museo del barrio

New interpretations of the Brazilian master’s symbolic repertoire and towering sculptural achievements

This richly illustrated volume explores the work of the Afro-Brazilian sculptor, writer and cultural advocate Mestre Didi (1917-2013), uniting more than 60 of his sculptures, offering a rare view of his far-reaching spiritual and artistic legacy, and contextualizing his aesthetic innovations within the prevailing discourses of Brazilian modern art. Over the course of his career, from the 1960s until the 2010s, Mestre Didi was a visionary emissary for Candomblé, an Afro-diasporic religion that developed in Brazil as formerly enslaved Africans handed down their Yoruba spiritual practices. He was perhaps the first artist to reimagine Candomblé ritual objects as artworks in their own right. The book includes key selections of Didi’s own writings and research, made available in English for the first time, and reproductions of archival material documenting his early life, exhibitions, travels and work as a spiritual leader.

This book was published in conjunction with KMEC Books; Ubu.