MUR 015 | ANTONIO SOBRAL || THE FLOWER OF THE HEART
The Flowers of the Heart is an audiovisual portrait of Setsuko Yamazato—poet, singer, and environmental activist—whose voice resonates like wind through the mangroves of Ishigaki. A force of nature herself, Setsuko invites us into a layered, dreamlike journey through the island’s living memory: its forests dense with ferns and vines, its coral reefs breathing beneath the emerald surface of the sea.
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Guided by her poetry and music, we enter the soul of Ishigaki—at once luminous and wounded. The island’s vibrant ecosystem, shaped by ancestral rhythms, now bears the scars of extraction, militarization, and unchecked development. Capital’s machinery lays down cement and plastic, raises fences and floodlights, seeking to overwrite the delicate patterns of life with asphalt and noise.
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Against this erasure, Setsuko’s words bloom. Her verses are rooted in the land’s wisdom and sorrow, carrying the weight of history and the fragility of all that still lives. She does not speak for nature, but with it—offering songs of resistance, remembrance, and care.
The Flowers of the Heart is not only a portrait of one woman—it is a lament, a call, and a quiet revolt.
The Flower for the Heart
Written and read in Tonoshiro dialect by Setsuko Yamazato
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It’s springtime again, and yet
That’s right, spring has come back
Unable to bloom, the flower of the heart falls
I feel sorry, it’s hard
How pitiful, the flower of the heart
Antonio Sobral is a Brazilian artist, curator, and publisher based in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro. His multidisciplinary practice spans collage, drawing, poetry, and artist books. He studied at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage and Paris 1 – Sorbonne, and worked with artists Rubens Gerchman and Adriana Varejão.
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Sobral has exhibited in Berlin, São Paulo, Lausanne, and New York, and participated in international art book fairs in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Madrid. He is the founder of Deep Editora, an independent publishing house, and currently coordinates the São João artist residency. His work explores visual poetry and material narratives rooted in landscape and memory.