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Exhibition reviews
Mario Cravo Neto:
A Serene Expectation
of Light
Autograph ABP, London
15 January 2 April 2016
Mario Cravo Neto is one of Brazils
most notable photographers and
sculptors, and this exhibition marks a
welcome opportunity, for the first time,
to see a solo exhibition of his work in
London. The artist, who died in R009, is
best known for his images of everyday
life in his native state of Bahia, on the
eastern coast of Brazil, a region with a
long and rich African heritage. The
poetic title of this exhibition comes
from the famous Brazilian musician
Caetano 2eloso, who said of Cravo
Netos work We can feel how he lov-
ingly touches each wall, each grain of
sand, each wrinkle. Each mind in the
city all is caressed by his serene expec-
tation of light.
While this exhibition assembles
only a small part of Cravo Netos oeu-
Mario Cravo Neto Homem com dois peixes
vre, it gives a strong sense of some of
(Man with two fish), 199R
the key themes in his photographic
work. It is divided in two parts The with slaves violently ripped from their There are dozens of )rishas, and Eshu
Eternal Now and LUroi. In the first homelands in West Africa. Condensed represents the link between the spiritu-
series, entirely in black and white, the and re-territorialized in Brazil, where it al and the material world, a messenger
artist represents rituals that appear borrowed elements from indigenous figure with parallels to the Trickster of
ersatz as well as eternal, creations of traditions and colonial Christianity, Native American mythology. jymbols
the artists imagination endowed with today Candombl has over three mil- of Eshus presence from foods con-
a deeply affecting, almost primordial lion followers worldwide. sumed in his honor to sly glances pop
power. A black rock is inserted into an The second half of the exhibition up in nearly every photograph, inti-
ear, which turns out to be a perfectly offers a selection from Cravo Netos mately entwining him with the street
contoured receptacle. A turtle shell much larger Lar8i series largely can- life of jalvador.
obscures a persons face, yet takes on did color photographs depicting the As the photographer and researcher
its own anthropomorphic qualitiesJ its urban life of jalvador, the capital of Pierre 2erger reminds us, the original
tessellations suggesting eyes, nose, Bahia. The vibrant images have an representation of Eshu with an erect
and mouth. almost audible amplitude to them, in phallus was an affirmation of the gods
The artist commented that he hoped contrast to the quiet undulations of the racy, shameless character. These images
to develop that transition between the first series. Everything is brought to its shocked the sensibilities of Catholic
inert ob ect and the sacred ob ect. sensual peak, from perspiration drip- Europeans, who demonized Eshu and
Implicit in this quote is a key insight to ping off bodies to markets filled with regarded his followers as Devil-wor-
be sacred is, above all else, to be active. pungent smells oozing from over- shippers. Cravo Neto pares away this
Oock, shell, shoulder, bird all are ripened fruit. The dynamism and colonial discrimination, revealing the
equally vivid, pulsing with spiritual movement of these photos offers a sym- integration of religious practice with
potential in these photographs. In many pathetic portrait of a people defined by peoples lives and livelihoods.
cases, ob ects, bodies, and animals seem strength and endurance. Cravo Neto is The colonialist tendency in Brazil to
to fuse into a single entity, an entire not merely an ethnographer document- equate Eshu with the Catholic figure of
ecosystem contained in one image. ing locals, but a participant in a the Devil persists today. Sowever, it is
It comes as no surprise to learn that swirling, captivating world in which he perhaps more appropriate to compare
the artist aimed to adopt a religious seems to feel perfectly at home. Eshu to Christ himself, as Mestre
position in photography. The body, and The word Lar8i is a salute to the Moraes, an important capoeira master
indeed all things physical in these )risha Eshu, a divinity of the Voruban one did. Much as Christ can be seen as
works, provide portals into the sublime. pantheon. )rishas are divinized ances- a messenger from 4od to humanity,
Cravo Netos aesthetic has its roots in tors worshiped in Candombl. They Eshus primary role is to serve as a mes-
the richly textured tradition of Can- represent forces of nature whilst also senger from the spiritual world. The
dombl, which came to the New World possessing human characteristics. chief power of Eshu lies in his ability to