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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Alba Pavón, a community leader in the Caminos de la Libertad neighborhood, bathing in a small spring near her home. When she arrived in the city, she performed sacred rituals and practices at this spot to keep her ancestral faith alive. Quito, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Roxan Jaramillo, Tamia Jaramillo and Mishell Borja, members of the pan-African activist group Addis Ababa, preparing for their presentation of African ancestral clothing at the Machankara Cultural House. Quito, Ecuador, 2018.
Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
San Lorenzo, on the border between Ecuador and Colombia, preserves the memory of the first Africans who arrived in Ecuador. San Lorenzo, Ecuador, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Rosa María Torres Carcelén, 78, is one of the oldest midwives and healers in La Loma. She learned about childbirth and healing at the age of 9, helping her mother and sisters in childbirth. La Loma, Ecuador, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Revelers at a wedding reception. Juncal, Ecuador, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Holy Week, the ritual celebrating the descent of Chris, takes place every year in the church of El Juncal. The men in white are in charge of carrying Christ down from the main altar and taking him to the procession. The statue is carried around the town streets among songs, candles and prayers. Juncal, 2018
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
The celebration of the Virgin of Santa Ana brings families together in the community. After a nighttime Mass, the celebration ends with a band and fireworks. Santa Ana, Ecuador, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Amada Cortéz, a community leader and educator from the San Lorenzo district in Esmeraldas, bathing in the San Pedro waterfall. She is also a writer and poet, author of the book “Me Llaman la Cimarrona” (“They call me the Cimarrona”), based on African octave poems that she learned from her father. Ecuador, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Ecuadorians whose beliefs blend Catholic and African ancestral rituals. Quito, Ecuador, 2019. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Katherine Ramos, 23, a member of the pan-African activist group Addis Ababa, keeps alive the traditions her grandmothers taught her on the use of turbans. She wears hers as a loose crown. Quito, Ecuador, 2019. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Don Jorge Morales is a healer in Quito’s Caminos a la Libertad neighborhood. His main gifts are curing anxiety and dispelling bad vibes. Quito, Ecuador, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Addis Abbeba is an activist group that works with the black youth to rescue ancestral spirituality and fight racism. In African spirituality, the "Orishas" (African deities) have no gender. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Zulma Espinoza, a midwife, massaging the belly of her pregnant granddaughter to reduce her pain. Quito, Ecuador, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Nancy Placencia keeps seeds of the red pigeon bean in her hair. These seeds were brought from the African continent in the braids and the hair of women, and are a staple in the diet of Afro-Ecuadorians. Chalguyaku, Ecuador, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Nicole 19, plays with a cotton plant in her hair. The black slaves who came to Ecuador were forced to work in cotton fields, cane fields and coal mines. For Nicole, cotton plants represent the strength of her ancestors and the strength of their blood. La Loma, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
The celebration of the Virgin of San Ana brings families together in the community. After the black mass at night, the celebration ends with a band and fireworks. Santa Ana, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Relatives and friends arrive at the marriage of the Chalá-Pavón family in Juncal, an ancestral territory in Chota valley. Marriages are much more than a party, these are a family ritual and celebration, and all the guests are treated with food, drinks and dancing.
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Fuego de la Chamiza during the celebration of the Virgin of Santa Ana in the ancestral territory of Chota. San Ana 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Roxana Jaramillo, 23, member of the pan-African activist group Addis Ababa, keeps her "black hair" as the roots that link her to Mother Africa, and the strength of her liberation. Quito, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Karen Villalba, 23, Anthropology student and an activist at Addis Abeba, representing Elegua, a major Orisha deity in African culture. Quito, 2018
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
A zafra camp in Chota Valley is illuminated for shooting stars at night. Black slaves followed antiques zafra ways looking for liberty. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Saitamy Congo, a young dancer from "Con alma africana" dance group, bathes in the water spring of the Caminos a la Libertad neighborhood, located in the northwest of Quito. This spring used to be a ritual and celebrations spot for the Afro population, now, it is a space for recreation and family. Quito, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
A child “conchero” (a person who collects edible oysters) bathes in the river after his work in the mangrove. San Lorenzo, 2018. Johis Alarcón
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© 2021 Johis Alarcón
Nicole Placencia, 15, looking to the sky at the top of Santa Ana Mountain. She came back to visit her ancestral territory for the annual virgin celebrations. Santa Ana, 2018. Johis Alarcón
Public Story
Cimarrona
Credits:
johis alarcón
Date of Work:
07/01/18 - Ongoing
Updated: 03/29/20
Cimarrona: Free Women, free communities (ongoing)
Daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters of black women who survived slavery keep the African legacy in their spirituality. The diaspora’s ancestral rituals and their cultural migratory reconfiguration adapted to their new territories and have become a way to remember their origins as well as a strong link of the black people with their African original territory.The term Cimarrona refers to the wild female spirit that resistance against racism since they arrived in Ecuador in the XVI century.
This ongoing project explores black women become visible as historical protagonists of liberation and as guardians of ancestral afro practices as a method of cultural memory preservation of the diaspora.New cultural influence and mass migration of the new generations challenge their ancestry with the risk of losing it against globalization. Nowadays, cimarronas reinvigorate their ancestry to defend their territory and lead the Afro descent continuance in Ecuador.
