'I placed the ad looking for old receipts as part of a personal art project I'm doing. I want to let out some hurt that happened over a particular week in Dublin.

I left my hometown in the south of Brazil for Ireland last July hoping for a possible reconciliation with my Irish love. We had met on a previous trip to Ireland. He invited me to a wedding and we fell in love. I was meant to stay two weeks and ended up staying for three months. Then we broke up and I went back to Brazil.

Sadly my 'surprise arrival' last July didn't cause the reaction I had wished for. I'm not blaming him, I was very clumsy too. It was a complete drama and disaster. Instead of bringing him closer, which is why I came here to be with him, I actually created the complete opposite result. I was in agony.

So now I'm OK, but I'm dedicating this work of art called Love Receipts, to him, to me and to all people who love but somehow manage to deeply complicate things and let this get in the way of their own dreams.

I'm looking for old receipts dated between the 15 and 21 of July 2008 to add them to the 'masterpiece' and give it a more realistic feel.

It is said that love and money go together. If you can't accept one you can't accept the other because they're both linked to your self-esteem. The receipts symbolise our subconscious attaching of prices and values to ourselves and others. What we feel we deserve in terms of love and money and how far, or how little, we allow ourselves to receive it. The receipts mean different types of love. Pricey love, wealthy love, bargain love, bankrupt love.

This is a personal project, like every art project I've ever done. I never know whether it will become public or not until it does. It could end up in the best art gallery in Dublin or on a conservatory wall in the middle of nowhere.

I use the classifieds all the time. The first time was back in Brazil when I was 19. I was secretly selling my piano to travel around Europe without my parents knowing. It was so, so painful to do. It was like selling a part of me. I won that piano when I was about eight but I wanted to travel so badly.

Maybe I've got gypsy blood in me because I'm not so good at laying down roots. I've been on a long sabbatical from medical school and I miss home but I also love it here. Irish people are so special, different and funny. They like to make fun of everything and are so relaxed. You never know, if my modelling, acting, singing, artistic or any creative career of mine suddenly takes off over here then I'll consider staying longer. Or if I suddenly get married that would also make me stay over here a little longer too! Med school is always going to be there, but not people. They can change, leave or even die and you may never get a second chance if you don't act now.

I think art makes you happy. It can bring you closer to your love and your love to you too. Mine did. That Irish man and I are together now.