Efatá by Catarina Silva

Necklace / Symbolic

Published: 11.06.2026

This artwork weaves together devotion, memory, and material transformation, offering a contemplative dialogue between sacred symbolism and personal sentiment.
At its heart—both figuratively and literally—is a delicate textile composition, meticulously woven from tiny glass beads. Suspended within this shimmering fabric are an array of love tokens: miniature heart pendants in gold and silver hues, scattered like celestial bodies across a luminous sky. Their varied shapes and textures suggest a history of accumulation, as though each charm carries a whispered story of love, longing, or protection.

To the left, a necklace crafted from galvanized prayer candles linked with gold, adds a spiritual dimension. These elongated metallic forms, once vessels for devotion and ritual, have been reimagined into an adornment—an object meant to be worn close to the body, bridging the sacred and the personal. The incorporation of gold links hints at transformation, turning ephemeral prayer into something tangible and enduring.

On the right, a galvanized ex-voto in the shape of a stylized human heart stands as a profound gesture of offering and faith. Ex-votos, traditionally left at religious sites as tokens of gratitude or supplication, carry deep associations with healing and divine intervention. Here, its placement within the composition suggests a relic of devotion, a materialized wish, or an embodied plea—its metallic surface both protective and vulnerable.

Together, these elements speak of love as an act of preservation, devotion as an enduring gesture, and objects as vessels of human experience. This is not merely a collection of materials; it is an invocation of memory, faith, and the intimate connection between the spiritual and the corporeal.