Wagler Vital, Loas-Dieux Vaudoux, (Vodoun Spirits)
"Sequined Surfaces" Exhibit Opens At Bowie Arts Center Today
"Sequined Surfaces," a glittering display of 51 Haitian vodoun flags, opens today at Erskine College in the Bowie Arts Center. The exhibit continues through May 21. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend.
The vodoun or "voodoo" religion practiced in Haiti synthesizes the tribal beliefs brought to the island by African slaves and the rituals of Roman Catholicism taught by the French during their years of colonial rule. Ironically, it was through vodoun, with its encoded messages sent in drumbeats, that Haitian slaves overthrew the French and established the world's first independent black republic in 1804.
Vodoun flags are thought to have their origins in the ancestral tradition of beadwork of the Yoruba tribe in Africa, and they may also be related to the embroidered Asafo military flags of the Fante people of Ghana.
The motifs protrayed on vodoun flags reflect the personalities of individual spirits according to vodoun tradition. Each spirit, or loa, has its own sacred day, favorite tree, and special color. For example, Azaka, the loa of agriculture, prefers the avocado tree, and Marassa, symbol of twins, likes the palm tree.
The sequins and beads used to make vodoun flags are applied only after symbolic line drawings called vévés are sketched in pen or pencil onto squares of cloth. The cloth is clamped tightly in a wooden stretcher with each artisan stitching sequins and beads to a different area. The creation of these works of art is a labor-intensive process, with a flag three square feet in size requiring perhaps a month to complete.
While remaining a part of Haitian religious culture, vodoun flags have gained currency with both scholars and collectors, beginning with Pierre Monosiet, curator of the Musee d'Art Haitien, who started collecting vintage vodoun flags in the 1950s.
Vodoun societies now make some flags specifically for sale, but the quality of workmanship and design of the flags remains high. Traditionally made by vodoun priests or priestesses, flags are now made by others. One of the most prominent contemporary vodoun flag makers is Georges Valris of Port-au-Prince, a practicing Catholic who does not believe in vodoun.
"Sequined Surfaces" comes to Erskine College through ExhibitsUSA, which is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, Phillips Petroleum Company, the Louis and Elizabeth Flarsheim Trust, Sprint, the William T. Kemper Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the H & R Block Foundation, the Cooper Foundation, the Richard Florsheim Art Fund, and the Embassy of Australia, Washington, D.C.
Luc Cedor, Marassa Dossou Dossa
