During a trip to the sleepy, rural town of Ubiraitá, located deep in the heart of the Brazilian northeast, Vinícius Silva de Almeida learned about rain. Lodging in a house with no running water in a region perennially at the mercy of drought, the young contemporary artist traveled by donkey to the nearest water tank twice a day to fulfill the fluid needs of the home. Once there, Vinícius witnessed devout farmers and ranchers lighting candles to Saint Barbara, patroness of thunder and lightning, and praying to Saint Joseph, patron of rain in the arid northeast, in the hope that these divine figures would grant them the heavy rains they desperately sought. Raised in the city where torrential rains were a disruptive nuisance, Silva de Almeida had always taken water for granted, but in Ubiraitá he learned just how vital these two deities are to the country’s religious heartland.

Inspired by that experience and the inhabitants of the rural region's pious relationship with the rain, Almeida created the installation 'Lágrimas de São Pedro' (Tears of St. Peter), named after the gatekeeper of heaven. Comprising 6,000 hanging, incandescent light bulbs filled with water, the artist recreates raindrops frozen in time, allowing visitors to contemplate both the beauty and power of rain and their own relationship with it, within the entirely dry confines of the CAIXA building.