We leave traces wherever we go—subtle impressions, marks that reveal who we were and what remains. We keep vestiges (objects, letters, photographs, among others) as a way of eternalizing moments, memories, and our very existence.

The work began with the appropriation of the verse “de tudo fica um pouco” (“of all remains something”), from the poem Resíduo by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, which also gives the project its name. From this verse, I wrote my own poem and constructed a triptych with three old family portraits: my grandmother, my grandmother with my mother, and my mother with me. I chose to work with these images for their emotional significance and because they portray women who left profound marks on my journey.

From this initial triptych, I created others and made several interventions in the images using diverse techniques such as embroidery, sanding, cutouts, stitching, burning, and writing – gestures that symbolize the vestiges we leave behind.

These vestiges manifest in different ways: in genetic inheritance and physical resemblances, represented in the first triptych by the female womb, by motherhood, and by the tree of life; and also in affective objects, such as pieces of crochet made by my grandmother, which were incorporated into the images. The vestiges remain in writings and letters, as in one of the triptychs, where I handwrote excerpts from the poem I created.

The work also includes photographs of personal objects belonging to me, my grandmother, and my mother – reliquaries that carry silent stories.

Over time, marks and signs fade and disappear – they lose their sentimental value. Will my descendants recognize the worth of my grandmother’s crochet pieces? For this reason, I also chose interventions that deconstruct the images, undoing their original narratives and bringing new meanings. The images gradually lose their sharpness and clarity, and nearly vanish – ceasing to be affective recollections and becoming merely vestiges.