Word: macumba
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...nightfall on Macumba Landing. Wild cries of birds and the trumpeting of elephants come from the nearby bush. A sign warns of a deadly piranha and frequent native attacks. From a downed Cessna lying wrecked in the tropical greenery come eerie blinks of emergency lights, revealing the mock skeleton of a pilot. Adventurers gather, some wearing the suits of corporate strivers, others in guerrilla battle dress or the Panama hats of dissolute plantation owners. But as waiters serve frosty pastel drinks, yam chips and shrimp fritters, it is obvious this is no jungle clearing, no stage set for The Emperor...
...large, irregular patch of canvas, covered with a silvery-pink crust of paint, sequins, confetti and dye, in whose nacreous surface also appears a slow twinkling of glitter. Entitled December 31, 1980: Brazil: Feast Day lemanjá, it refers to the goddess of salt water in the Brazilian macumba cult, whose votaries send out little silver-painted boats laden with flowers, perfumed soap and mirrors as offerings (if they sink, lemanjá has accepted the prayer). Pindell has given her own offering to this tropical Venus a mild air of reverence...