M’kumba is an ongoing project that investigates how Afro-Brazilian communities resist systemic religious violence through rituals and mythologies. For 300 years, over 4 million Africans were brought to Brazil to live as slaves. They not only lost their freedom, but also had their spiritualities violently criminalized till 1970. For this reason, despite 56% of Brazilians being Afro-descendants, only about 1% openly declare themselves as practitioners due to historical persecution and fear of attacks. In 2024 alone, over 2,000 religious hate crimes were reported in Brazil. Between November 2025 and March 2026, as a photographer and an Afro-Brazilian priest-in-training, I will collaborate closely with Afro-Brazilian religious communities in São Paulo to create images deeply rooted in their different mythologies and stories of resistance. The scholarship will fund essential expenses including ground transportation, assistant fees, art production for objects used in the photographs, and other related expenses. Goals: – Establish connections with up to 10 Afro-Brazilian religious communities. – Gather oral histories and mythologies shared by religious leaders and elders. – Develop a visual diary based on the interviews, combining drawings, storyboards, and notes to serve as a conceptual framework for the photographic work. – Produce 20 collaboratively staged photographs inspired by these narratives. – Select 10 final images for future exhibitions and publications.
