Santería is a religion combining traditional West African Yoruba beliefs with aspects of Iberian Catholicism. During the days of slavery in Cuba, slaves were prohibited from practicing their native religions. In order to maintain their faith, they secretly superimposed Catholic saints and personages on their own spiritual figures (called Orishas). Thus, it looked like they were praying to a saint or to the Virgin Mary, but they were also invoking one of their Orishas. In time, both belief systems merged. Not only was Santeria instrumental in slave liberation movements, but it also greatly influenced music, literature and other cultural manifestations throughout Latin America. Today, Santeria is practiced wherever its devotees migrate and is still comprised of a complex mythology, a pantheon of hundreds of deities (orishas) and a system of symbols, signs and ceremonies. The exhibition on view in Toronto features more than 20 mixed media works whose content and aesthetic draw on the symbols, mythologies and practices of Santeria.
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