Lacrimosa

The idea for this piece came about as a reference point to Rua da Saudade, where Lisbon's Roman theatre is located, and in relation to fado, which is emotive, typical of Alfama, and deeply rooted in the city's cultural fabric.

Lacrimosa is Latin for tearful – the symbolic expression of strong emotions. Tears are closely linked to the imagery of emotional overflow as a universal human experience. Desire, symbolically represented here in the form of "open arms" through the interwoven and suspended fabric, merges with liberation. Emotions emerge from the same place, simultaneously vulnerable and strong, open and closed in on themselves.

In the second act of the opera L'elisir d'amore, in Una furtiva lagrima, we hear: "[I only wanted] for a moment to hear the palpitations of your heart, and my sighs mingling with your sighs!", at the moment when the fall of a tear reveals a love that has been reciprocated.

Tears signal a feeling of being overwhelmed that surpasses language, the almost theatrical mode of physical release that the body can access to express what it feels inside. This chandelier of tears is a tribute to this spectacle of emotional catharsis.