SOUVENIR is rooted in the artist’s family history, which serves as a point of departure for a broader reflection on the history of Portuguese migration to France. The project emerges from the artist’s reconnection with his migrant family heritage and from his search into his father’s migration history, revealing a bond deeply marked by exile: from his paternal grandparents to his uncles, a large part of the family lived—and many still live—in the outskirts of Moselle and Paris. During childhood, summer holidays in the Algarve were transformed by the vibrant arrival of relatives coming from France, bringing with them French accents and the traces of lives divided between geographies. Years later, the artist’s own experience as a migrant would come to reconfigure his understanding of migratory processes, no longer perceived as external or distant episodes, but as an intrinsic dimension of his personal history and artistic trajectory.

Tiago Cadete is a Portuguese artist. His work develops artistic objects that combine performance, sound installation, video, and scenography, drawing on archival processes and real-life testimonies, and engaging with the concepts of History, Memory, Identity, and Migration. He holds a PhD in Arts from PPGAV–UFRJ and a BA in Theatre from the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, and has presented his work in various national and international contexts. He is the artistic director of the structure Co-pacabana and is currently developing the project SOUVENIR.