WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN? While I am not a fan of the all capital emphatic statement, I do feel if there is a time for when it is justified - NOW IS THE TIME!
After two successful days of training in Cap Haitien, I boarded the "multinational" twin prop back to Port au Prince. Even though I would only be in the capital for one day, I was looking forward to seeing a young craft fair being organized by a former student in our training program. The show was held at the Sugar Cane Museum closeby the airport, and I must admit, I was expecting far less than I found. The show was well organized and much larger than imagined. About 200 craft vendors were showing in a lovely open air facility. Booths were well presented, aisles were wide and overall everything was fairly impressive.
While the show was targeting the ex-patriot and the Haitian bourgeoisie markets, there was also a nice group of international buyers in attendance - many of whom I had just visited with in Guatemala last week!
For days, I had been looking forward to the temptation of Voudou images. The skeletons of "Baron." The vicious dragons slayed by St Jaques. The kaliedescope of color in Erzulie Freda's heart. And I was not disappointed. My colleagues had been given specific instructions to keep reminding me "You do not need another Voudou flag...move on." And even though a flag picturing the Haitian hero Desaline marrying a mermaid was begging me to buy it, I remained strong, and confident. Voudou was alive and thriving and I did not need another flag. But then it happened.
The problem arose with one particular product. Most of the vendors had fairly traditional Haitian wares - cut and hammered iron, papier mache, and my beloved Voudou bead work. As I made my way to one of my favorite artisans my resolve was starting to fade. I was imagining a new flag over our dining table - perhaps one depicting a conjoined mutant triplet mermaid with three bare chested torsos and one magnificent beaded tail or maybe a set of alien looking twins - revered and feared here as a magical incarnation. But imagine my surprise when I turned the corner to Valris's booth and there she was, she was perfectly rendered. The beadwork and sequins beyond compare. She sat among the Veve symbols, the glistening sequined lime snakes, the exhalted black Madonnas - the princess of Disney's Alladin - Jasmine! Of course she had been morphed into a Voudou mermaid - but there was no Voudou capable of eliminating the saccharine sweetness engrained in her very being.
What have we come to when even Voudou - one of the last true bastions of misunderstanding and fear and loathing is subject to the pressures and influences and imagery of American iconography? And even more disappointing...my immediate and unconditional devotion and enchantment. I don't know how hard I should be on myself - I didn't buy her, but I wish I had. Perhaps though it isn't such a far stretch - she is after all a princess of "The Magic Kingdom."
lovely beaded piece!
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