The first Saudade exhibition was held April 11–15, 2018, at Twelve Twelve Gallery in The Hague. The exhibition opening was attended by seven of the project’s ten artists and more than 60 visitors. More than 200 people visited the gallery in total.
One of the founders of the Expatriate Archive Centre, Judy Moody-Stuart, was also in attendance.
Judy described in a speech the history of the EAC’s iconic suitcase that holds the Saudade exhibition. The suitcase was bought for her husband in 1950 when he started boarding school in Shropshire, England — “and here it is 67 years on, having been moved in ‘fits and starts’ around the world, passing tens of customs points, sitting unexpectedly vulnerable in Saharan rain puddles at the bottom of a stack of luggage on top of our Land Cruiser roof rack, crossing the Saharan Nigeria to France in June 1981.”
The Saudade artists worked with a variety of media, including porcelain, gold, rubber, wood, oil and acrylic paints, photography, textiles, and printing. Their pieces represent personal interactions with the letters, photographs, diaries, children’s drawings, and other materials in the EAC’s collection.
Judy ended her speech by observing that “the greatest joy and loudest accolade looking back in saudadic nostalgia is to share the meaning of our life contents with like-minded people who understand. And, quite clearly, you artists have indeed understood creatively.”
To learn more about hosting Saudade in your gallery space, email director@xpatarchive.com.
The pieces can either be displayed in the suitcase or expanded to fill a small gallery space. The suitcase dimensions are 75 cm length, 50 cm width, 21 cm height when closed and 71 cm height when open. The minimum space required to display the suitcase is 1 m³.
Photographer: Carmen Morlon
Featured photo: Thomas Nondh Jansen
Source: Expatriate Archive Centre