Santa Marta de Ribarteme (1960-2004)

Galicia was a fertile territory for photographing the magical encounter between spirits and the ordinary aspects of life. When he settled there in 1959, Ricard heard about a very special pilgrimage in the province of Pontevedra, fifty kilometres from Vigo, which could be reached by a secondary road. There, they say, pilgrims carry their coffins as an offering, but unlike other places, they get inside them and are transported in procession by their relatives. This pilgrimage, which is celebrated every 29th July in the parish of San José de Ribarteme, is in honour of Saint Martha, the intercessor to Jesus for the death of her brother Lazarus. This is why the saint is considered the advocate for all those in danger of death. Hence the coffins and shrouds with which the pilgrims dress, feigning the death from which the saint has delivered them and representing the catharsis of the resurrection in the church.

Terré visited Santa Marta de Ribarteme twelve times over forty-one years, constructing one of his most extensive and intense reports.