Dominique Schmidt

Reportage, 2016

Black Helvetia

Boys playing — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil CAPOEIRA

Persival is known as “Pé — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil history

slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil Catholicism

A boy is swimming at Peruípe river. In the former colony, this river used to be the only way to transport the coffee from the farms to the capital. In the early of 1850, Helvécia was responsible for 90 percent of coffee exported from Brazil. Helvécia, Bahia, Brazil. December 2015. — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil history

The Krull brothers, Domingo and Ednilson, have blue-green eyes. their surname, too, identifies them as descendants of German settlers. They are grandsons of a German farmer (Walter Krull) and a African descent housewife (Bela Sofia). The Krulls used to be one of the wealthiest families in Helvécia. Today it is still home to two other families descendents of German and one of Swiss origin. Helvécia, Bahia, Brazil. December 2015. — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil legacy

Every January 20th, residents of the village clothe themselves in order to stage the struggle between the Moors and the Crusaders. The theatre is part of St. Sebastian's festivities brought by the Portugueses and disseminated by the Catholic church in Brazil. Its the major cultural event in Helvécia, one of the few villages in the state of Bahia to maintain this tradition. Helvécia, Bahia, Brazil. January 2016. — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil San sebastian

The Mother Maria — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil Umbanda

A young woman were covered by dendê oil (palm oil) in a initiation work at Mãe Maria Umbanda's house. Umbanda is a Brazilian religious syncretism that synthesizes elements of Catholicism, African religions and of indigenous spiritism. Helvécia, Bahia, Brazil. June 2016. — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil Umbanda

A Swiss descendent, Rosemar Cerqueira Rafael, holding the portrait of his great-grandfather, Henrique Sulz, the first of the Swiss family Sulz to arrive in the village. She gave the portrait to the village museum because his son, Normam, has been afraid of it since his childhood. He believes the portrait shines during the night. Helvécia, Bahia, Brazil. December 2015. — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil legacy

An evangelical pastor gives his cult in the square of the village on a Monday night. One can hear Evangelical pastors criticise African heritage and culture, like dance, capoeira or Umbanda, associating them to the — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil Evangelical

Every night Atila (in the middle) and his friends chill on the sidewalks. On this day, while they were talking, an Evangelical pastor was priesting in the other side of the street. Helvécia, Bahia, Brazil. December 2015. — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil legacy

“How old are you, Miss Cocota? 30 years old, my son!” At the age of 102 years, Miss Cocota, whose real name is Maria da Conceição, is the oldest person in Helvécia. She said he had attended to 318 children births during her life, as a unofficial nurse. Helvécia, Bahia, Brazil. January 2016. — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil legacy

Faustina Zacarias Carvalho, Maria Piedade Tersilha and Maria D'ajuda Tersilha, perpetuate the — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil Samba

A child training at capoeira school, in front of a berimbau’s shadow. Berimbau is a musical instrument brought by the Africans from Angola to Brazil, this instrument gives the rhythm to the Capoeira’s fights. Helvécia, Bahia, Brazil. December 2015. — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil CAPOEIRA

Wingles Vieira, nicknamed — slavery COFFEE HELVETIA brazil CAPOEIRA

Projektbeschrieb

In the northeast of Brazil, in the state of Bahia, is Helvécia, a small village originated from two farms (Helvetia I e II) of Johann Martin Flach - a Swiss born in Schaffhausen (on 24/11/1787) who became a close friend and confidant of the Royale Princess Leopoldina and who received lands from the former gorvernament to join the Leopoldina-Frankenthal colony. In the early of 1850, this colony was responsible of 90% of the Brazilian coffee exportation on the strength of 2000 slaves from Africa. After the colony’s economic decline due to slave abolition, the farm's name has lasted (with the Brazilian form of Helvetia) and became the village’s name. Today, Helvécia is home to three families descendants of German and one of Swiss origin. More than 80% of the population, however, are of African descendants. Both European and African cultures survive in a ideological confrontation, where Christian evangelicals still point black people as evil in their speech.

Publikationsinformationen

Titel der Arbeit: Black Helvetia
Agentur: -
Kunde: -
Publikation: LFI - Leica Fotografie International
Ausgabe: 08.2016
Seite(n): 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54
Buchtitel: LFI - Leica Fotografie International
Herausgeber: Inas Fayed, Frank P. Lohstöter
Verlag: LFI PHOTOGRAPHIE GMBH
ISBN: USPS N°0017912
Galerie: -
Ort: Hamburg / Germany