OS ENCANTADOS

^{Paraíba Northeast Brasil.

Ongoing project. 2023-...

Os Encantados, which means “The Enchanted”, is a photographic and documentary project by Romane Iskariadedicated to the quilombola communities of Northeastern Brazil and their ancestral connection to the Land of Jurema: a sacred space at the border between the visible and the invisible.

Quilombos are territories of resistance born during the colonial period, founded by runaway African slaves, Indigenous peoples, and sometimes even marginalized Europeans. They embody forms of cultural, political, and spiritual autonomy forged out of colonial violence, while symbolizing a living resistance to domination. Even today, these communities continue to fight for the recognition of their territorial and cultural rights, within a context still marked by the legacy of slavery and colonial exploitation.

At the heart of this culture lies the Jurema Sagrada, a spiritual tradition born from the fusion of Indigenous and African beliefs. The jurema (Mimosa Hostilis Benth), a sacred plant, plays a central role in the spiritual practices of the region. Known for its psychotherapeutic and ritual properties, it symbolizes cultural resistance and the merging of spiritualities brought about by intercultural encounters under colonialism. It is also associated with the Encantados, supernatural entities from Indigenous beliefs who became one with nature after death. These spirits, also present in Afro-Brazilian religions such as catimbó or tambor de mina, embody vital force, living memory, and a deep bond with the land.

The Land of Jurema, as expressed by writer Sandro Guimarães de Salles in In the Shadow of the Enchanted Jurema, is a place where the veil between worlds is porous. It is said to contain “invisible cities,” sacred sites scattered throughout the Northeast, where dialogue between the living and the spirits endures. This immaterial, shared land is a cornerstone of quilombola identity and a symbol of cultural resistance.

Romane Iskaria traveled across the territory of Jurema, blending documentary practice with intuitive sensitivity. Like an anthropologist, she immersed herself in the daily and spiritual life of these communities, capturing faces, gestures, landscapes, objects, and plants. Her approach is based on listening and building deep connections, while remaining aware of her position as a white woman, a foreigner to this land shaped by colonial history. She thus questions her own place through an aesthetics of relation, where the use of the mirror becomes a symbolic tool of reciprocity, circulation of identities, and intimate connection with those photographed.

Her work also draws on a personal bond: the one she has nurtured since adolescence with the region of Paraíba, her father’s homeland. This affective and familial connection fuels an artistic and spiritual quest, giving rise to Os Encantados, a research project at the crossroads of photography, oral storytelling, and historical-anthropological analysis. This project highlights the histories, struggles, and spiritualities of the Jurema communities, while questioning dominant narratives about Brazilian identity. It celebrates a living heritage and pays tribute to those who inhabit, defend, and dream of this land — a world at once enchanted and deeply rooted in reality.}

^{Text by Osvaldo Falcão,brazilian student PhD in anthropology of the University of Tampere Finland. Collaborator of Romane Iskaria.}

^{2025 Solo show - Uzina Energisa Institute, Art Gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL, February 2025.
Collaboration with the Brazilian PhD in anthropology and descolonialism Osvaldo Falcão, curated by Serge Huot.}

^{2025 Not everyone is a Phoenix, Plush Gallery, Brussels BE}

^{2024 TIFF. Emerging Belgian Photography, Cultural Flemish Center BrakkeGrond, Amsterdam NE

2024 TIFF. Emerging Belgian Photography, FOMU (Museum of Photography) Antwerp BE}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados,Uzina Energisa Institute, art gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL 2025.}

^{Exhibition view : collage Os Encantados.
Dimension : 9mx2m.

Materials : photography, archives, texts, earth of Paraíba.

Uzina Energisa Institute, art gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL 2025.}

^{Exhibition view close-up : collage Os Encantados, 9mx2m, materials : photography, archives, texts, earth of Paraíba.

Uzina Energisa Institute, art gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL 2025.}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados,Uzina Energisa Institute, art gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL 2025.}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados,Uzina Energisa Institute, art gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL 2025.}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados, self-portrait, Uzina Energisa Institute, art gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL 2025.}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados, research table, Uzina Energisa Institute, art gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL 2025.}

^{Exhibition view, Os Encantados, video textile installation, Uzina Energisa Institute, art gallery, João Pessoa, Paraiba, Northeast BRAZIL 2025.}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados, .TIFF 2024 Emerging Belgian Photography, FOMU Antwerp (BE) 2024}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados, .TIFF 2024 Emerging Belgian Photography, FOMU Antwerp (BE) 2024}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados video installation, .TIFF 2024 Emerging Belgian Photography, FOMU Antwerp (BE) 2024}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados, .TIFF 2024 Emerging Belgian Photography, FOMU Antwerp (BE) 2024}

^{Exhibition view Os Encantados, video installation, .TIFF 2024 Emerging Belgian Photography, FOMU Antwerp (BE) 2024}
-