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About We cry art Ghostbirds is Memento mori. My existence stands upon all the past lives, either supported or weighted by them; I can't talk about my current state without talking about the history. In Portugal, the swallows have significant meanings: love, loyalty, and hope. They bring good luck to the new beginnings. “The swallow is connected to a lot of things that are dear to us,” explains Ricardo Brochado, an archaeologist and the cofounder of bespoke Porto tour operator, The City Tailors. The birds’ qualities—they mate for life and raise their chicks together—make it a shoo-in as a nostalgic symbol. “They don’t leave the nest until all of the babies do,” Brochado says. “And they always return.” That connection to “the nest”—to a home or a homeland—is so important in Portuguese culture that there is a word for it: saudade . Brochado explains the concept is best described as that feeling of melancholic connection you get when you taste your grandmother’s cooking or smell a scent that takes you back to your childhood. In 1896, Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro registered the patent for his original version of a ceramic swallow, still made using original molds in our charming town, Caldas da Rainha. It is thought to be the embodiment of that feeling. It carries the saudade of the giver, that good memory, with it. “When you’re giving this as a gift, you’re basically giving a part of yourself that stays there. You’re creating a connection,” he says.…
