Mozambican photographer Mário Macilau won the French Roger Pic Award 2023 with his project "Faith", about the practice of animism [a doctrine formulated by Ernst Stahl (1660-1734), who considered the soul to be the determining principle of the functioning of the organism] in Mozambique.

In addition to the prize money of 5,000 euros (around 350,000 meticais), Mário Macilau will take part in an artistic residency in France at the beginning of June and will hold a solo exhibition that will open in September.

"Mozambique and the African continent have artists with incomparable talent who need to be highlighted and recognized. Mário Macilau has a unique eye and his work often promotes a local reality, collective memory and at the same time makes us think to change our attitude and take the right social direction and shows scenarios unknown to the general public. It's a poetic work that also denounces society and translates unknown realities on various subjects," said Caroline Chatriot, Cultural Director of the Scam Foundation, the organizer of the competition.

The work that led Macilau to win this award is a project entitled Fé, about the Maziones, developed since 2010.

According to the photographer himself, "Fé records the practice of animism in Mozambican culture today. This animism is heir to traditional forms of religion in which spirits were believed to inhabit the objects and phenomena of nature: this explained the influence of the spirits of ancestors on the existence of the living. Through their practices, these traditional religions have preserved Mozambique's ancient cultural traditions. These practices include teachings, traditional medicine, healing methods, rites of passage for young people (women and men) and advice on the conduct to be observed among the members of a community. They reflect local - but sometimes contradictory - concepts of God and the cosmos".

The famous Mozambican author Mia Couto also dedicated a few words to this work by Mário Macilau: "We came from the sea. The gods we invented also live in the oceans. So think the Maziones of Mozambique. Like hundreds of other sects, the Maziones have created a syncretic religion, mixing Christian components with the African beliefs of the region."

With the aim of encouraging and recognizing photographers who don't yet have the media spotlight they deserve, the Roger Pic Award organization honors photographic works every year in memory of Roger Pic, a renowned French director of photography and defender of copyright. The jury, inspired by Roger Pic's humanist and generous approach, takes into account the sensitivity and originality of the authors. (Bantumen)