In Carrossel [Carousel], the artist reaffirms his interest in Christian iconography in the Afro- Brazilian tradition by observing the many parallels between the lives of saints and the Yoruba culture’s Orixás (deities). As such, the painting references the tradition of the equestrian figure, namely Saint James, which corresponds to the Orixá Ogum Ferreiro in the haitian Vodun, a warrior whose quintessential attributes are a sword and the color red.

The painting shows qualities of strength, bravery and momentum with a warrior flanked by two children. The first child, on the right, miraculously walks on a burning floor and throws petals to guide and open the way for the warrior to leave the vicious cycle of the merry-go- round. Assuming his role as a warrior, the central figure carries a banner tied to a spear in his one hand. In his other hand he holds a branch of a tree named “Orelha-de-negro (“Ear-of-the- negro”) in Portuguese. The artist ironically refers to the discriminatory use of the word “negro” and suggests in this painting: “go ahead, break the oppressive cycles but never fail to learn with what was left behind. Whoever has ears, must listen with reverence to your own history and move on.”

The child on the left is painted after Miguel, a 5-year-old black boy and the son of a housemaid who, in March 2020, fell from the 9th floor of a building in Recife, Brazil. The case generated a commotion in the Brazilian media, and was the result of inhumane negligence. In this painting, Antonio Obá portrays the central figure guiding this boy calmly and confidently, shedding a light of hope following this tragedy.