Vodou Footprints: Levoy Exil – Saint Soleil’s Vodou Mystic

_N9A3774

Levoy Exil is an artist. He’s from Haiti. He lives in Haiti. He is a visionary with deep roots into the mysticism of Haitian vodou. “I have revelations when I’m asleep. In black and white. The black is the body, the white is the spirit. I sing the song of creation to Damballah. I offer him blue, white and mauve. There are lines of dots all around the shapes, in relief. There are dots of light. The red is part of the body. It’s also a symbol of goodness, and it’s good for healing too. Damballah is a snake, made up of all colors.”

Levoy is an original member of the famous Haitian artistic movement called Saint Soleil, which began in 1972. Inspired by vodou religion and the cosmological energies called loa, or vodou spirits, St Soleil (Holy Sun) grew from the peasant mountainsides outside of Port-au-Prince into an internationally-renowned style specific to the culture of Haiti. Levoy still practices the art of the movement, and today is an icon of Haitian creativity and vodou symbology, helping bring to light the true beauty of this ancient belief system.

_N9A3758

_N9A3771

_N9A3741

logo_blackTrajan

Vodou Footprints: André Eugène – Atis Rezistans of Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Day1_PAP_Eugene17

Portrait of sculpture artist André Eugène, founder of Atis Rezistans on Grand Rue in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Day1_PAP_Eugene5

Day1_PAP_Eugene4

Day1_PAP_Eugene3

Day1_PAP_Eugene

All of his skulls in his work are real human skulls. We asked him how he was able to get a hold of them and he said, “Many things are easy to come by in Haiti. All my work is recycled. You ask for a human skull, you can easily get one.”

Day1_PAP_Eugene6

Day1_PAP_Eugene18

Day1_PAP_Eugene11

Day1_PAP_Eugene9

Day1_PAP_Eugene8

Day1_PAP_Eugene10

Day1_PAP_Eugene14

Day1_PAP_Eugene15

Day1_PAP_Eugene16

logo_blackTrajan