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Much of visionary Haitian artist, Georges Liautaud’s (1899–1991) work reflects Vodou, an African Diasporic religion and way of life—from his crosses, which symbolize the crossroads (kafou), where the mortal world meets the spiritual world, to his sculptures depicting various omnipresent Vodou spirits, or lwa, which mirror different facets of nature and life. For instance, Danbala is an ancient Dahomean serpent spirit associated with water, healing, and wisdom, who is often entwined with his wife, the female serpent rainbow, Ayida Wèdo. Vodou persists as Haiti’s unofficial national religion alongside Christianity. West and Central African descendants, forcibly brought to the Caribbean and enslaved in Haiti, established the Vodou tradition as a combination of African Indigenous beliefs, rituals, and aesthetics, which were adapted in the Americas alongside traditions of European and African Catholicism, European Freemasonry, and Indigenous Taíno culture. See “The Enduring Spirit of Haitian Metal Sculpture” on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal. https://bit.ly/HaitianMetal
This image was posted on January 29, 2024.