RAMAYANA TATTOOS: Haiti

Showing posts with label Haiti. Show all posts

Alice Smeets: Voodoo

I thought I'd continue my posts on photographic essays that deal with religious syncretism and feature the compelling work by Alice Smeets on Haitian voodoo.

Every year, thousands of Haitian pilgrims converge into the basin of Saut D'Eau's sacred waterfall to pray. They throw their clothes into the cascading waterfall where the faithful believe the Virgin Mary (known as Erzulie in Haitian Voodoo), appeared in the 1800s.

Haitian Voodoo was created by African slaves who merged their ancestral religious traditions with Roman Catholic practices, allowing them to continue observing their ancient beliefs under the scrutiny of the French colonialists. Today, many move freely between the two beliefs...the very essence of syncretism.

Alice Smeets is a photographer based in Belgium. She's interested in documenting social and cultural issues, with a special focus on Haiti and modern witchcraft.

Her clients include Geo, The New York Times, Sunday Times magazine, Le Monde, Internazionale, Days Japan, PBS, De Morgen, Glamour Magazine, ZDF. She has worked for charities like the Kindermissionswerk and UNICEF.

via Erica McDonald's DevelopTube

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Labels: Haiti, Multimedia, Photographers: Photojournalists

Giovanni Savino: Misterios

"Oral Tradition is the most valuable of our possessions and if we don't lose it, no one can take it away from us." And so says Giovanni Savino.

Giovanni Savino never got formal photographic training, but practiced photography since a child, and started to work in film and television as a teenager. He worked alongside Dan Rather, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley and many others, and this career led him to witness and record unique historical events such as the fall of the Berlin wall, the conflict in the Balkans, the war in the Persian Gulf, etc.

A few years ago, he was able concentrate more on still photography and complete several portraiture and editorial projects, such as the one I recommend you watch...Misterios, which is on his website.

I was taken by many of Giovanni's still photography in Misterios, which is a peek in the complex and mysterious world of Vudu in New York, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Many of his still photographs of Vudu are dark and brooding, are of rich red and blurs...the reds of animal sacrifice and the blurs of ritual motion. It was these that I thought were the most compelling. I think you will agree with me.

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Labels: Dominican Republic, Haiti, Photographers: Photojournalists

Gaël Turine: Voodoo

Photo © Gael Turine-All Rights Reserved
This is not for the fainthearted.

Gaël Turine is a Belgian photojournalist with the Agence VU, who studied photography in Brussels. He was a staff photographer for l'Express magazine, and a frequent contributor to Libération, Le Monde and The New York Times. Since 1998, he has been frequently recognized with awards and grants, and his photographs shown in most of Europe's cultural capital cities.

Between the years 2005 and 2010, Gaël Turine documented several Voodoo ceremonies, pilgrimages and rituals in various locations, such as in Haiti, Benin and the United States.

Voodoo was created by African slaves brought to Haiti in the 16th century who, when forced by their enslavers to adopt the Christian religion, still followed their traditional beliefs by merging them with the beliefs and practices associated with Roman Catholic Christianity. It was declared the official religion of Haiti in 2003.

Not only are Gael's black & white photographs gripping in their intensity, but they are shown large sized on his Flash-based website, which adds to their impact. One can also view the images as they appear on Gael's book Voodoo.

These are amongst the best photographs of voodoo rituals I've seen.