LA VIE DRÔLE

Untitled (Ogun) Silk/sequins/beads 32 x 29 inches   Untitled (Marassa) Silk/sequins/beads 37 x 46.5 inches   Untitled (Marassa) Silk/sequins/beads 31.5 x 33 inches   Untitled (Bossou) Silk/sequins/beads 21 x 38 inches    Untitled (Erzulie) Silk/sequins/beads 27 x 33 inches   Untitled (La Sirene) Silk/sequins/beads 40 x 33.5 inches      Untitled (Damballa) Silk/sequins/beads 18.5 x 15 inches   Untitled (Ochun) Silk/sequins/beads 31.5 x 42.5 inches

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Flags from the Peter Watrous Collection

These works were acquired by Peter Watrous thirty years ago in Haiti. They are by different artists; often the artists’ names are sewn into the artwork with beads or sequins. The flags embrace everything from austere religiosity to the driest of humor. Some include stark geometric religious symbols and others incorporate luminous baroque beadwork. Watrous’s flags reflect Haiti’s magnificent cultural and artistic tradition.

Decorative Haitian flags are known as Drapo Vodou, or “Voodoo Flags”. Many date back to the origins of the syncretic religion. As African slaves and white settlers cohabitated in Haiti, traditional African religions and Catholicism blended, creating voodoo. Voodoo Flags were instrumental in religious ceremonies and sanctuaries. Each flag depicts the loa (spirit) to whom it is devoted. In the 1970s–1980s, following the Haitian Renaissance, critics and collectors discovered these flags. As a result, an art market developed soon after for Haitian artwork.