Gala dress, 2019

(To Yemayá)
Seven flags;
02 black lights;
01 photograph of Santera Raiza Morenas Cruz,15x 23 cm digital pigment print on Hahnemühle pearl paper

The Priestess of Yemayá, Raiza Morenas Cruz, told me about the ritual of wearing a gala dress when the Ìyàwó, person who is going through the process of initiation in Santería, is presented to the drums, the reborn moment. After that, the dress should only be worn again by the time of death. The mystery of the sacred gala dress, always hidden, as if living in the abysm of the oceans, inspired the flags with the seven elements of Yemayá, which navigate under the black light. In the abysm is where the bioluminescent beings live.

Pics by Marina Camargo