A popular Haitian proverb says: “Remember the rain that makes your corn grow.”
his expression of gratitude, remembrance, perseverance, and an understanding of the connectedness between heaven and earth speaks to the themes that resonate across the works in this gallery. The belief in a close bond between the spiritual and earthly realms is vibrantly expressed in Haitian Vodou flags, or drapo, which draw upon influences from Yoruba beadwork, Roman Catholic vestments, and Masonic aprons. Their sequined compositions reference loa (major divine beings) of the land and sea; divine twins who liaise between heaven and earth; and the Sky Father, represented by a serpent, who is believed to be the creator of all life. Meanwhile, a group of mid-century Haitian paintings speak to earthly concerns. Boldly colored and graphically rendered, each painting presents a narrative scene that draws on different vantage points of Haitian life: the relationships between landscape and community and between the celestial and the earthly environment, and the mundane thrums of daily life.
Artists beyond Haiti in this gallery similarly engage these ideas. José Bedia’s work explores the possibility of a universal language of the cosmos, rooted in global Indigenous and Afro-Cuban traditions. Betye Saar’s use of found materials draws on her lifelong interest in mysticism and spirituality, looking to African ancestral figures, stories, and mythologies. Nearby, the stone sculptures of small animals by James Washington, Jr. form a quiet sentinel overlooking their environment: earthly in material and subject but resonating with what the artist described as a “spiritual force.”