Vara del premio No. 1: Porto Laino, Manuel Casseres

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A digital chromogenic photograph depicting two men climbing a pole for the San Basilio de Palenque’s festivity of vara de premio (prize rod). Captured against a light grey sky, the pole extends throught the center of the image with two men arranged vertically along it, their backs to the camera, using each other for support. At the bottom is a shirtless man in red shorts, visible from the knees up. With his proper left hand, he holds the foot of the man above him, who is shirtless in dark shorts. The top man grasps the pole in front of him with both hands. The background is plain except for at the very bottom of the left corner where the tops of green trees are visible along with a cross that extends from the top of a church building.

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