IEMANJÁ
BEMBÉ DO MERCADO. SANTO AMARO, BAHIA
Thomas Meinecke/Hubert Fichte

Iemanjá is the name of one of the most important Afro-Brazilian goddesses, in honor of whom and in celebration of the abolishment of slavery a local festivity is held in Santo Amaro each year. Thomas Meinecke, who travelled to Brazil in 2010 to research Afro-American religions in the footsteps of German pop literature writer Hubert Fichte and photographer Leonore Mau, took part in this festivity. He wrote about this foray in his novel »Lookalikes« (Suhrkamp 2011), during which he was accompanied by his wife, the artist Michaela Melián, who captured the colorful ritual in 170 photographs.