What an extraordinary moment too see Vodou--including Bizango secret societies--receiving public respect. Why this spectacular exhibition is at a natural history and not an art museum is another matter. Still, the Field Museum continues to champion Vodou, having hosted Sacred Arts in 1995.
We went two days before the new year and the exhibition was jam packed and sold out! People of all ages were engrossed, inquisitive. They zoomed in and read the labels then stood back and tried to understand the larger context. One mother tried earnestly to explain to her young son why some people interact with the spirit world, why their ancestors are so beloved. Most of these objects--so dizzyingly complex with meaning and history--were never intended for outside eyes. And yet here they were, beheld by the public, with an intuitive understanding that this was an enormous gift.
I first received this gift in 2002 when I met Marianne Lehman, a Swiss national and Haitian citizen, who started this collection in 1986. Now the Foundation pour la préservation, la valorisation et la production d'oeuvres culturelles haïtiennes (FPVPOCH), based in Pétion-Ville, Haiti, oversees the collection.
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entrance to the field museum
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Reading about the history of domination and resistance experienced by the Haitian people.
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Pwen Ibo. A pwen is a concentrated point of energy of a lwa (sprit) or an ancestor. Outsiders may be alarmed by the use of bones, but here the meaning is different. They keep the spirits close. Ibo refers to Ibo peoples of Nigeria, who were among those enslaved. Many chose suicide over enslavement.
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| Ezili Freda, lwa of love and luxury, in the form of a doll. |
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second exhibition hall
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| Bizango soldier. Bizango secret societies rose from a world where untold brutality was the norm. They fought tirelessly against the horrors of slavery and injustice and many people credit them for their part in overthrowing the French colonial system. Some Vodouists declare that the work of Bizango is done, they are no longer needed. The exhibition challenges this assumption and asks who else can provide protection when the state and elite continue to disenfranchise and oppress? |
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| Boy taking in the bizango soldiers. |
