Gallery: Welcome to the Bolivian Mountains, Where Magical Realism Is a Way of Life
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona01waska-tatay-web-03
Waska Tatay is part ethnography, part picture-book fairy tale.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona02waska-tatay-web-01
The photography book catalogues three months that Swiss photographer Thomas Rousset and designer Rapaël Verona spent in Bolivia.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona03waska-tatay-web-10
The mountainous area is home to some 2 million indigenous people who practice a peculiar blend of Roman Catholicism (a remnant of Spanish colonization), and Aymara mythology.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona04waska-tatay-web-11
Waska Tatay focuses on these people, and the fantastically ornate costumes and garb they wear in honor of their mythology.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona05waska-tatay-web-04
Each costume honors a spirit or is an expression of a folk legend.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona06waska-tatay-web-24
Rather than just photograph the costumes and the iconography like photojournalists, Rousset and Verona decided to stage some of the photos and create a mise en scène directly inspired by magical realism.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona07waska-tatay-web-12
Costumed characters aren’t always in parades or at ceremonies.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona08waska-tatay-web-08
They’re sitting at a drafting table, bent over work supplies. Two women perch on a desk near modern appliances, like televisions.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona09waska-tatay-web-07
This was by design, to blend fiction and reality for the viewer.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona10waska-tatay-web-22
Here, a traditional tribute to Pachamama, or the Aymara mother earth.
Photo: Thomas Rousset, Raphaël Verona11waska-tatay-web-23
A Bolivian child's toy castle was included as well, to play up the theme of fairy tale.
