Voodoo Trance

Togo, West Africa 2000

We weren’t too far from Lome, the capital of Togo, when we arrived at this village.  The villagers had gathered around the tiny plaza between their mud huts. The drummers were getting comfortable at one end of the open space and all around villagers were waiting for the voodoo ceremony to start.

This young woman, her eyes half-closed, her body draped in a vine-like grass, walked haltingly to the center of the plaza. The drummers drummed. She began to writhe, arms extended in a supplicating gesture. Sometimes she would lie on her face in the dust and inch forward holding a ram’s horn which symbolized a voodoo power. I don’t remember her making any sounds…no singing or screaming. On and on she went, the sweat pouring from her body. Hours passed and she was still dancing. Now and then, though, she would go into a faint and the bystanders would drag her to the side and another woman would come out to dance. The woman in the photo was the main attraction, though. When she revived, back she’d come to take over as the main voodoo dancer.

I like this shot because the backlight forms a glowing line along her arm and hand. I was shooting slides but I remember feeling confident that I’d get this shot. Maybe it was the voodoo power because normally I’d be worrying about my exposure. We were sitting in the front row on benches provided to us by the villagers. I didn’t feel that I could leave my place. Maybe that would disturb the spirits, who knew? We were there long enough so that I could vary my viewpoint of the dancers and shoot the drummers as well.

For an excellent trip to see these African tribes who still practice voodoo see: www.transafrica.biz