THE LIGHT OF NEARBY SOULS
“The light of nearby souls” is an audiovisual poetic reflection by Luis Gomes da Costa on the relationship between the world of the living and the dead in a rural context, an invisible thread that is present in everyday life, one that helps to maintain a dialogue between heritage and projection towards the future. We can think of these ways of living close to the deceased loved ones as a process of “de-dramatizing”, one that does not mean forgetting, but rather that establishes a common presence, as if it were a normal family meeting.
Recorded in Sequeiros (Union of Parishes of São Martinho das Moitas and Covas do Rio, São Pedro do Sul) on the night of October 31 to November 1, 2022, All Saints’ Day.
The Light of Nearby Souls
I think about what I can see
And I see a village in the cold night
And a present and luminous field.
A two-way path
That of everyday life, in the stillness of the night
And that of eternal life, in serene communion.
In Sequeiros, these two lives touch each other
In a wise and essential architecture
Mountain, fields, houses, church and cemetery.
We can disagree or turn our heads away,
But let’s face it, who created these dimensions
Knew a couple of things about time and memory.
Text, voice, recording, editing and sound composition by Luís Costa.
A Binaural Nodar production, professional cultural structure supported by biennial funding from the General Directorate of Arts.