Between the Social Limbo and the Art Canon

Abstract

From Luiz Alphonsus’s Rio de Janeiro Police Museum photographic series, this article discusses the complex framing of artifacts used in Brazilian religious communities linked to belief systems in some African regions, which exist between the social limbo and the Brazilian art canon. After briefly reviewing how random sets of objects violently and unsystematically seized by the Police were considered criminal evidence, museum items, or national heritage from the late-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century, we analyse texts published by Raymundo Nina Rodrigues, Manuel Querino, Mário Barata, and Arthur Ramos, who pioneered the artistic dimension of Afro-Brazilian religious artifacts based on European artistic principles. Concluding, we focus on how, under varied processes of institutionalisation, these artifacts still undergo different conceptual frameworks, being presented as criminal evidence or artworks, historical documents, or anthropological records, but are also at the center of disputes regarding their institutional relocation, shared custody, and sociocultural framing.