Juliana Chagas: Songs of the Earth, Memories of Healing, and Photography as a Political-Spiritual Act

At just 24 years old, Brazilian photographer Juliana Chagas builds a photographic trajectory that intertwines devotion, research, and activism. Working at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in the Health, Environment, and Work program and acting as a freelance photographer, she transforms the camera into an instrument of cultural preservation and collective healing. Her relationship with imagery began at age 7, gifted an analog camera by her mother, and evolved from photoshoots with women to a deep dive into Afro-Brazilian spirituality – always guided by the belief in the power of documentation as a way to keep memories and traditions alive.

Her portfolio “When the Earth Sings – Memories of Ritual and Healing” a finalist for the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025, is a three-year immersion project at the Umbanda Omoloko Ilé Ifé Oxum Apará terreiro (house of worship). More than documenting initiation rituals, the images reveal the sacred interdependence between body, territory, and planet, showing how Afro-Brazilian spirituality understands that “A living Orisha is a living planet.” Through gestures, symbols, and collective healing rituals, Chagas highlights the ecosystemic urgency that will echo at COP30, reminding us that the greatest wealth of these traditions comes from nature – “from the earth everything comes, and to the earth everything will return.” The project not only aligns with her photographic production centered on narratives of resistance but amplifies a song of hope: the reclamation of ancestral forces for human and environmental healing in times of collapse.

Discover more about this journey that unites public health, spirituality, and photography in the following interview.

Imagem do Portfólio Quando a Terra Canta – Memórias de Feitura e Cura, de Juliana Chagas, finalista do Prêmio Portfólio FotoDoc 2025

How old are you? Where do you currently live and work?

24 (twenty-four) years old. I was born, live, and work in Brasília – DF. I work at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation – Fiocruz Brasília in the Health, Environment, and Work Program (PSAT) and also work autonomously on various projects in the field of photography.

Tell us about your journey in photography. When did you start photographing and why? What role does photography play in your life?

Photography is something essential in my life. I started photographing as a child, around 7/8 years old, when I received my first analog camera as a gift from my mother (who is also passionate about photography). Since then, I have been a great observer of details and special moments. I grew up seeing the greatness that exists in every gaze, the power of recording, the memories and recollections that each photo brings. At 19, I entered a professional photography course, and after finishing it, I started working professionally in the field. I started by doing photoshoots with women, then various events, product photography, social projects, and extreme sports emerged, and for the last 3 years, my focus has been Terreiro photography (photography of Afro-Brazilian religious spaces).

Along with finishing my undergraduate degree in Advertising and Propaganda, I began an in-depth study of religious and cultural rituals for my future entry into the scientific research line in Image, Aesthetics, and Contemporary Culture in the master’s program at the University of Brasília. Photography plays the role of bringing me the presence of every second of life, acting like a medicine for my mental, physical, and soul health, in addition to having taken me to places and people I never imagined I would reach. So, it is far more than a job: it is a lifestyle and a necessity that makes me feel more and more alive and, thus, also ensures that every memory, culture, and ritual remain alive.

Tell us about your finalist work for the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025. When and where was it created? What is its concept? How does it fit into your photographic practice?

My work “When the Earth Sings – Memories of Ritual and Healing,” a finalist for the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025, was carried out over the last 3 years (2023/2024/2025) at the Umbanda Omoloko Ilé Ifé Oxum Apará terreiro, with the objective of keeping the culture and religious rites alive. It is the meeting between Afro-Brazilian spirituality, ancestry, and the force of nature. It was produced during initiation processes of human life with the Orisha (an Afro-Brazilian deity that represents elements of nature), with the intention of recording gestures, symbols, and rituals that show collective healing, because we are all one, and each one is part of the whole, including nature. It thus moves towards a sacred relationship between body, territory, and planet.

This work fits directly into my photographic production by maintaining my commitment to recording narratives of resistance and cultural preservation, always connected to the urgency of caring for the world we live in. By dialoguing with issues that will be at the center of COP30, it reaffirms that spirituality and ecology walk together in building a possible future. In religions of African origin, the greatest wealth comes from nature. From the earth everything comes, and to the earth everything will return one day, and with this perspective, it is a cyclical cycle that involves all living beings.

So, When the Earth Sings represents a song of hope; amidst so many disasters, it is a breath where spirituality heals human beings, so they understand that together they can heal others and, consequently, nature too. A living Orisha is a living planet, and a living human being is a reclamation of the ancestral force that was once silenced and lost, but there is still time.

May this song echo as an invitation for us to look at, care for, and fight for our common home — for protecting the Earth is also protecting our own existence.

What projects are you currently working on? What are your near-future plans for photographic production?

Currently, I work in the Health, Environment and Work Program at Fiocruz Brasília-DF. Within this Program, the project with the greatest emphasis at the moment, lasting 4 years, is Territórios Saudáveis e Sustentáveis (Healthy and Sustainable Territories), better known on social networks as Territórios de Cuidado (Territories of Care). This project by Fiocruz Brasília, together with the Ministry of Health, implies an approach that integrates health, sustainability, and social movements with an intersectional and intersectoral perspective in health promotion. The initiative is aimed at the action-training of community leaders present in various states of Brazil.

For the near future, I plan to begin scientific studies in Image, Aesthetics, and Contemporary Culture in the master’s program at the University of Brasília, so that I can deepen my studies in an expansive way to other terreiros, in addition to preserving sensitive memories, disseminating the strength and importance of preserving ancestral culture and planet Earth, continuing this work that has only just begun here.