Category: Life

The name Agnès

Already several people made me a face or wondered why I gave this name to my studio. The answer is not simple, although it is very logical to me. I can list a few names such as Agnès Varda or Agnes de Mille. Women who inspire me and whose legacy deserves to be honored, but that’s not why.

Two decades ago, in the library of the village where I grew up, I saw a photographic exhibition of abandoned girls in China. Due to the traditional preference for a boy and the law of the only child, many girls were abandoned or even killed. In the middle of this exhibition, I saw a picture of a 2-3-year-old girl with pink ribbons on her head. She was standing in the middle of many newborn babies, alone, with an expression of purity and unique beauty.

I have observed that image for many hours, for many days. She is my Agnès.

Agnes is a Latinized form of the Greek name ‘Αγνη (Hagne), derived from Greek’ αγνος (hagnos) meaning chaste, pure, innocent. That was the name I wanted to give that brave girl, who I don’t even know the fatum.

Nevertheless, each letter of the word has a meaning of what I want to pursue.

L’Agnès

  • L – Lunar / Luz (Light) /Local: Is the importance that I give to the stories of the places where I intervene, my preference for writing with objects a message that can last in time. It is also the wonderful way of drawing the spaces with the most beautiful material that exists, the light.
  • A – Amor (Love) : Architecture is shelter and shelter is love. It is a reminder to myself, what should prevail.
  • G – Gratidão (Gratitude): To the places that let themselves be unveiled, the people who put their dreams in me, the materials they allow themselves to be shaped, to those who transform them. To the spirits that fill the spaces and give them life.
  • N – Nostalgia : From the place that we call home and that I search unceasingly for each project.
  • E – Engenho (ingenious) / Empatia (empathy): To see things from another angle and to reinvent. Empathy to never forget that I am not the target of my creation.
  • S – Sensibilidade (sensitivity) / Sombra (shadow):Let the spaces and objects breathe and become what they should be. Create atmosphere. “The wonderful light that the shadow has.”

About Bakala energy

I had the privilege of learning about the culture and dance of the Congo and other African countries, with the dancer and choreographer Yvon Nana-Kouala.

Yvon is not simply an incredible dancer, he is also an excellent teacher, with an incredible ability to convey knowledge. With him I learned about bakala energy. A word Kituba, which represents man, the sun and all the aggressive energy we have in life. Its opposite, is nkento, that represents the woman, the moon and all the suits movements.

The congolese dance (and many others in Africa) is full of bakala energy, but it alternates with the nkento, like a heart beat. No one can be predominantly in a state of anger and tension. The beauty of what I have learned from this dance is that it also applies to our daily life, because in kina we learn to harness ourselves from bakala energy, redirect it or integrate it to our advantage.

For the Congolese, dance is the center of life, of the world, it is their vibration with the universe. They put dancing into everything they do, see harmonious movement in everything that exists and that’s the most beautiful thought I’ve heard in years.

Merci beaucoup.

 

 

Until when?

The bakery in Vila Real (PT) designed by Nadir Afonso is not only a fine example of modern architecture, it is (or was) an artistic expression of the master.Today, like so many other works, this building is in danger of disappearing.
We are too busy to see, to think … to act!
How much art must succumb?
Until when this greed?
Will we be happier when we completely erase the memory of our ancestors?
Before © Merooficina
After © Hugo Santos

 

Aparição

Pauline Ohrel

Havia os materiais e as horas… Aquela emoção, que nos fazia parar diante do inesperado.
A paixão sempre nova, no reencontro com o fortuito…
Aqueles dias, em que eu e tu (alma) ficavamos imóveis, plenas, iluminadas diante da aparição silenciosa!!

Gandhi no século XXI

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi lutou toda a vida contra a injustiça, em prol dos mais fracos e pela igualdade. Se olharmos em retrospectiva para as suas lutas podemos constatar que são hoje ainda mais pungentes, nas falhas e feridas.

Vivemos tempos onde a falta dos mais básicos recursos de sobrevivência leva a que milhões de pessoas se desloquem todos os dias daquilo que podemos chamar de pátria, ou mais banalmente país.
Incluem-se nessa categoria os refugiados que todos os dias tentam a viagem até solo europeu.
O medo, o Ego e a ignorância tem feito com que muitos países se voltem apenas para si e ignorem o valor da Vida ao reprimirem os actos de benevolência e empatia.
Um acto, ou lei injusta, é sempre injusta não importa a quem se aplica, mesmo que seja uma minoria de UM.
Desta forma, qualquer lugar do mundo que se denomine país e se reja por fronteiras físicas e/ou econômicas, ao negar auxilio a pessoas que buscam o direito sagrado de viver, estão a violar o direito universal da Vida.
Não importa sob qual lei se abrigam ou escondem, uma lei possui a força e a verdade que um conjunto de indivíduos lhe querem atribuir, não significa necessariamente que ela seja correcta. Houve em tempos leis que escravizaram, que pilharam, mataram…Que relegaram a mulher para pano de fundo, ainda hoje a espécie humana pode ser designada por Homem com h maiúsculo.
Quando procuramos a verdade, devemos entender que a única possivel é aceitar que todos somos iguais, não importa a cor da pele, costumes ou religião. Essa é a única lei que deve prevalecer, o Amor e respeito pelo Outro.

 

Give me a minute

embrace the light. Venezia.Susana dos Santos
“Love has boundaries. We know this. We knock them down, build them back up, then knock them down again. But does it have to be that way? Can’t we learn? Can’t we be brave? Can’t we believe? Because, maybe that’s all we need – a little courage, a little hope, a little belief. Maybe there are no boundaries if we choose to not see them. Maybe love is unlimited if we’re just brave enough to decide love is limitless. Maybe there’s enough happy for everyone. Or maybe…give me a minute.”
~Meredith Grey~