Pietà of Sorrow is an ongoing project by Portuguese artist Vera da Costa, weaving film, performance, and ritual into a meditation on grief, care and transformation.
Born from a trance-written prayer, the film reimagines the Pietà, not as an icon of mourning but as a living body in transmutation. Moving through landscapes veiled in translucent fabrics, the figure of the Pietà explores the terrain of embodiment: memory, tenderness, loss, and renewal. Her gestures trace what it means to inhabit a body, questioning what is inherited, to carry such history, to release it, to return to the earth.
More than a film, Pietà of Sorrow is a ritual in motion, a meeting between body, spirit, and land. It reflects on how ancestral knowledge and emotional memory live within us, even when forgotten, and how through care and attention, sorrow can be transfigured into beauty and belonging.
For this special showing at Dokhuis, the experience will unfold in three parts:
a short prompt,
the film followed by an embodied mystery,
and an open conversation where we gather in a circle to share reflections, sensations, and stories.
This event is free to attend, but with a donation ticket you will support Dokhuis in hosting free events in the future.
Please make sure you secure a ticket (free or donation).