Vodou (Voodoo) and Haitian Art: Innately Intertwined

Haitian art and Vodou are inherently intertwined. Art is an essential component of the Vodou religion; vévés, drapos, and altars demonstrate the innate and heavy emphasis placed on artistic expression in Vodou. Concurrently, Haiti is a nation rich with art. Vodou imagery and symbolism in Haitian art is nearly ubiquitous. In the Haitian Renaissance of the 1940s and 1950s, Haitian art burgeoned with the opening of the Centre d'Art in Port-de-Paix; this artistic movement incorporated true Haitian culture into art more than ever before, and along with that, influences of Vodou. In this paper, I will explore the indivisible relationship between Vodou and art illustrated by the artistry of vévés, drapos, and altars, and I will consider extensive symbols of Vodou in Haitian art by examining three paintings by Haitian artists that emerged from the Haitian Renaissance.

Vévés, drapos, and intricate altars encapsulate the sense of artistry that is so present in Vodou. Vévés are symbolic designs that represent different lwa. Traced on the ground with cornmeal, flour, ash, or other powders, vévés consecrate the covered ground area to the lwa they symbolize. Interestingly, vévés originated not in Africa, but were adapted from the Tainos, and some scholars hypothesize that the intricately patterned designs of vévés are derived from European scrolls and traceries of ironwork and the embroidery motifs of the eighteenth century (Mohammed 2005,127-128). In the vévé is an integral component of the interconnectedness between Vodou and art. The aesthetic of the vévé is inseparable from its role in religion, its beauty being another device to lure into the peristyle the presence of the lwa (Mohammed 2005, 145). Like the lwa themselves, vévé patterns are entrenched in Haitian culture and art. Without the emergence of the complex graphics of the vévé, visual expression of Vodou would be relatively undifferentiated from the altars, objects, and painted murals found in other religions (Mohammad 2005, 132).

Vévés are a root from which the Haitian art community has sprung, and are "looked upon by many as the visual progenitor of Haiti's renaissance" (Kennedy 1991, 2). Early Haitian artists had little formal instruction, and so they utilized their already acquired skills-such as vévé making. Vévé designs are reproduced in many Haitian paintings, cleverly concealed in backgrounds, patterns, or even in the clothing of subjects. The recurrent geometric style of vévés are composed of shapes and created on flat surfaces; when combined with bright colors, one can see the emergence of an abstract, magic realist style that characterizes so much of popular Haitian art (Mohammad 2005, 144).

Drapos are one of the most celebrated genres of Vodou's sacred art. Usually made of satin, velvet, rayon, and adorned with sequins, beads, or appliqués, drapos bear the trace work of vévé (Polk 1995). Drapos are found on altars and used in vodou ceremonies for the invocation of the lwa. They signify the transcendent beauty of the lwa and the active power of the spirits' presence within the ounfó (Polk 1995). Meanwhile, drapos are bought and sold for their aesthetic value. Drapos straddle the divide between sacred and secular, between religion and culture. These exquisite and mystical flags demonstrate the amalgamation of Vodou and Haitian art.

Altars function in Vodou as a sacred space where symbols of and offerings for the lwa are assembled to invoke the spirits, and as a point of connection between the human and spirit realm. "Altars are played, like a musical instrument, augmented through constant use. Their aesthetic is improvisational" (Cosentino 1996, 67). Though altars are created for spiritual purposes, their artistic significance is impossible to ignore. Compositionally, Vodou altars are engaging and reminiscent of contemporary 'found' art, composed from found objects united to create artwork ripe with symbolism and depth. More specifically, individual items within the altar can be appreciated for their artistic importance. The altar's decorated bottles illustrate this duality of religious function and artistic form. They are artistic creations, but also travay maji, or magic works (McAlister 1995, 318). Bottles are usually swathed in cloth or covered in beads or sequins to protect the mystic secrecy of its contents. Further decoration varies depending on the creator and the purpose of the concoction within. The Vodou bottle, like other Vodou art, "is alive with spirit; it has a job, a mission, a personality... If you can read it, it is a crystallized history lesson, and a miniature cosmogram of the universe" (McAlister 1995, 320).

It is remarkable that a religion that emerged from a history of displacement, slavery, and constant turbulence places such weight on art. Perhaps because Vodou originally emerged among displaced Africans who did not necessarily speak the same language, art surfaced as an aesthetic, universal language within the religion. Because Vodou is largely defined by elements of other cultures and religions and exhibits a variability in specific practices from ounfó to ounfó, art may be one of the unifying factors of the religion. More importantly, though, artistic expression is a means to grasp self-identity and retain inner strength in an environment of slavery and harsh violence. Vodou is a religion of perseverance, and art is a major ingredient to that tenacity.

"Forced into the sugar plantation, mansion, hellhole, cathedral, whorehouse, Masonic lodge, armory, and opera palace of colonial St. Domingue, Africans reassembled the objets trouvés according to an aesthetic they carried in their heads, their hearts, their entire bodies. Out of torn lace, sequins, feathers, and empty whiskey bottles they made working models of heaven, Guinées of cracked crystal. Theirs is the work of artists (Cosentino 1996, 67).

As art encircles and roots the tenets of Vodou, Vodou is at the core of much Haitian art. Art in Haiti, expectedly, holds strong connotations of Haitian culture and, inexorably, Vodou. This Vodou-tinged art celebrates the blossoming of creativity from a violent history of persecution. Despite Haiti's poverty and rampant violence, art is embedded in Haitian culture: "visiting Haiti, one cannot help being struck by the artistic production that literally exudes from the cracks in the concrete and woodwork; even more starling is that it is often framed against a background of poverty and disrepair" (Mohammed 2005, 135). By exploring three Haitian artists who emerged with the Centre d'Art, the presence of Vodou in their art can be specifically examined. Hector Hyppolite is arguably the most famous Haitian artist; art critics compare his style to that of Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse. Wilson Bigaud began as Hyppolite's disciple and emerged as a prominent painter. Edouard Duval Carrié is a Haitian artist strongly influenced by the art that was born in the Haitian Renaissance; he is still painting today, with much success.

Before the Haitian Renaissance flowered, the Indigenous movement prepared Haiti for what would come in the art world. Pétion Savain was an artist and writer who led a group of artists that essentially set the stage for the Haitian Renaissance. Pétion Savain aspired to "create Haitian painting" by emphasizing Haitian culture, of which Vodou is an intrinsic piece. A group of painters quickly formed around Savain and created the indigenous movement; the Indigenists pledged to focus their art on Haitian realities (Lerebours 1992, 715). Africa, people of African descent, the Haitian countryside and the Haitian peasant now moved to the nucleus of art in Haiti (Lerebours 1992, 711). Before this point, Haitian art mostly focused on the culture of the Haitian bourgeois. The fantastical element of Vodou was rarely utilized in art, and when it was, its spirit was misunderstood or wrongly portrayed. It was this group headed by Savain that gained international recognition for Haiti in the art world, and set the stage for the founding of the Centre d'Art.

DeWitt Peters, an American watercolorist, founded Haiti's Centre d'Art in 1944 to provide an enduring channel for Haitian artistic expression; among the first artists to achieve fame were Hector Hyppolite and his young disciple Wilson Bigaud (Brictson 2002). Hyppolite, born in 1894 and deceased in 1948, was a houngan and a painter. Hector Hyppolite's Portrait of Henri Christophe is heavily influenced by Vodou. The border of the painting is decorated with flower motifs, rampant in Vodou altars and portraits of saints that represent the lwa. Because it is a portrait of a national figure, the colors red, blue, and white - the colors of the Haitian national flag - should be equally represented. But, clearly, red is the reigning color here. The color red signifies the warrior lwa Ogou. Additionally, the swirled embroidery on Henri Christophe's jacket and the designs on his hat evoke the spiraled patterns of vévé. "Hyppolite's Christophe is a figure the common people could identify with: a black general in European costume invested with Ogou's powers; the Haitian people, familiar with the double meaning of altars, could easily understand this blend of national pride, Catholicism, and Vodou" (Middelanis 2005, 112).

Wilson Bigaud's La Sirene depicts the lwa Ezili Lasyrenne. Half fish, half woman, Lasyrenne straddles the divide between earth and sea. Lasyrenne links Haitians to their African pasts and is said to lure people back to sacred Ginen. Here, Lasyrenne sits with humans on a raft but delves her tail into the water. Perhaps she transports the human figures to Ginen; the sense of a celebratory atmosphere is communicated with the presence of alcoholic beverages and drumming. In the forefront, though, Bigaud denaturalizes the scene by painting litter and dead fish in the water. Here, Bigaud depicts the environmental deterioration and exploitation that is still so unbridled in Haiti.

Edouard Duval Carrié's nameless portrait of a revolutionary general, like Hyppolite's Christophe, includes strong influences of Ogou. The figure rides a surrealistic red horse and wears a bright red hat and cuffs. He carries a sword, which is Ogou's signature weapon. Unlike Hyppolite's portrait, though, Duval Carrié chose to depict the less glorious aspects of Ogou. Vodou lwa are unique from Catholic saints because they have weaknesses, idiosyncrasies - they resemble real people. Ogou, while brave and noble, can also be foolish, arrogant, and selfish. The figure in Duval Carrié's portrait slices open the moon with his raised sword in the night sky. This action is surreal and fantastical, but like Bigaud's La Sirene, it symbolizes the rape of nature, the destruction of the land, and the unnatural depravity of war. Through this cynical depiction of Ogou, Duval Carrié criticizes Haiti's leaders for propagating the nation's violence.

Not only is Haitian art ripe with allusions to Vodou, but Haitian art breathes with the spirit of the lwas. "As with the religion to which it is so intricately bound, Haitian art is alive, vibrant and flexible." (Kennedy 1991, 3). It is impossible to completely separate Vodou and Haitian art; they are innately intertwined. Vodou is a religion based in the survival of self-identity and art embodies, supports, and promotes that perseverance.

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