Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. photolithograph on paper, Oddun Para 11905

1998.18

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Oddun Para

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Artist

Marta María Pérez Bravo (Cuba, 1959 - )

Title

Oddun Para

Creation Date

1997

Century

20th century

Object Type

Creation Place

North America, Cuba

Medium and Support

photolithograph on paper

Credit Line

Anonymous Gift and Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

1998.18

Born in Havana and based in Mexico, Pérez Bravo uses black-and-white photography to juxtapose parts of her body with elements of Afro-Cuban religions such as Santería and Palo Monte, which originated in West and Central Africa and were brought to the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade. This image shows the artist’s upturned palms displaying two objects: a sunflower that represents the goddess Oshun and a lightning bolt for the god Shangó. Pérez Bravo frames the photograph like a private altar, superimposed with handwritten texts that offer votive prayers to the two Orishas (deities). Evoking both the physical and esoteric vocabulary of the body, Pérez Bravo uses spirituality to speak to women’s lived experiences and interior life. Staging a ritualistic event, the work’s combination of text and image generates a syncretic parallel between bodily language, sacred symbols, written texts, and the spoken word.

Additional Media

recto