Mariame: an initiation to the body

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MARIAMEan initiation to the body

Ilana Paterman Brasil

2012


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About this project

Introduction

Mariame

A past life in Salvador

A current life in Paris

Bahia

Observing rituals

Filming rituals

Engaging in rituals

Escaping dualism

Appendix

Diary excerpts

Process sketches

References

Acknowledgements

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About this project

Based on the documentary ilm Mariame, this work is a re lection on

the transformation process passed by Mariame Damba, a French-African

dancer. She travels to Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, to engage in corporeal and

spiritual rituals, such as the dance/ ight Capoeira and the African-Brazilian

religion Candombl . Impressions and commentaries, handwritten in a

diary during the ilming process, are part of this work as a complementary

contextualization. Sketches with concepts and timelines, made before and

during the editing process, are also included.

Mariame is the inal project of my post-graduation studies at the Academy

of Media Arts Cologne, Germany. The written part was directly prepared

in English. An attempt to translate it into Portuguese made me realize its

impossibility: structure, words and even the own idea of doing this project

were to be communicated outside Brazil. Nonetheless, t he diary texts are

presented in their original form and language in the appendix of this book.


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Para onde vai a minha vida e quem a leva?

Por que eu fao sempre o que no queria?

Que destino contnuo se passa em mim na treva?

Que parte de mim, que eu desconheo, que me guia?

Where does my life go to, and who is taking it?

Why do I always do what I didnt want?

What continuous destiny passes by me in darkness?

Which part of me, that I do not know, guides me?

Fernando Pessoa

Spinoza offers philosophers a new model: the body. He proposes

to establish the body as a model: We do not know what the body

can do. This declaration of ignorance i s a provocation. We speak

of consciousness and its decrees, of the will and its effects, of the

thousand ways of moving the body, of dominating the body and the

passions but we do not know what a body can do. Lacking thisknowledge, we engage in idle talk. As Nietzsche will say, we stand

amazed before consciousness, but the truly surprising thing is rather

the body.

Gilles Deleuze


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Heat. Static sun, everyday the same. No wind, n o cooler moments. The feeling

of inertia seems to exist only in the weather: all our body senses receive signs

at their maximal capacity, non-stop. Lets take hearing, for instance. Close

to the window, we can hear at least three different so ngs being played from

different speakers. Then a man passes by, singing another o ne, out loud

which originally was in English, but the words he pronounces dont belong to

any language. A rooster starts to sing too, followed by three or four dogs, all

together. An audible chaos. The evening comes. A berimbau is being played

right under the window. A woman yells a bad word. Later that night, gun

shots are heard after a voice that screamed you got involved with my wife.

This is a very simple d escription of what a daily life in Salvador da Bahia,

Brazil, can be, without even leaving home. Full of life, one can say; full of

action. Local people have a special kind of freedom; its not necessarily a lack

of politeness, but rather a direct, instinctive way of dealing with situations

and with others. Yes, dogs bark, and can even attack us. People can do it

too: its said that almost everybody carries a knife. Walking around the

streets, people touch our arms, grab our hands sometimes to try to sell us

something, other times for no apparent reason (perhaps an instant and short

attraction). People dance, people dance while pl aying drums, and dance after

robbering a tourist.

During three months, I followed Mariame, a French woman with African and

Caribbean origins, on a very s pecial trip to this city, with the goal of creating a

documentary ilm about it. Mariame was born and raised in Paris, immersed

in a traditional rational Western culture. Nonetheless, she became a dancer

and started to develop several corporeal activities. Following an intuitionrather than a reason, she decided to adventure herself in this contrasting

change of environment.

My interest on this trip was directly related to the described scene (although

I thought it wouldnt be that extreme): after two years living in Germany,


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everytime something strange was about to happen, she would look at me,

moving her nose like it was itching. Besides being a contemporary dancer,

she plays Capoeira quite well. In African-Brazilian religions, spir ituality is

completely integrated to body and material t hings. Through dance, believers

can achieve the desired unconscious state of becoming possessed by a God or

a Goddess. Mariame wanted, above all other t hings, to discover this potential

of her body. A potential she could nt rationalize. This work is, therefore, about

the body, and what our bodies can do, that we do not know meaning that

our conscious level does not have the capacity to fully comprehend it. The

body surpasses the knowledge we have of it, exclaimed Deleuze.

In October of 2011, I left Germany towards Paris. By conditioning my body to

a different culture, to a language I couldnt speak and to a series of physical

and psychological pressures, my own transformation process was starting. In

our irst meeting, Mariame gave me a written paper, done with care, of all her

activities for the following week. I could go with her to as many as I wanted.

having passed all the 2 7 years before in Brazil, I was craving for a l ittle bit

of chaos. Besides, and more impo rtantly, I felt in Germany a strong lack o f

spiritual activity. This may sound exagerated, but I wouldnt have another way

to de ine the development of non-rational proceedings, like faith, intuition, or

physical practices that can connect us to something our reason cant absorb.

Surpassing the borders of reason is a natural, almost daily thing in Brazil

however, inhabitants theoretically live within these bord ers in a predominant

Western culture.

Personally, I do have quite a baggage related to spirituality, and this was

essential in order to be opened enough to embrace new experiences. As a

mixed Brazilian, I was born in Jewish/Catholic families, highly in luenced by

practices from Spiritism. In Brazil, there are several kinds of spiritist beliefs.

Some are more intellectual, even scienti ic, like the one founded by the French

Allan Kardec, in the 19 th Century. Others are more practical, having Kardecs

books as a basis as well, but applying the incorporation (the possession of

spirits into the bodies of mediums, i.e., people who are sensitive enough to

establish contact with them) in weekly sessions. Other doctrines go further

on corporeal activities, using material obj ects, food, beverages and dance in

order to reach and to enhance this apparent contact.

Therefore, the idea to mediate a Western place contaminated by animistic 1

practices, which happens to be my homeland, and a rational standard

Western country like Germany, which happens to be where I live, seemed to

me quite intriguing. This mediation would be through the trip of a Parisian

woman in Bahia, as the narrative to repor t this feeling.

Mariame, however, does not see herself as a typical European. She has

got special powers. Apparently, her level of consciousness surpasses our

physical and sensorial limitations. It would be a gift she was born with, albeit

shes been developing it for the past ten years. Mariame feels and knows

things from past, present and future. Her intuition is perceived by her nose:

1. Animism (from Latin anima soul, life) refers to the belief that non-human entitiesare spiritual beings, or at least e mbody some kind of life-principle.


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in luencing us and co-acting. Therefore, as people co-act every time, so do other

beings: Oxum 2 , the sea, the guardian angel, grandparents and aunts, the lamp,

the food. The limitation of the body is an illusion, a hologram, says Mariame.

Would it be possible to show in a ilm a change of level of consciousness? This

trip is for noble purposes. The ilm is a consequence. Im no anthropologist nor

philosopher. I want to be part of it, into it. Th ats life.

2. Oxum is one of the Goddesses of Candombl, an African-Brazilian religion.

We also decided to schedule an energetic therapy session: her mentioned

special powers were revealed at this practice of achieving body memor ies

through simple touches with her hands, special incenses, stones, and above

all, clairvoyance capacities.

Throughout this work we will ind excerpts (differed by italic font) from

a spontaneous diary I wrote to help myself on dealing with Mariames

transformation process, as well as with my own. I hope these unpretentious

texts, originally handwritten in Portuguese, may also help the reader to enter

rather than rationally understand the multiple richnesses that can be

found in the following experiences.

27.11.11

Five weeks have passed. Ive had a session of energetic therapy with Mariame.

She told me I should write down all the transformation I am passing through.

Here we go.

I need body activites, says Mariame. Maracatu, Capoeira she says I should

practice dance. Eating, eating meat. To enter, to really incarnate. Im not well

incarnated. My energy is confused, not embodied. Im going to Bahia to meet

my ancestors. Like Mariame. They are not from my blood. Who am I?

Im going to the other side of the world to do art on searching my ancestors.

I look at Mariame, a Shaman, funny, strong and powerful woman. She knows

what she wants, carried by intuition. She is herself a superior consciousness.Body and soul, only one thing. She curses, is jealous, is angry. She is not weak.

She is not lazy.

Perhaps, thinking on a duo relation me-God, or ego-light is too limited to

Western reason. For there is fear of thinking on entities and spirits around us,


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MARIAME


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A PAST LIFE IN SALVADOR

Mariame discovered a connection with the city of Salvador in an energetic

therapy session, when she was a patient, many years ago. In this activity, the

therapist has access to memories of the patients body, in order to p erceive

physical and emotional problems in a energetic level, achieving as well

memories of past lives. Mariame heard from her therapist that she had a life

in Salvador already, when she started an initiation process in Candombl ,

the African-Brazilian religion, and for some reason didnt conclude it. She

became, after years of spiritual and personal development, a practicioner of

energetic therapy herself.

Although she believed in this information, Mariame did not have a will

to connect herself to Brazilian culture right away; it took years for this to

happen, and it came in a very natural way. In a trip to Barcelona, Spain, she

watched a Capoeira ritual for the irst time, and became fascinated with

it. Capoeira is the traditional ight/dance created as a disguised weapon

by the slaves in Brazil, whose ritualistic p ractice is very much related to

Candombl . As she told me, by that time she was no t even aware anymore

of the information about her past life. But the attraction was so strong, that

she immediately started taking Capoeira lessons. After a few years, Mariame

got involved into different percussion classes of Brazilian rhythms. An d,

inally, she began to investigate the Candombl religion: only by reading

about it, Mariame had a strong feeling of connection to it. Ten years after


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Mariame was sure she needed to go to Salvador, in a certainty that can not

be described in de ined facts and goals. However, one thing that she indeed

had in mind was to bring together her abilities of dance and spiritualism, by

learning the so called dance of Orixs .Orixs are the Gods and Goddesses of

Candombl , and they can be connected to humans through speci ic repetitive

dance movements, which ideally conduct an initiate into a trance state.

14.01.12

meeting with Lucia, having a juice.

When Mariame gets up to go to the toilet, Lucia asks me: does Mariame belong

to Candombl? I answer, no, but she is quite interested in it and is looking for a

contact with the religion. She inquires, she has marks in her arm, the same they

do to children in Candombl, when they are still babies. They do several cuts,

one after the other. Mariame returns, I ask her what are those seven marks.

Vaccines, I suppose. My mother does not know what they are, not even the

doctors. Lucia i s spiritist 3 , and has in her look the enchant of the mysteries of life.

3. Spiritism is a term for religious faiths having in common the general belief in thesurvival of a spirit after death and reincarnation.

inding out about her past life in Salvador, she decided it was time to go back

to something that only her body could know yes, it was her own body who

told her at the irst place, as it is her own body who sends messages to her

consciousness. This can be called intuition.

17.01.12

3 rd therapy session with Mariame

On the boat trip to Itaparica island, Mariame was quiet. When we arrived, she

said, lets schedule the therapy for the next days. I received a lot of messages for

you.

Mariame saw my connection with Salvador, a consciousness asleep. Nostalgia.

Times of joy, lightness. I was a white man, happy and joyful. He married a black

woman. However, because of Candombl, they had to break up. He created then

an anger feeling with this religion.

She told me I am in a complete process of transformation. It will last two years,

and it starts now. She said I can have strong stomachaches and headaches, pain

in the back too, for there is a very strong and concentrated interior energy. It

has to come out little by litte. If not, I can get crazy. Little by little, it will come to

the exterior. I need to stay alone for some time, in order to have consciousness of

this slow transformation. I need to be physically strong. Capoeira, dance. To eat,

to eat with will. Because I need physical strength to bear this energy.

I have this memory of the Bahian white man, searching answers. Searching

to understand what has happened. The reason why Candombl separated the

couple. To understand this religion. To be i n peace.


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A CURRENT LIFE IN PARIS

Mariame is a woman full of activities. She is a children educationist, originally

graduated in Law, and still holds a degree on Contemporary Dance. Besides

having a regular job, Mariame has a tight schedule due to several corporeal

activities, for example, batucada classes ( batucada is the name used in

Europe to designate all sorts of Brazilian rhythms that can be played in group

with drums), Capoeira and singing lessons. A s we went to a class of the latter,

she explained to me that the main reason to learn how to properly sing was

to unblock a family karma , which was concentrated on the t hroat. She was

warned about it by her energetic therapist and, according to her, one can cure

spiritual and emotional issues through corporeal work.

In the scenes of corporeal activities in Paris, we can notice that, at least

partially, rational thinking plays a signi icant role. For example: in the irst

scene, of a singing class, Mariame is visibly trying to rationalize the right

note to be sung. And complains: its not evident. The training of Capoeira

is systematically ordered by one, two, three, four. And, during an exercise

of dance and drums at a batucada class, some women feel ashamed for not

knowing exactly which side is right and which side is left.

Mariame is also learning Brazilian Portuguese, in order to be prepared for her

trip. Here we ind a curious fact: learning a language can be q uite a corporeal

domain. During a class, Mariame explains that this language affects deeply the

whole body when one speaks, while French acts only in the mouth and in

the head, as she adds afterwards.

The curiosity about this conclusion is that she is already passing from a

basically rational thinking society to a animistically contaminated one, where

corporeal activities seem to play a major role. It is a multi-layered passage,

that includes French to Brazilian Portuguese, or a mouth-affect to a whole

body language experience.


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BAHIA


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OBSERVING RITUALS

In Brazil, especially in the North and Northeast regions, its possible to ind

residues of other modes of perceiving reality; many times, mixed within a

Western established culture.

The state of Bahia is well-known for having strongly this kind of mixture.

It is the most A frican of the Brazilian states. Its capital, Salvador, is the city

outside Africa with the largest proportion of black people. Its inhabitants

deal with animistic presence in everyday life. African-Brazilian religions and

habits believe on the subjectivity of material beings, and often interact with

them: we can see a good amount of the population during a speci ic festivity

throwing lowers, perfume bottles and jewels in the ocean, to praise the

Goddess of the sea, Yemanj who is a beautiful woman, and at the same time

is the sea itself.

Syncretically to the Catholic Church being Brazil the country with the

largest number of believers of t his religion , Yemanj is also the Virgin

Mary, and images of her can be found in this festivity. The Catholic faith is

commonly super icial and most of the declared believers af irm being so in

theory, including other religions habits to their daily practices.

Besides these material connections on spirituality, African-Brazilian tradition

brings the unconscious state to an established procedure. People in trance


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of mermaids, posters of Cathol ic saints, money, Jesus Christ, a large basket

with popcorn. A woman dressed as a nun holding a cruci ix blesses another

woman, by pulling her foot toes.

This nun becomes possessed, and we hear Mariames laughters. She then

says to the camera: thats really the type of people here, who pretend to be

in trance, its funny. Thats the magic of Salvador: there is everything. Party,

Candombl , I incorporate, I fall, I get up

Forming a discreet circle, a closed space over the sand , black women in white

dance. One gets possessed, and falls. Others help her. She holds another

womans long skirt. I ask myself if this beautiful and strong scene Im

witnessing is nothing but theater. I would guess not: despite being in a public,

syncretic celebration, they didnt seem to act in order to be observed.

Mariame was amazed by a group called Filhos de Gandhy (sons of Gandhy),

where only men can join the ritual. The group, founded in 1949, is

considered an Afox group, and takes a famous part of the Bahian carnival,

promoting a huge parade in the streets. Afox is de ined as a street

Candombl . Every Sunday, in a big old house located at the center of Salvador,

dozens of men dance in circle, following the sounds of sacred drums. Slowly,

some of them reach a state of trance: the dance movements low softly

and wider, or more feminine, one could say, and their face expressions

demonstrate a strange pleasure.

(most of them women) are seen in closed ceremonies in Candombl and

other religions and in open space, during festivities such as the Yemanj

Day mentioned above. According to their belief, such states are achieved

when there is a connection between their bodies and a divine entity, such as

Yemanj, the Goddess of the sea, and oth er Orixs , who are basically related

to (and are) nature and natural phenomena. The own origin of the person in

trance is his/her speci ic Orix. For example, if a daughter of Yemanj gets in

trance, she will become Yemanj herself; she is her daughter, as this means her

soul came from the soul of the oceans. This trance state can be reached through

a repetitive dance associated with a contagious rhythm of sacred drums.

Mariame is now a foreigner, although she doesnt lo ok like one. We go to a

few public religious festivities. People wear white clothes, and seem to be

connected to spiritual values. Soon, Mariame will conclude these values are

actually shallow, and the festivities are an excuse to meet friends and drink.

People take pictures of her, thinking she is a typical Bahian. Possession

sessions happen in front of us; thanks to her clairvoyance abilities, Mariame

laughs, being sure that the apparent unconscious state is nothing but theater.

Besides the possession sessions, we can see a complete mix in su ch festivities:

images and activities related to Candombl and the Orixs ; saints of the

Catholic church; musical bands playing typical northeast Brazilian rhythms;

people drinking beer since early in the morning; politicians campaigns; and

a variety of street traders. Other religious ceremonies we visited happen in

closed areas.

The Day of Yemanj is the second biggest festivity in Salvador. As it was

already mentioned, people come to throw presents to her in the sea (basicallyroses, mirrors and perfume bottles). Mariame holds roses. Fireworks, boats,

and drum sounds. People in white and blue (Yemanjs colors). Mariame

observes a groups playing and dancing an African kind of dance similar to

samba. She is again photographed. She sees this crazy mixture of a man

dressed like an American Indian singing and becoming possessed, statues


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FILMING RITUALS

If getting a contact with a traditional Candombl place was already a hard

issue, we can easily guess the impossibility to ilm such sacred rituals. We

visited a house where a group o f this religion would p ractice all its activities,

besides living there. These houses, terreiros (yards), are located normally

outside the urban area, immersed in nature and rustic daily life. The non-

ilmable experiences on this terreiro are described in the following excerpts

of the d iary.

20.01.12

Yesterday we went to a Candombl yard, called Oxumar. A light blue gate. A

staircase, covered by a white awning. Colorful statues of Orixs on the way.

Peace. Serenity. Small white houses with blue doors and windows. Animals,

rooster, chicken, drake, goat. Calm people in white pass by. White clothes

involving trees trunks.

As we arrived at the top of this terrain, some women, trying to carry a table,

demand us for help. Dona Janete, a black skinny old lady with whom I had

talked on the phone, runs inside a small house and comes back with white

clothes, covering Mariame and me in January, its imperative to wear white,

since its Oxals month. After we helped them, Janete puts a long white skirt

on me no shorts allowed in the yard. A white, blond lady, very sympathetic

and lovely, guides us to know every part of the place. The ballroom, colorful,

garnished. The oldest lady, practically a goddess for this blond lady. Sheexplains us coincidences, like the staircase having 16 parts there are 16

Orixs. She says that Iroco almost died of sadness when a Me-de-santo (the

highest hierarchical lady) passed away. Iroco is a leafy tree. Oxumars animal

is the snake, and she says that there is one there, that naturally appeared, and

that does not bite anyone. She says she is a Federal Judge, and lost many friends


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hierarchies of women in this religion), dozens of them, in white, barefoot, would

dance in circle, one after the other. Almost all were black, in beautiful white

lace dresses, with covered heads. The dance was discreet, symbolizing Oxal, I

suppose.

The smell. There was a smell that marked me. I believe it was a mixture of a

special incense with sweat. But it was a healthy sweat, of everybody, and this

reinforced on me the idea of a collective ritual.

At a certain moment, in the beginning still, the drums change the pace. We can

feel a more distinctive sound, a stronger rhythm. Women start to receive saint.

There are also a couple of men among 50 or more women (there are children as

well, girls about 7, 8 years-old, in white dresses, among the women, but who dont

get possessed). We notice that the dance gets more energetic, looser. Closed, or

semi-closed, eyes. Some of the possessed women come close to us visitors, and then

to the main door of the room. We extend our arms, in parallel, to salute them.

The environment is very positive, and the sound of the drums contaminates

everybody. Some women, in sandals, dont receive saint; they are there to help,

drying the sweat from the faces of the possessed women, guiding them. Some of

the latter are seen in a true epileptic crisis; quickly several come to help them. I

forgot to mention the singing: since the beginning, everybody sings.

The food arrives. Two women with two huge pots pass by the members of the

ceremony, laying on each hand a portion of what is inside the pot. They come to

us. White corn, cooked without salt Ive read a myth that explains why Oxal

rejects salt, but I forgot and another food I couldnt really identify. Everyoneeats with the hand. Each Orix has a special food, that irst is offered to him/

her. The rest goes to the humans at the ceremony.

We notice a light alteration in one point of the circle. And there is celebration.

As we understood, Oxal himself has arrived, possessi ng a woman. He receives

when she was converted to Candombl, for her husband was initiated. She

introduces us to everyone who passes by, always adding from each Orix the

person belongs.

Dona Janete kept talking about a book we had to buy. The books title was

referring to Pierre Verger (one of the most famous photographers of Bahia and

Candombl) . I ask her, was he taking part here? She replies, he is still taking

part here! He was the one who wrote that book.

Mariame was quiet the whole time, suspicious. And me, excited. I asked if I

could come again to ilm. She was quiet. I started to think she was not liking the

energy of that place. A man, responsible for the house, came to answer me about

ilming. With arrogance, he asked me what I could give them in return. I sai d I

wouldnt pro it from it, that I could give my own work in return. He said that I

should come back another day to talk. Why does it have to be this way?

It was so hard to explain what I want to ilm, and why I want to ilm. I hope I

can do it when we talk again.

22.01.12

Friday evening, the 20th, Mariame and I got dressed up in white in order to go

to the celebration of Oxal, at Oxumar yard. There were only a few visitors

in the ballroom. At the ceiling, hundreds of white cloth stripes, and dozens of

colorful ones forming a rainbow, symbol of Oxumar. In mythology, he was a

woman during 6 months of the year. Very attractive and greedy, he awaked thesexual interest from men and women.

At the left side of the ballroom, there was a part for pe rcussion, the sacred

drums. At the very center of the room, a long object, like a statue. And mes

and ilhas-de-santo (mothers and daughters-of-saint, the irst and second


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a scepter, his symbol, with several strings with small objects attached to it,

which make noise as he moves. They cover his head with a white cloth. Little

by little, other women receive also Oxal. They are then put together some can

not even stand, and are carried on the back of men; however, their hands still

hold irmly the scepter. A large white cloth is extended above these women, and

a small procession is made.

A me-de-santo approaches us (the visitors summed around 12 people; women

on the left, men on the right side of the room). She stops in front of each one of

us, kissing our heads.

I left this place thinking on two things. First, the existence of a faith and a

religion without words, without the intellectual process we are used to. The

entities come down to Earth to dance and sing. In Spiritism, they come to bring

verbal messages some of love, some speci ic for each person. The celebration

in Candombl is a celebration of life. The beings come to celebrate, to dance, to

sing and even to eat. The pleasures are recovered. I put myself in their place: if

I was desincarnated and had the unique opportunity to possess a body, would I

prefer to talk about love and death to the incarnated, or would I join them in a

great celebration of this meeting and of having a body? Thi s joy, visible, makes

me want to dance more, to sing more, to eat with more pleasure after all,

what a privilege of being incarnated!

The second thing that grabbed my attention was the multiplicity of the

celebration. So many women, in circle, the drums on the side, such a harmony,

a strong and unique energy, circular and dynamic. There is no visible hierarchy

nor static positions. Everybody is the same, even having different functions.Everybody dances and sings. The whole, the union is present. Even us, as

visitors; for we all eat of the same food, and for the drums make us within the

same internal rhythm. The same pulse.

Filming a ritual is, in fact, standing outside a ritual. Not being allowed to bring

the camera to the Candombl yard was, in some aspect, relieving. I could be

there, even as a visitor; in a physical sense, I could be concentrated on that

moment, moving, talking, singing. My body could be free. My eyes could rest

in any frame, not having the anxious need to ind the best one.

Such feeling of freedom and integration also appeared when we joined the

already mentioned Yemanj Day. The expectation of having good images and

consequently being an outsider had to deal with a strong will of my body to

be dissolved into that indescribable energy.

02.02

2nd of February, the day the strike of the Police started in Salvador, was

Yemanj Day. We got up early, got dressed in white and blue. We left at 7 in

the morning. Street traders were offering us roses. Mariame bought three

white ones, and said that one was mine. When we arrived at the beach, many

small boats were coming and going; the sand area was divided in groups,

with drums, pais and mes-de-santo, and all Bahian diversity cruci ixes,

Saint Georges lag, food for saints, girls dancing, beer. I holded the camera

in order to ilm Mariame within this context. Seconds later, I noticed a scary

thing: there seemed to be more professional cameras in the celebration than

roses to Yemanj. Shocked, I decided to put the camera back on the bag. Right

afterwards, a man, perhaps a foreigner, holding a huge and potent camera,

focused on the typical Bahian woman, Mariame. Herself and I became a little

bit mad, and told him she was French. It didnt actually matter for him.

The image is what counts. The image, that represents and strengthens

prejudices. Mariame looks like the authentic Bahiana. It does not matter the

context nor the story. Nor the truth. To photograph a black woman, that was

this mans goal. He is his eyes. How is it possible to be in such ceremony, hearing


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the sound of drums, having roses, boats, white clothes, possessed people around

and opt for being only eyes? I dont want to be eyes anymore! I want to be a

whole, to be integrated to so many people who have as a goal something

way beyond taking pictures of supposed Bahian black women. Im not ilming

anymore, I decided. Then, it became clear the reason why I was sad as I woke

up that morning. I knew this decision would come.

Feeling integrated, part of a big ritual, Mariame and I approached one of the

groups which were playing drums on the sand area. Women were going, one by

one, to the center of the circle, to frenetically dance. After a few minutes, we got

the courage. The energy of the percussion and of the others took us. We gave

ourselves to this energy, and we danced, a lot, full of joy.

01.02

A camera that can not stand still. Everytime I watch the ilmed material, on the

next day, I get angry. Searching the ideal frame: the photographic performance

becomes clear, registering the dispair to get a good image.

To stand still during activities of body, rhythm, of the pure pulsed movement.

Since the beginning of this project, I ask myself if its worth it. There I am,

active at the activity of ilming, but passive, absent in the ritual. Absent?

What about the looks of disgust? I am an unpleasant presence. I myself look to

cameras in rituals this way. Maybe that is why this reaction happens. I attract

what I cause. Honestly, I think today, the 1 st of February, about changing the

media I work with. It would be fantastic to join in body and soul, becoming amember and above all not disappointing my companions at the moment

the mask falls down, that moment when I leave the Capoeira roda or the dance

group, to open my bag, to take that gigantic object of modern technology.

The lens of a frightening circumference that sucks everything! Souls, gestures,

moments which are ephemeral. As the Spiritists would say, I vampirize

everything and everybody during their most sublime, most present and most

unique moment the ritual.


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holding even special religious positions including the one of becoming

possessed in rituals. A few songs sung by this group at roda are Candombl

songs. Master Valmir said that if a sensitive person who belongs to Candombl

is playing the game, and a Candombl song starts, this person can become

possessed he said he can notice a subtle change on the persons movements

and look.

Back to the statement of th e Master, who would say that the best way to learn

is within the ritual: it became clear that this process is partially unconscious.

As a participant, one cant pay a rational attention to the game, since this

person needs to be fully concentrated on the whole. The pulse of the drums

makes every body follow the same internal rhythm. It is like our mind is

being distracted while our bodies become fully integrated in order to absorb

that game as it was being played by us. The animistic idea that the essence of

everything is the same and that things are subjects can be found in a Capoeira

roda : our bodies, within a same pulse, have an own process of learning and,

if I could risk to say, of being, merged to the instruments, that can speak

and give orders. The players are completely in luenced, if not guided, by the

whole. Conscious or rational decisions seem to have no room here; one can

clearly see if someone disconnects from the ritual. There is a complete fusion

of beings: bodies, sounds, singing, instruments, gestures, movements, and

even spiritual entities.

ENGAGING IN RITUALS

Her practice on Capoeira Angola becomes the easiest one to be developed in

Brazil, at FICA, the International Foundation of Capoeira Angola. The learning

process is quite different from Paris, though. We can see Mariame within

the ritual itself, which happens in a traditional roda (circle). She plays in a

theatrical manner, full of gestures and expressions: either violent, willing

to hit the adversary, or seductive, instigating and consequently fooling the

opponent. The main instrument, called berimbau , commands the ritual

through its different chords. She also engages in berimbau private classes.

A Master would say that the best way to learn Capoeira is during the ritual.

He does not necessarily mean during the game: besides the two players,

everybody in roda is joining it in various manners: a group called bateria

plays three berimbaus , a drum, two tambourines, an agog and a reco-reco ;

this group and the rest of the participants are dynamic, i.e., all positions are

changed from time to time. Those who are not playing the game nor any

instrument need, like all the rest, to sing the current song out loud and to be

concentrated on the whole the game, the sounds of each instruments, and

the instructions coming from the chords of the berimbau , that can announce

an end of a game, or even warn something to someone who is just watching

and singing. The own meaning of the lyrics also take role here, since there

are subtle messages being sung for example, that one of the players is

dangerous by singing to the other be careful man, there are seeds inside this

fruit (cuidado moo, essa fruta tem caroo) .

Capoeira has a strong connection to Candombl . Inside the room of theInternational Foundation of Capoeira Angola , in Salvador, we can ind a kind

of an altar on the loor close to the main door: a wing of a bird, perhaps a

rooster, is ixed on the wall; a candle is beneath it. I would guess it is a gift to

Ogum, the Orix of war and iron, and the protector of this Capoeira school.

Almost all of the local capoeiristas are believers of Candombl ; many of them


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25.01.12

It is written on Roger Bastides book (O Candombl na Bahia) that the

knowledge in this religion is transmitted in a very different way from the

Western tradition. Each month, each year, small see ds are revelated; many

times as alegories. It is a rhythm, a time that the Western man is not used to.

Mariame told me that in Africa is like that. If you talk to an elderly person,

for example, he hears all, but do es not answer anything. Someti mes, he would

move his head, subtly agreeing. And time would go by, till one day, when the

old man would say something. Little by little, in this pace, his knowledge would

be then transmitted.

Mariame inds a place to learn the dance of the Orixs . The teacher is called

Tata Mut, and he is a Pai-de-Santo , this means, he is at the top hierarchical

level of a Candombl group. The learning process of this class is also different

from the systematic model we saw in Paris. He does the movement, and

the rest needs to imitate him. No words, no explanations. However, she

realizes its not that easy to learn the dance within the context of reaching

unconscious states, or communicating with the Orixs . Like in Africa, she says,

the processes in Bahia are slow and non-objective.

In the ilm, the scene of the dance class brings to the viewers a simulation of

achieving another level of consciousness, represented by a fast pace, short

timing cuts, repetition of body movements and lashback ocurrences. This very

intense moment ends the ilm, followed by a complementary testimonial of Mariame one of the only scenes with verbal information. The lashback scenes

show past intensities, on which a possession or trance state was at least for

me evident. A few new images were added to this lashback mode, which can

illustrate that Mariame had this visual memories in her body, and the trance

state revealed them recovered memories from a supposed past life.


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ESCAPING DUALISM


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Guattaris summoning of animism (he goes so far as to say that it

would be necessary to temporarily pass through animist thought in

order to rid oneself of the ontological dualisms of modern thought)

does not signify in a ny way a return to some form of irrationalism.

Angela Melitopoulos and Maurizio Lazzarato

To conclude this work, its convenient to q uote this extract of the very irst

reference read before the project started. This passage is present in the

theoretical support of an art work that was included on an exhibition called

Animism. The Psychoanalyst Flix Guattari, who co-wrote with Gilles Deleuze

several books, was fascinated with the natural co-existence of animisticpractices, like Capoeira and Candombl , in a Western environment in Salvador

da Bahia. He goes further on saying it is necessary for Western inhabitants

to spend a time in such cultures, in order for us to realize how immersed

in limited dualistic thinking we are. It is, based on Mariames teachings, a

very successful form of achieving other consciousness levels, and to open

ourselves to different ways of seeing reality and of dealing with it.


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Eu sou a chuva que lana a areia do Saara

Sobre os automveis de Roma

Eu sou a sereia que dana

A destemida Iara, gua e folha da Amaznia

Eu sou a sombra da voz da matriarca da Roma negra

Voc no me pega

Voc nem chega a me ver

Meu som te cega, careta

Quem voc?

Que no sentiu o sungue de Henri Salvador

Que no seguiu o Olodum balanando o pel

E que no riu com a risada de Andy Warhol

Que no, que no, e nem disse que no

Eu sou um preto norte-americano forte

Com brinco de ouro na orelha

Eu sou a lor da primeira msica

A mais velha e a mais nova espada e seu cor te

Eu sou o cheiro dos livros desesperados

Sou Gita Gogoya

Seu olho me olha, mas no me pode alcanar

No tenho escolha, careta vou descartar

Quem no rezou a novena de Dona Can

Quem no seguiu o mendigo Joozinho Beija-Flor

Quem no amou a elegncia sutil de Bob

Quem no recncavo e nem pode ser reconvexo

I am the rain that throws the sand from the Sahara

over the cars in Rome

Im the mermaid who dances

The fearless Iara, water and foliage of the Amazon

I am the shadow of the voice of matriarch of the Black Rome

You will not catch me

You do not get to see me

My sound blinds you, man

Who are you?

Who has not felt the swing of Henri Salvador

Who has not followed Olodum shaking Pel

And who has not laughed with the laughter of Andy Warhol

who has not, who has not and nor said that

I am a st rong black American

With a gold earring in the ear

I am the lower of the irst song,

The oldest, and the newest sword and its cut

I am the desperate smell of books

I am Gita Gogoya

Your eyes look at me but cant reach me

I have no choice, man, I wil drop it

Who has not prayed the prayer of Dona Can

Who has not followed the beggar Johnny Beija-Flor

Who has not loved the subtle elegance of Bob

Who is not re-concave and can not be re-convex

Reconvexo, Caetano Veloso


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The Singer and Composer Caetano Veloso was born in Santo Amaro da

Puri icao, Bahia. His mother, Dona Can, is 104 years-old, and still

responsible for the most important day of this small town: the celebration

on the Three Kings Day, in the beginning of January, the irst public event

Mariame took part in Brazil.

The lyrics of one of his great songs can be clearly interpreted in an animistic

idea of reality. The title, Reconvexo , is a wordplay: Recncavo (re-concave)

Baiano is the region in Bahia where Salvador and Santo Amaro are located. It

has a shape of an arch. Convex and concave shapes are opposites; however,

they are the same thing, but being observed from different perspectives.

Would it then be a metaphor for reality?

I am the rain that throws the sand from the Sahara/ over the cars in Rome/

Im the mermaid who dances/ The fearless Iara, water and foliage of the

Amazon. These verses represent other ways of being and a subjecti ication of

objects. Besides, they come from a same subject, who is singing, so we can

conclude that this person is in fact all these elements that are described.

This multiplicity of personalities, including inanimate beings, can be related

to the association of things, spirits and nature that exists in Candombl . As

it was said before, Yemanj is a beautiful woman and is the ocean. Iansan,

Mariames Orix (as well as mine), is a strong, warrior woman, is the wind,

the storms, the rain, the thunder (that information is not so objective as we

are used to: Xang, a male, virile God, is also the thunder). At a deeper layer,

we can put us, as ordinary humans, in this multiplicity: Mariames soul came

from Iansan, so she is also Iansan, as she is also the wind, the storms, the rain,

the thunder.

Moving further into the lyrics, we have Who are you?/ Who has not followed

Olodum shaking Pel/() Who has not prayed the prayer of Dona Can.

Coincidentally, we have these two references present in the ilm. Olodum,

which is a percussion group, appears in a stage, located at Pelourinho, the

most famous square of Salvador (Pel is a local abbreviation). Dona Can,

as mentioned above, promotes local festivities involved in a mix of religious

and spiritual traditions. Who are you, asks him, who has not taken part in

these events? Poetry, as any artistic practice, can be understood in various

ways. However, its curious to see this song as a respo nse to someone who h as

not engaged in Bahian rituals and probably judges them in a rational way.

Would it then be a response to the Western European man, who can easily

look to animistic cultures and judge them as pr imitive or, in a worst sense,

who can only appreciate what can be rationalized? You will not catch me/ You

do not get to see me: it is something that does not belong to the perceptive

reality. The Western man does n ot get to see me, for I am much more than

this body.


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In one of the interviews with Mariame, after her irst experiences in Salvador,

she says: fundamentally, I believe this image is a projection of myself onto

the material world. It is nothing more than an image. Im not that image, Im

way more than that. And thats exactly what Im looking for, my quest. To

identify myself with it, with t his body, with this Mariame, to believe in this

limitation, could kill me.

Furthermore, Mariame tries to describe what happens when she achieves

a different conscious state while dancing: we do a irst pirouette, a spin,

technically its not that easy, I mean, it depends on the person, for me it isnt

easy at all. The irst pirouette is clumsy, the second is a littl e bit better, and at

the third you suddenly realize that it isnt you who turn but the whole world.

My god, who has already experienced something like that, once in a lifetime!

At the fourth pirouette: where am I? And at ifth thats it, youre back in

your body. But who has experienced this t iny little moment will never forget

it. Never, this feeling ofwhere am I? What is this thing that make that

Ouah!!!that is so much more than this daily life, so much more, and that

feels us up with such a feeling of life there is no word to describe it. And the

exact following moment, its gon e, all of it is gone.

Witht his statement, we end the ilm and this written work: it is, rather than

a conclusion of a process, an invitation for the reader and the viewer to

search the potentiality of their own bodies and to engage in non-dualistic

experiences.


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References

BASTIDE, Roger. O Candombl da Bahia. So Paulo. Companhia das Letras,

2001

DELEUZE, Gilles; Flix Guattari. A thousand plateaus. Capitalism and

Schizophrenia. Minneapolis e.a.: Univ. of Minneapolis Pr. 2002

DELEUZE, Gilles. The Deleuze reader. New York. Columbia University Pr. 1993

MELITOPOULOS, Angela and Maurizio Lazzarato, Machinic Animism.

Animism, Volume I, edited by Anselm Franke, Sternberg Press, Kunsthalle

Bern, 2010, p. 98

PRANDI, Reginaldo. A mitologia dos Orixs. So Paulo. Companhia

das Letras, 2001

VIVEIROS DE CASTRO, Eduardo. Exchanging perspectives: the

transformation of objects into subjects in Amerindian ontologies, in Common

Knowledge, vol. 10, no.3, Duke University Press, 2004, p. 463-484

Exiles. Dir. Tony Gatlif. Home Video Entertainment , 2004. Film.

Acknowledgements

Academy of Media Arts Cologne

Supervisors: Matthias Mller,

Marie-Luise Angerer, Anneka Metzger

Daniela Kinateder, Olivier Arcioli,

Daniel Burkhardt, Ewald Hentze, Ingo Baier,

KHM Freundeskreis

Cologne

Clemens Deimann, Leticia Raasch,

Daphn Keramidas, Renata Buriti

Paris

Simone Paterman, Ana Constantinescu and Maracatu Tamarac,

Emilia Charmone, Roberta Paim and Zalind Batucada class, Mestre Guar

and Escola de Capoeira Angola de Paris, Sophie Maison, Rmy Besson,

Laure Fourest

Salvador

Mestre Valmir, Dija, Aloan and Fundao Internacional de Capoeira Angola

Bahia; Tata Mut Im and NZinga Capoeira e Dana; Lcia Bittencourt;

Dona Darcy, Seu Neuton and all inhabitants of the pension at Rua do Sodr;

Clarice Cajueiro and her friends in Santo Amaro; Mestre Lua Rasta and

Angoleiros do Mar

Rio de Janeiro

Celia Gappo, Rachel Paterman Brasil, Newton Paterman Brasil

Above all, special thanks to Mariame Damba, who, besides being

a fascinating person, is now a special friend.


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www.ilanapaterman.com

1982 born in Petrpolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2001-2006 Design studies at Esdi, Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial, Brazil

2009-2012 Media Art studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Germany

Concept, design, photographs and text: Ilana Paterman Brasil


Kunsthochschule fr Medien Kln

2012

Documents

Mariame: an initiation to the body