THE ECSTATIC BODY

A work devoted to the cultural perception and use of the body in Nepalese shamanism. The work is enriched by a large photographic and iconographic apparatus consisting of rare images belonging to the shaman’s ecstatic universe as well as examples of spontaneous, or “peripheral” spirit possession.

The shaman who entertains the gods by dancing and music, is the same man who entertains the audience through the more performative aspects of the séance. Here, it is ordinary people who exploit the situation, coming to attend a performance that, in primis, has been organised for the gods.

A singular performance, to which, besides the chance of direct witness of the epiphany of gods, spirits and demons, is added the no less stimulating possibility of witnessing human destinies suspended over an uncertain fate.