Obatala | If God Was Black & From Loiza
Obatala | If God Was Black & From Loiza | Film Stills | 2021
Children of The Water | Loiza, Puerto Rico | 2021
Director | Director of Photography - Yelaine Rodriguez
Performers: CruzMari Roman Rivera & Deyaneira L. Maldonado Ramire Produced by Yelaine Rodriguez | Executive Produced by MARE
Post Production | Edited by Yelaine Rodriguez | Assistant Camera - Luis Vasquez la Roche | Graphics by Patricia Encarnación | Costume Designer Yelaine Rodriguez
Obatala | If God Was Black & From Loiza, orisha, the creator of human bodies, is the father of all the orishas, synchronized with Jesus. This image of Obatala is in Cueva Maria de la Cruz, a historical cave in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Loiza, Puerto Rico. This cave once housed the Tainos, people indigenous to Puerto Rico, and later served as a shelter for runaway enslaved Africans. In the photograph, Obatala stands as a guardian of this sacred cave with a cane made out of higueras, a traditional eating and drinking utensil made out of fruit skin, first used by the Tainos. And a machete cast out of sugar, cotton, and cowrie shells, alluding to the exploitation of Black peoples during the colonial period throughout the Caribbean. These costume-made objects speak to the indigenous and African origins of the cave.