CURA LOCURA
The Amazonian shamans on the paths to madness
Through the exchanged visions of a painter and a photographer, Cura Locura offers an unusual journey into the world of the spirits and to those who track down the origins of evil.
In the town of Pucallpa, in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, madness is treated with traditional medicine. It is when travelling in the invisible world, where energetic charges of each one of us are perceptible that shamans discover the origins of their patients’ psychological suffering. Hallucinatory drugs are in turn the key to enter this spiritual universe, to obtain guides and remedies.
“You need to understand that it is not the shaman who teaches you but the plants. They know. With schizophrenics we assist in a disharmony. The bad spells or unhappy contacts with the spirits of nature have changed the energetic charge of the patient. Under the effect of these harmful forces, he has lost his brain; he no longer has control over his thoughts. Schizophrenia is a form of madness that keeps the person imprisoned.” Don Pablo, shaman.
Paolo, a surrealist painter, takes his inspiration from travelling in this hallucinatory world. It is an exploration which, by revisiting the photographs of Stéphane Moiroux, allows him to have access to the invisible.
Photography: Stéphane Moiroux
Painting: Paolo Del Aguila Sajami
Text: Laure Gruel
