Photography as a tool for recording and understanding Brazilian material religion

Abstract

This text, starting with a brief journey through the history of photography and a concise presentation of the
concept of Material Religion, intends to refl ect on the importance of photography as a tool for research
and documentation of objects and, practices related to what we have agreed to call “material religion”. As
a consequence, it also refl ects on the knowledge of the photographer and researcher on the subject to be
photographed and researched as a condition for the full result of the research and documentation, so that the information contained in the images is also clear to other researchers. It presents images obtained before and after my Master’s degree, describing some festivals and also a peculiar form of materiality of the Christian/Catholic religion related to the artisanal production of images of saints, as a form of art and devotion. It gathers the experiences obtained in the fi eld, for about 30 years, photographing religiosity and popular culture and, more recently, as a Scientist of Religion, a Master’s degree obtained in February 2017, continuing with a PHD degree, still in progress.