The Orisha Series, Where Water Meets Water

2021
Models: Jelen Pittman and Lily Adams

Orishas are Yoruba deities that influence and protect humanity on Ayé [earth]. They guide believers and can be called upon in times of need by those most dedicated to them. In Afro-diasporic religion many of these orishas have been hidden beneath the guise of Catholic saints or mixed with native religions to form spiritual practices such as vodun. Yemaya, Yemoja, Lemanja, Mami Wata, Virgin Mary, she answers to many names called out from across her oceans. Protector of mother and child, Yemaya represents feminine, but still androgynous, embodiment of the sea’s surface; in some stories it is her afterbirth that brought forth the waters of the earth. Her younger sister Oshun holds dominion over the rivers of the earth as well as love and sensuality; the sisters often work in tandem with one another, the latter planting the seed of love and the great mother watching over the mother and child. Like tributaries and gulfs, these two orishas rely on one another in matters of the heart and creation of life. In Where Water Meets Water, I use both Afro-Diasporic and African aesthetics to illustrate this relationship between my two subjects and deify them individually. This work is my personal representation of the orishas as they would potentially present themselves in their most simple forms.

ry watkins

The Orisha Series, Where Water Meets Water