Discovering that my friend Wladimir Alberto Martins is just as talented with a camera as he is with painting and sculpture was almost as much a surprise as it was to hear the story of the enslaved king from the Congo who had survived the voyage across the Atlantic with his son, although his wife and daughter had not. Sold to work in a gold mine in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, legend has it that Chico Rei had never lost his nobility or ingenuity, eventually buying freedom for his people and re-crowned in a strange, new world that still celebrates his legend every January.

Descobrir que meu amigo Wladimir Alberto Martins é tão talentoso com uma câmera quanto ele é com pintura e escultura foi quase tão surpreendente quanto ouvir a história do escravizado Rei do Congo. Diz a lenda que a mulher e filha dele não sobreviveram à travessia…