Y’all!!
Afro-Indigenous Brazilian photographer Rafael Pavarotti did a story for British Vogue March 2024 with Anok Yai & Zaya Guarani paying homage to Brazil’s African & Indigenous spirituality
Every image has a backstory.
This thread will address a couple of them 🇧🇷🧵
Ewá 🐍
Brazil is both African & Indigenous
Anok represents goddess Ewá in this picture
Having Ewá the Snake with the imagery of a Black woman that in nowadays society is still the
most vulnerable being, we reconnect power to where power was taken
The snake is her symbol
R. Pavarotti
Indigenous model & activist Zaya Guarani wears her house around herself. She’s beautifully grounded &
protected, but also aware of the body as the home.
The Raffia is also used on Indigenous homes, called Oca.
This photo also speaks about
displacement of Indigenous Amazonians.
Pombagira, a deity that represents healing, power, love and emancipation to many countries of the African diaspora.
She’s the one believed to take care of the matters of the heart and the souls of those who need help.
It’s a take on an icon made to be revered.
Rafael Pavarotti
A take on the turbans worn by women of Candomblé.
The white paint is called
Efum/uáji. It’s a part of a ritual cleansing, protection and awakening of their users
The fruit bowl is an offering
The hammock is a place of rest in many cultures, where
this goddess also resides.
Marks carry on the
power to enhance communication as they make others aware of the importance of its wearer.
Just as we use clothes to express who we are.
For Indigenous ppl & Africans,
body paint is a mark of identity.
It’s a cultural manifestation that transmits information.
Yemanja, the Afro-Brazilian deity of the oceans.
On Anok’s hair, the fish
bones and a clear plastic mask are directly related to the polluted ecosystem.
In this visual world where spiritual, turns physical. We imagine how the goddess looks after
the destruction of her habitat.
The red coat is a homage to the Tupinambá Robe, an important and sacred piece of clothing for the Indigenous community.
It celebrates the return of
this piece to Brazil, after violently being taken away by Denmark during the invasion
And represents the Arara Vermelha, macaw🦜🦜
ìrókò or loko, the Ruler of Trees
This tree is considered a sacred tree with high spiritual significance to many African and Indigenous communities in Africa and South-America.
This image adresses a specific moment in history, where the ppl of Belém in the Amazon were obliged to follow the same dress code of the Belle Époque.
We re-imagine both Black & Indigenous bodies in the same place of grace & presence as the ones who introduced such fashion.
I want to finish the thread w/ this shot is reenacting Carnival
Not a mythology, just the engrained energy of CELEBRATION
Black girl joy, a shot as proof of freedom, liberation and joy
Rafael Pavarotti did an AMAZING job w/ this story for British Vogue
instagram.com/p/C4VnWBCP1kB/…
I’ll leave y’all with a book to read
“Banning Black Gods”
Written by Brazilian author Danielle N Boaz @ReligiousRacism that speaks DIRECTLY to the unique & pervasive hostility that African Diaspora Religions and its practitioners receive bc of ANTI-BLACK RACISM and its history
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