Northeast

MASTER DIDI

Master Didi – Deoscoredes Maximiliano dos Santos – was born in Salvador in1917, and never speaks about his work. Master Didi doesn’t like to be photographed and the pieces he chose for this book were photographed in his living room.
Mestre Didi sculptures can be found in galleries in Brazil and abroad. Apart from sculpting, he also writes fiction and essays, and is one of the greatest ambassadors of Afro-Brazilian culture. Perhaps the best way of describing Master Didi is a quote from his wife, the anthropologist Juana Elbein dos Santos: “Didi is a priest-artist. Through his aesthetic creations he expresses an intimacy with a universe in which the African way of life comes together with his life as a native of Bahia”. An only child of Maria Bibiana do Espírito Santo, who is a priestess in the Afro-Brazilian religion of camdomblé, in 1975 Master Didi received the highest title in the religion, Alapini, and in 1983 was declared Obá Mobá Oni Xangô, a title given by the king of Ketu, in Benin, Africa. He has been trained in the rituals of this religion since he was a child. But according to Dr Juanita – as she is known – we shouldn’t interpret his sculptures as religious objects. “They are cultural creations”. Master Didi uses various natural materials and all the titles of his pieces are in the African language Nagô. In an article written for the XXIII Bienal exhibition of art (1996) in São Paulo (SP), Dr Juanita introduced Master Didi’s work saying “his creations exist on two levels: firstly as a manifestation through which the sculptures can be appreciated for their aesthetic value, as a symbol of communitarian communication, a link between the artist and the public; and secondly as symbols of liturgical mysteries, transmitting subconscious meanings that come from both the cultural heritage and the artist himself”.