The Photographic Center Northwest and Seattle University are pleased to present a unique and riveting photographic exhibition, entitled Crossing the Water: A Path to the Afro-Cuban Spirit World, by photographers and authors Claire Garoutte and Anneke Wambaugh. The 50 images selected for this show and the thought-provoking text panels that accompany it have been edited from their upcoming book of the same title. This Duke University Press publication was released January 2008.

Focusing on a single ritual expert and his religious environment, the exhibition offers an unusually intimate and dynamic view of the Cuban religious practices of Santería, Palo Monte, and Espiritismo. Compelling photographs, informed text panels, and succinct captions combine to illustrate the spiritual power and energy of ritual as enacted by Santiago Castañeda Vera, a highly respected priest living in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. Santiago’s embrace of more than one religion and the practice of blending aspects of different traditions are by no means unusual in Cuba. Over the last century, there has been a great deal of symbiotic interplay between Santería and Palo Monte, on the one hand, and of these Afro-Cuban religious traditions with Roman Catholicism and Espiritismo, on the other. This cross-fertilization is particularly pronounced on the eastern end of the island. Santiago, although rooted in particular spiritual traditions, has forged his own path. Free to combine, transform, improvise, and innovate as he sees fit, Santiago practices his religion, as he is wont to say, en mi manera—“in my own way.”

The photographic essays in this exhibition focus on Santiago Castañeda Vera’s ritual artistry and on the sacred objects, thrones, and altars that mediate his ongoing dialogue with the spirit world. The text panels draw on interviews with this prolific priest, scholarly research, and the personal experience of the authors. Complementing the photographs, they anchor the viewer in Santiago’s world and contextualize his ideas within the larger spectrum of Afro-Cuban spirituality.