundria, Clivota, Cnenie, Stesk, Hasret,Sevdah, سَوْدَاء, Sawdā', µέλαινα χολή, mélaina cholē, Tesknota, Natsukashii (懐かしい), Desiderio, Extrañar, Morriña, Čežnja…

 

Project written and photographed by: Milena Pernacova

Summer of 2021