MYRLANDE CONSTANT

The work on view in the exhibition is ‘Baron Cimitière’. In the Haitian pantheon of gods, the Gede are spirits of the dead or the underworld—often Papa Gede or Baron Samedi are understood to be the principal gods of death or the underworld. Baron Cimitière is another manifestation who is considered the guardian of the cemetery and protector of graves—he maintains the realm of the dead by keeping the living out and prevents the dead from venturing back towards the living. Like other manifestations of the Gede, he wears a tuxedo and top hat and often is seen smoking cigars. Constant shows him here as a light-skinned undertaker, lassoing a woman—the noose around her neck presumably leading her back towards the cemetery. Two other figures are oblivious to this action, on kneels by a gravestone praying to the ancestors. Another appears to have just left offerings of fruit to the ancestors and is poised to exit the scene. The entire border of the flag is adorned with candles, cups, and bottles—presumably ofo both water and alcohol and other treats—offerings to the gods.

Through her artistic innovations with drapo Vodou, the Vodou flag, Myrlande Constant (b. Port-au-Prince, Haiti) bridges spiritual and sacred ritual with contemporary creation. In traditional ceremony, a flag would be unfurled to signal the start of the ritual, the opening towards the spirit and ancestral realm, an invitation to the lwa being honored in the ceremony, as well as a signal to the participants that this was now the beginning of a sacred and spiritual moment and place. Constant has worked within the mostly male community of vodou flag-makers since the early ‘90s when she made a radical shift in the tradition by using glass beads instead of sequins. After three decades dedicated to the medium, Constant’s method and style has influenced every drapo Vodou artist working today. While drapo are created for us in Haitian voduo ceremonies, Constant’s flags are not only utilitarian --- but they are also too large in size for their usual application in ritual. Her energized, and crowded compositions merge contemporary culture with Haitian history and Vodou religion: Haitian lwas (gods or deities) are often shown alongside Christian saints (which are integral to the syncretized Vodou belief system). In most of her flags, Constant depicts the lwas and members of her community engaged in various activities both mundane and sacred.