ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The Nagas are saints renouncing to everything, there included their own clothes. With their naked bodies covered with sacred ashes, they stand out for their own personal style of praying and meditating. Mortuary ashes signify the fleeting nature of life. Applying it to their bodies symbolizes the ephemeral body and is a reminder of the immediate need for human beings to seek their true selves. The photograph was taken during the Kumbh Mela, the biggest Hindu festivals which is celebrated every three years. It’s a pilgrimage that devotees take in the hope of washing away their past sins. The Kumbh Mela has the largest gathering as lakhs of devotees come from all over the country.

AUTHOR
Daniel Taveira was born in Tocantinopolis, Tocantins, Brazil. In 2010, after putting aside his Masters Degree in Finances from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Taveira moved to Mexico. In Mexico, he met renowned photographer Nadine Markova and became her disciple. Studying under Markova, Taveira began to pursue the “decisive instant,” which meant his lenses would capture the uniqueness of everyday moments through light, colors, forms, expressions and emotions. Taveira’s portraits are lavish depictions of humanity's diversity, his landscape and urban photographs are pristine in technique, abundant, full of colors and shapes.

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