Enduring Myths: African Art Is Not Bound By Place

Disproving Myths: African Art is not Bound By Place
In Suzanne Preston Blier’s article Enduring Myths of African Art, she articulates seven of the most common myths believed around the world surrounding African art. Of those seven myths, one that stands most true is the myth that African art is bound by place; the idea that African art in particular travels nowhere and its ideas are constrained to just the cultures they are sculpted in. Blier states, “The African art of myth is also frequently presented, incorrectly again, as an art rigidly bound by place.”1 She continues to express how most of the African art objects and styles studied are judiciously ascribed to particular regions and cultures as if they have no ability to circulate
In addition, the Vodou religion seen in Haiti was also influenced by the Yoruba culture in Western Nigeria, which is circled in green in figure 3. The Encyclopedia of Global Religion also states, “Haitian Vodou is a neo-African spiritual system, philosophical construct, and religion whose core resides largely in Dahomey (presently Benin) and in Yorubaland, in western Nigeria.”18 Not only is there evidence of Vodou traditions coming from other religions, but there is also evidence of them physically being circulated throughout the world, hundreds of miles in every direction away from where it is chiefly practiced in Haiti. According to Wexler’s comment in his interview with Bazile, “The bottles are for the Petro iwa. They came from Guinea- the Petro Iwa brought them from Guinea.”19 However, the Haitian Vodou and the Kongo culture share more than just traditions borrowed from other religions. There is evidence to suggest that the Vodou culture also borrowed traditions directly from the Kongo
Most of the Haitian population was originally from Africa, which supports the transformation from the Kongo culture to Haitian Vodou. The Encyclopedia of Global Religion reads, “What is distinctive about Haitian Vodou additionally is that it incorporated the powerful systems of the Bakongo [Kongo] peoples in Central Africa.”21 In addition, Paul Gardullo writes in his review of Donald Consentino’s Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, “The roles of various spirit repositories and containers or Paket Kongo are described, as well as their ties to Nkisi, their Kongo counter-parts.”22 The most distinct similarity between these two objects are their relations with the spirits they ‘hold.’ Both minkisi and paket kongos can help someone communicate between the spiritual and living world in each of their respective cultures. They both have a master ritualist that uses that communication with the spirits to assist their clients. And finally, many paket kongos are tied with a crucifix atop the container, shown in figure 2. Not only is this another example of the Haitian Vodou