Saudade

The work in Saudade is a continuation of Elisa Markes-Young’s previous work that dealt with memory, the unreliability of our recollections and the question of what and where is home. It picks up elements of the old work, rearranges them and expands on them resulting in imagery that is intended to convey the feeling of bitter-sweet melancholy that the Poles call ‘tęsknota’. 

The word describes a deeply emotional state and when referring to memories experienced as longing can be translated as ‘nostalgia’. But it’s so much more. The Portuguese ‘saudade’ captures the meaning much better.

Both words describe a sentiment that is difficult to articulate but is deeply meaningful. It is nostalgia riddled with loss, absence and a profound melancholy longing. They communicate feelings of loneliness and incompleteness, and a subconscious knowledge that the object of our longing might be lost forever. At the same time there is joy and the fact that what is missing now has once been there provides comfort.

Please contact Elisa via 0421 974 329 (Christopher Young, Western Australia, GMT+8) should you be interested in purchasing work.

View the series

View an exhibition 'walk through'