Sebastiana de Oxóssi (1933-2019): Mãe Grande Kilombola Guerreira do Futuro Ancestral

Abstract

In this visual essay, we seek to craft a tribute to the great teacher Sebastiana of Oshosi or Mother Tiana. The images were produced in various contexts of her participation as a visiting professor of Transversal Education in Traditional Knowledge on UFMG’s campus and also incorporate our visits to her territory, the Carrapatos da Tabatinga Quilombo which currently lies in the city of Bom Despacho, in Minas Gerais. The images show some of the diverse faces, poses, and vestments of Tiana, whose mastery was inscribed in her body and manifested itself in her command of forms of interaction with people, sacred objects, forces of nature, and spiritual beings through the oraliture she uttered in a style that was very much her own. As a whole, the black and white images aim to suggest the affirming power of her black presence in a historically white space, as well as to emphasize the mourning that we continue to process and the longing for a new vital cycle with which her departure has left us. The essay tribute concludes with a brief poetic-political remembrance of her remarkable biography.