Nasce uma iabá: festa de iniciação de Oxum

Abstract

This visual essay refers to a visual ethnography that records the aesthetic dimensions of candomblé ceremonies through photography. The author, as a son-of-a-saint, reiterates how this religious tradition is subalternized in the face of hegemonic knowledge that marginalizes dissident bodies. Based on decolonial contributions, the essay proposes another way of looking at the manifestations of religions of African origin, in a bid to break away from colonial impositions. The visual essay is based on the recording of a public ceremony on the sacred ground of the Terreiro T'Aziry Ladè, where a novice, newly initiated to the matriarch deity Oxum, is introduced to the community of the African matrix religion.