1987

Plan du Nord, Haiti

American, born 1953

Preindustrial rituals that are still in practice today captivate Philadelphia-based photographer Rome. In 1987 he traveled to Haiti in order to photograph trance, an altered state of consciousness associated with religious ritual. Invited to a ceremony honoring Ogun, the Haitian deity of fire and hunting, Rome was mindful of his presence as an outsider, first observing the event without using his camera. Soon enthralled with the intensity of the happening, Rome began to photograph, becoming a spectacle in his own right. The woman depicted here slips into trance and beckons Rome to dance. The crowd encircles them, and the act of photography becomes an integral part of the ceremony rather than an intrusion.