Yemaya o Yemoja

Yemaya, queen of the sea, first emerged in Yorubaland (now in modern Nigeria). She is understood to be a water spirit and mother of all Orishas (spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion). Each year, the Yoruba people in Nigeria offer thanks to Yemoja, goddess of the river and mother of all other Yoruba gods. Also known as Yemaja; the Nigerian Goddess of flowering water, she teaches us to move freely through the waves of change and cycles of life.

The Goddess is known by different names across the world:

Africa: Yemoja, Ymoja, Yemowo
USA: Yemalla, Yemana
Brazil: Yemanjá, Iemanjá, Janaína
Cuba: Yemaya, Yemayah, Iemanya
Haiti: La Sirène, LaSiren (in Vodou)

On February 2nd the festival of Iemanjá is celebrated in three major cities in Brazil. During the festivities offerings are made of flowers and gifts to the goddess at the sea's edge - sending them out to her in the ocean. The crowd dresses in white and dance into the night. In Havana, Cuba, Yemayá is celebrated on the 7th of September.

"My work builds on the dialogue between art practice and critical theory by embarking on discursive projects which interrogate dominant narratives and locations of meaning. In Yemaya o Yemoja I have used moving image and sound to deepen my understanding of how performance acts as an expression of spirituality and resistance. Cycles of creation, motherhood & the suggestion of death are my main points of inquiry which unfold across three chapters in this video, rooted in the syncretism of Hoodoo & Catholicism." - Artist, Anietie Ekanem