Exú Bobolete, 2023
The next step is the installation of the statuettes in a series of altars, to be documented in photography. In 2023 I enshrined the first one in the National Umbanda Sanctuary, in Brazil, where it remains as part of its permanent collection.
In 2024 I installed a 2nd altar at Open Source Gallery, in NYC, as part of the Beauty Temple exhibition.
The other 8 statues are yet to be installed, in locations TBD. They are also for sale - contact me for prices and info.
Baby Bobolete was an endearing queer clown created by Caike Luna (1978-2021). Luna performed Bobolete from 2016 to 2020, first on TV and then onto the theater. When the actor passed away in 2021, I decided to give Bobolete an afterlife. To graft her in a context of sacred things, I turned her into an Eshu. I provided an initial design to Lisa França, an artist who specializes in religious art, who created the original clay sculpture. This original was replicated in resin by Jefferson Perecin. The 10 copies were then hand-painted by Francine Kurzawe.
A queer intervention in Brazilian folk religion. Production of a series of cult statues depicting Baby Bobolete as a new, queer spirit, to be installed in altars. Proposition of a new, queer mythology and rituals, meant to start a new cult. Carving of a space for queer representation in a context of sacred things.
