Caroline de Otero

DEVOTION   For about twenty years, my photographic practice has been inspired by the representation of spirituality, religious practices and their rituals in different cultures. The ritual is, in the theatrical sense of the term, a "representation" even when the liturgy is exhausted by signifying that the divinity is not of the visible order.
With this series «DEVOTION» I want to show the omnipresence of religion in our societies. In Italy or in Italian neighbourhoods in the United States, in Cuba or in Mexico, I discovered that even today people erect altars in or in front of their homes, in their places of work or business.
The domestic space can sometimes be saturated with religious objects. Religious icons, statuettes, crucifixes, objects of Catholic, Buddhist, Afro-Cuban religions, santería or syncretism, are exhibited in an often incongruous way as close as possible to the decors of our consumerist societies.
Thanks to these images, half talismans, half living being, intercessors between God and the living, everyone wants to
negotiate small favors like protection for respectful consideration. “I light a candle you take care of me.”
Based on this writing by Serge Tisseron - "Every photograph testifies both to reality which faces the camera and to the
psychic reality of its creator." -, my photographs set the scene of my obsession for religious objects.