Kafou: Haiti, Art and Vodou, Nottingham Contemporary

THE ART DESK
By Mark Hudson

Madson Mompremier's ‘Les Generales’, 1988, Gassen Collection

UNITED KINGDOM---I’ve rarely come across an exhibition as loaded with context as this one. Voodoo – or Vodou, as the show has it – is a massively complex and contested phenomenon, from the pin-sticking and zombies of legend and fantasy to the no-less colourful reality. Haitian history is tragic and dramatic, fraught with misinformation stemming from the country’s creation in an 18th century slave revolt. The religion, the history and the art produced from them feed in and out of each other in fascinating ways which the exhibition’s promotional material presents as a great slab of facts and ideas that have to be negotiated before you can even get your foot in the door. [link]


Kafou: Haiti, Art and Vodou runs at Nottingham Contemporary until 6 January