The work of photographer, sculptor and filmmaker Mario Cravo Neto (Brazil, b. 1947) is closely linked with the culture of the region where he was born, Bahia, in the north-east of Brazil. In his photography he not only refers to the attainments of its Yoruba culture, but in his portraits and close-ups he shows the cultural, ethnic and racial mixture of the indigenous population. The powerful photographs are deeply rooted in both regional myths and the religious culture later brought by the Portuguese. In the selection of work shown here the emphasis lies on Cravo Neto's poetic work, in which sensual and spiritual aspects are in constant interplay with each other.
Cravo Neto has won various national photography prizes in Brazil. His work has been shown many times in Europe and on both American continents. Moreover it has been purchased for the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Courtesy Galerie Esther Woerdehoff (F)