Miguel Rio Branco Oyinho. Salvador, Bahia. Brazil. 1994.
“In the 1970s, I focused on the parallel lives in Pelourinho, a historic neighborhood in Salvador that was at the time inhabited by prostitutes.
When I came
(...) back to live in Salvador later on, I returned my focus to the sensual, solar, and rich lives in this city center. Pelourinho was not only the first capital of Brazil, when the country was still a colony of Portugal, but also host to the first slave market on the continent.
The Afro-Brazilian dance pictured, capoeira, is one of the more musical fights ever invented. Slaves used to trick their masters by disguising their fight training in a ceremonial dance. The ‘closer’ in this case is related to the speed required to reach a point of balance in relation to the subjects. Here, their poses recall the work of the 18th century Brazilian sculptor, Aleijadinho.”
- Miguel Rio Branco © Miguel Rio Branco | Magnum Photos
