In this series, Valérie Belin pursues her work on ceremony and rituals already tackled through the photographs of Moroccan Brides (2000). This series extends her use of superimposition whereby she has developed a “surreal” style through the profusion of details. By superimposing portraits of young brides in their traditional dresses and images of urban landscapes Belin sets out two opposing entities: on the one hand ritual and its eternal values, its sacred power and affects; on the other, the pulsating and direct urban world with its neon lights, logos and other gaudy visuals.  Nonetheless, the fusion is such that a double transformation occurs: the bride forfeits her carnal substance, part of her body evaporates and, what remains of it appears to be the fragile remains of a palimpsest, and, in parallel, the neon lights become embroidery, tiaras or lace. They acquire the elegance of finery. By this mimetic effect urban signs are transformed into a “representation” of the bride herself.