Moon Gazing – A Poetry & Art Collaboration with Leonardo Lopes da Silva

Some collaborations are planned for months. This one started with a message.

How it began

In 2025, I spent a month in Portugal. During that time, poet Leonardo Lopes da Silva came across my work on Instagram and reached out. He had two poems that he wanted to pair with a visual, and he asked whether I'd like to read them and see if I could create something for one of them.

I chose Moon Gazing – and created a new artwork especially for it.

Creating the artwork

The moon in the image was photographed at Lake Tekapo in New Zealand, one of the best places in the world for night skies. The clouds and the horizon at sunset come from Lake Tekapo, too. I then layered them with a female figure.

From book to print

The artwork was published alongside the poem in Leonardo's book. Together, we then created the combined version of poem and image, which is now available as an A3 print (29.7 × 42 cm / 11.7 × 16.5 in).

About Leonardo Lopes da Silva

Leonardo Lopes da Silva is a writer, English and Portuguese teacher and trilingual translator based in Azeitão, Portugal.

Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Leonardo has been writing poetry since he was 16. He fulfilled his dream of publishing his first book, A Língua do Pulsar, in 2015. Its English edition, The [Pulsing] Language [of a Pulsar], brings together his poems, music and illustrations by several artists – including the artwork for Moon Gazing.

Leonardo has always wanted to turn his writing into music. In 2023, after a lot of experimenting with electronic music, he began composing music for his poems and turning them into video clips and reels for Instagram – which he has been doing ever since. Strongly influenced by rock, jazz, blues, world music, trance and techno, he wants every poem, song and video to be a unique, memorable multimedia experience.

Bring it home

Moon Gazing is available as an A3 wall art print – a meeting of light, language and longing.