“My Journey With Maria Sabina” is a portfolio of 30 photos taken in 1982 by Italian photographer Gusmano Cesaretti during a “chance” healing encounter with the Mexican healer. Cesaretti shares his personal story of self-discovery when this great woman allowed him to enter her sacred world. Maria Sabina (1888-1985) was a healer, curandera, and Shaman who lived her entire life in a modest home in the “Sierra Mazateca” in the state of Oaxaca. Her practice was based on the use of various native species of psilocybin mushrooms which she used in ceremonies to cure hundreds in her community throughout her lifetime. This association with the Psilocybin mushroom resulted in an unlikely late in life counterculture notoriety that brought her into contact with the likes of John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and Mick Jagger. In recent years, there’s been a push in the United States to legalize the use of Psilocybin mushrooms for medicinal use to treat depression and other medical issues. These have been in use by native cultures throughout the Americas for thousands of years. The audience will experience the photographer's personal, healing journey and see why there’s a rising popularity in its medicinal use. Eastern Projects Gallery is part of PST ART as a Gallery Program Participant. Returning in September 2024 with its latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, this landmark regional event explores the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.art Gusmano Cesaretti, is a self-taught photographer & artist from Lucca, Italy. A resident of Los Angeles since 1969, Cesaretti has been capturing the sound, light, and emotional tenor of his adopted city through the lens of his camera. One of the first photographers to document the East Los Angeles street culture as early as 1970, Cesaretti immersed himself in the Chicano lifestyle. His photographs of this era celebrated a sub-culture that had rarely been captured before. He curated numerous exhibitions, beginning with projects at his gallery Cityscape Foto Gallery, founded in Pasadena, California in 1977. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington D.C.) & the Museum of Contemporary Art - MOCA (Los Angeles). His work was featured in the 2010 groundbreaking show Art in the Streets at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), in Los Angeles, in which he was also actively involved in arranging major works by Los Angeles graffiti writers & dedicating a section of the exhibit to The Chosen Few motorcycle club. From 2011-2014 he shot the documentary film Take None Give None, a portrait of The Chosen Few motorcycle club based in South Central Los Angeles. In 2014 he began publishing Los Angeles FOTOFOLIO, an underground journal of exclusively black and white photographs by well- known and emerging photographers to visually stimulate those who had not been exposed to photography as an art form. Distributed as a free publication anywhere from institutions to housing projects in East Los Angeles and South Central, Los Angeles FOTOFOLIO has made its way into Europe and Asia. Gusmano has played a vital role in creating the look & feel for many Hollywood films—working closely with directors Michael Mann, Tony Scott & Marc Foster.