The Brazilian photographer takes us into a market in Salvador for his photobook depicting Afro-Brazilian life
As you page through the photobook ODÙ you experience a visceral trip through the heart of Feira de São Joaquim Market in downtown Salvador, Brazil. The introductory text begins:
“One asks for permission to enter somebody else’s house. And in this living organism,
one asks for permission for a journey where ancestry, memory and identity rescue
take place at every step for this black man willing to find and fill gaps generated by the
historical erasure of the memories of his ancestry.”
In this tone and through these eyes, Hugo Martins takes us inside one of the biggest open markets in the state of Bahia. It brings visibility to Black community life by documenting Afro-Brazilian religion, cultural experiences and the social-economic relations all at play in this sprawling place of commerce. “Reinforcing and making visible the history of Black people is a responsibility that must be constant in the narratives and in the decolonisation of the practice of photography,” Martins says of his first photobook.
“Making visible the history of Black people is a responsibility that must be constant in the narratives and in the decolonisation of the practice of photography”
As an independent photographer, Martins’ work finds its grounding somewhere in between documentary and street photography, depicting a ripe sense of humanity in his textured and rich images of Brazil. ODÙ traverses his hometown to convey what he lives through daily. “I believe that photography is the perfect way to store slices of the world’s realities, or realities that are created by the photographer's point of view. It is also a way to express what the eyes cannot see physically, although the brain is processing all the time,” he explains.
The rabbit warren-like streets are presented through a mixture of intimate close-ups of hand-gestures and market transactions, as well as wider scenic shots of seascapes and graffitied walls. Here people are not separate from place; they are fully immersed in their environment. The series shows highly contrasted photographs of deep charcoal tones that dwell in the underbelly, which are only broken by single light bulbs splintering the night, or a slither of sunlight cutting its way through the labyrinthine setting. The market itself is a living being, the beating heart of Salvador, and Martins asks us to consider the history of power, the role of community life and of the trade circulating in the hands of the multitude of Black people who are keeping the energy of the market and more significantly, of the city, alive.
To purchase ODÙ, which was collectively financed through the @catarse platform, contact Hugo Martins directly here.