EMBODIED IMAGES BETWEEN THE DEAD AND THE LIVING: ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON RITUAL AND PORTRAITURE

Abstract

The paper discusses the ritual practice of dressing up as a figure from the Christian tradition. Based on ethnographic research on the celebration of Holy Week in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, it describes the iconographical references and parameters that guide the performance of the “biblical figure” in the city - an ephemeral assembly of local residents who participate in the Catholic processions dressed as characters from the Old and New Testaments. It also calls into question the use of photography by an anthropological study of ritual activities that make use of human appearance and physicality to represent and actualize religious images. It includes a portrait series whose production takes into account native forms of expression and dramatization to inform its aesthetic language.

Keywords
Ritual character; photography; visual anthropology; Ouro Preto; Holy Week