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This project was created under the theme “jewelry in portraits” and consisted in the creation

of piece of jewelry based on the self-portrait painting of the Portuguese artist Aurélia de

Sousa, in 1900. I felt a strong connection with the painting from the first time I looked at it

because in Aurelia’s expression I could feel what I have been feeling recently. The self-

portrait shows the artist looking straight ahead with a cold look on her face, enigmatic and

lost, as if looking at something not important for her. She wears a red coat over a blue

embroidered blouse, over it she uses a choker necklace with an oval cameo. The self-

portrait captures the moment before an internal explosion, a moment of anxiety and self-

doubt.

I reveal here how I feel: Perhaps because of my previous innocence or carelessness I have

always been rational, but it has been taken away from me, as have other things, and what

was not taken, has been left broken. I´m left with this choking necklace that prevents my

heart and my brain from communicating and have not found a way to find the balance. My

mind has told me it wants to take care of the matter, but the damned jewel won´t let the

 

information go through to the heart. I´ve thought of tightening it more in order to cut off the

blood flow. Maybe it will make it all a bit colder. Would it be easier that way?

To create this piece of jewelry I tried to reference all the elements of the painting that

torment me as I look at it. I associated the two prominent colours of the self-portrait

Blue and Red to opposite parts of the body. The coolness of Blue relates to the

rationality of the mind, the head. Red´s warmth relates to deep emotions and

feelings, the heart, the chest.

In the middle of the forehead, there is a diamond shaped blue stone, hard, cold and

unbreakable. Suspended on the chest is a glass jar that holds a red liquid,

symbolizing blood, my emotional side. On the neck lays the center piece, a choker

necklace with a silver hexagon piece in the middle, in the center of this hexagon a

zirconia is carved and a clasp is incorporated. This choker ties around the neck

through a velvet strip. The strip is adjustable and can be made tightened or loosened

to help me manage my emotions and reason. The three elements, the stone, the jar

and the choker are interconnected through a silk thread, connecting hugging the

head, the neck and the chest.

At this moment I confront myself with the state I am in. I see myself in this portrait

and feel the Strangler, a knot in my throat and a blank stare on my face. I look for an

answer in this piece, only it can tell me what to do next… tighten it or relief the pain.

Done