José Medeiros — Candomblé — MEP, Maison européenne de la photographie — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: October 5 → November 13, 2011

This exhibition features a series of prints from an outstanding reportage piece made by José Medeiros in 1951 for the magazine O Cruzeiro. Entitled As Noivas dos deuses sanguinarios (Brides of the Bloodthirsty Gods), it covers an initiation ceremony that forms part of the Afro-Brazilian religion candomblé in the city of Salvador de Bahia. The photographs show the different phases of the ceremony: reclusion of novices, dances, incisions made in the scalp and on the arms, animal sacrifices, etc. When it was published, the piece was met with strong disapproval from many candomblé believers in Bahia, who saw it as a violation of its secrets and a profanation of sacred places. Despite this it was hugely successful and became a well known reference. Beyond the controversy, the photographs of José Medeiros remain some of the most important ever taken on this subject, and are now considered landmarks in Brazilian photography.