Ògún upon Thames 1

"Iemanjá, whose name derives from the phrase 'Yèyé omo ejá ('Mother whose children are fish'), is the orishá of the Egbá, a Iorubá nation originally established in the region between Ifé and Ibadan, where the Yemoja river still runs. Early 19th century wars between Iorubá nations led the Egbá to migrate west, to Abeokutá. Of course they couldn't bring the river along, but they did take all of the sacred objects and imagesso, from then on, the Ògùn river which crosses the region became Iemanjá's new home."
-Translated from 'Lendas Africanas dos Orixás', by Pierre Fatumbi Verger


‘Ògùn upon Thames’ references not only the influence of African deities in every aspect of Brazilian culture, but also my displacement from Rio de Janeiro to London. The process of immersion into a new environment and culture is a fluid one, permeated by references and memories of the homeland.

In Portuguese, ‘Rio’ means ‘river’. With the use of macro photography I was able to uncover these fantastical 'underwater' landscapes over the Thames, hidden in tiny details of London’s Tower Bridge.