Marta María Pérez Bravo
Marta Maria Perez Bravo and the Art of the Divine
Holly Erica Worrell ‘ 06Marta Maria Perez Bravo, born in Havana in 1959, has become one of Cuba’s premier contemporary artists. Perez Bravo has shown pieces in art shows around the world; and viewers often immediately respond to the evocative simplicity and the haunting fusion of the prosaic with the supernatural that has become the hallmark of her works. In this exaltation of the commonplace, or, conversely, the translation of the divine into everyday form, the importance of Santería, Perez Bravo’s chosen religious path, makes itself apparent. The spiritual beliefs and practices of Santería, a syncretistic Afro-Caribbean religion that incorporates the traditional religious structure of the Yoruba and Bantu peoples brought to the Caribbean during slavery with the Roman Catholicism of the Spanish slave-owners, dictate that spiritual power resides in all things, be they natural or artificial, living or inanimate. Therefore, the elements such as branches, shells, rope and animal hide in the photographs both express the absolute nature of each object and surpasses individual definitions in the context of religious ritual and spiritual empowerment.
It is evident through all of her photographs that the practice of believing in, finding and documenting the divine manifest in all things, no matter their origin or intended purpose, is extended to the realms of her own body, which Perez Bravo uses in all her photographs in a variety of ways. Thus, her works become self-portraits, though not in the conventional sense: instead of a faithful depiction of her exterior self, Perez Bravo focuses on the mapping of her own intimate spiritual country, her own journey into the realms of a religion that encompasses life in its entirety. Her conception of body as religious vehicle and artistic medium makes Perez Bravo an ideal contributor to this autumn’s exhibition, which itself focuses on the multiplicity of body experiences made manifest through art.
