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Vodun is a religion practiced by the Aja, Ewe, and Fon peoples of Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria.
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The International Festival of Vodun Arts and Cultures, also known as the Ouidah Festival, was first held in Ouidah, Benin in February 1993, sponsored by UNESCO and the government of Benin. It celebrated the transatlantic Vodun religion, and was attended by priest and priestesses from Haiti, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil and the United States, as well as by government officials and tourists from Europe and the Americas. The festival was sponsored by the newly elected president of Benin, Nicéphore Soglo, who wanted to rebuild the connection with the Americas and celebrate the restoration of freedom of religion with the return to democracy. Artists from Benin, Haiti, Brazil and Cuba were given commissions to make sculptures and paintings related to Vodun and its variants in Africa and the African diaspora.
Dominique Kouas is a Béninois Vodou artist. His work is strongly influenced by traditional anonymous African artists from previous centuries. He is noted for his large metal-based works, which are on display in the International Festival of Vodun Arts and Cultures in Ouidah, but operates a studio in Porto Novo. Among his notable works is a sculpture of a "three-headed, three-footed, three-armed Mami Wata". Another is one which "depicts several faces bearing Fon and Yoruba scarification marks indicating their ethnic membership". The October Gallery in London is also in possession of his art. The work of the Artist achieved in the 80's and 90's is now considered as one of the most influent Beninoise contemporary visual art. His work takes part of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts collection.
Simonet Biokou is a Beninois Vodou artist. He is based in Porto Novo, Benin, where Vodou is an official religion practiced by 40% of the population.
Pierrot Barra (1942–1999) was a Haitian Vodou artist and priest, who was president of a Bizango society. He was well-known for his use of diverse materials to create “Vodou Things,” which functioned as charms or altars for the Vodou religion.
Jack Hooper was an American painter, muralist, sculptor, printmaker and art educator. Hooper was a major figure on the Southern California art scene, belonging to that generation of Los Angeles painters who matured during the late 1950s and the 1960s, painters such as John Altoon, Sam Amato, Robert Irwin, Lee Mullican, William Brice and Billy Al Bengston. He was an innovator in the use of new materials, most importantly plastic in art. He is known for abstract expressionist, mural and figurative painting. Hooper has exhibited in art museums and galleries nationally and internationally including solo shows in Europe, Mexico and the United States. Modeling renown UCLA art professor and figurative artist, Jan Stussy, the last 20 years of his life were spent in rural Mexico, where he drew and painted every single day until his death.
Evelyn Alcide is a Haitian drapo Vodou artist. Alcide studied under compatriot Myrlande Constant. Alcide often focuses her work on important Vodou religious figures. Her drapo are heavily beaded and have satin borders. Two of her flags depicting Lasirène were included in Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas a traveling exhibition originated at the Fowler Museum at UCLA that travelled to several venues including National Museum of African Art.
Doran H. Ross (1947–2020) was an African art scholar, author, and museum director and curator. Ross was a renowned Ghanaian arts scholar who spent 20 years at the Fowler Museum at UCLA managing or curating nearly 40 African and African American exhibitions shown at 30 venues across the country. His specialties included Ghanaian art, including Asafo flags, gold, elephant art forms, Asante regalia, and the works of Ghanaian painter Kwame Akoto.
Voodoo in popular culture encompasses various representations of practices associated with different forms of voodoo, including Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo, and other elements attributed to African diaspora religions, with such representations often deviating substantially from any actual voodoo practices or beliefs. Tropes regarding voodoo appear most often in supernatural fantasy or horror films, with common themes including the activity of witch doctors, the summoning or control of dark spirits, use of voodoo dolls to inflict pain on people remotely, and the creation of zombies.
References
- 1 2 "Yves Pede" (in French). UNESCO. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ↑ African Arts. African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles. 2001. p. 34.
- ↑ African Arts. African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles. 2001. p. 97.
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