Saudades

In English, 'saudade' is often explained as a word, impossible to translate, yet quantifiable as a state of being that encompasses a wholly relatable configuration of bittersweet emotions. These involve a distinct strain of profound melancholic yearnings that may be for a person, a place, an identity, or time that has gone, and that may never return. 'Saudade' is also a word for a deep-seated longing about an idealized experience that has not yet happened, and perhaps never will.

Through poetry, photography, paintings, song lyrics, and essays, the artists in this first book from the Untranslatable Words Series seek to mine, educate, and give new meaning to the dynamic and nuancical complexity of the word, saudade.