Kongo Across The Waters

Overview

Kongo across the Waters explores the vibrant culture of Kongo peoples from West Central Africa and the transmission and enduring influence of that culture in the Americas. Presenting early Kongo religious objects, Kongo and American sculpture and basketry, and contemporary art inspired by Kongo, the exhibition provides a visual narrative of the cultural exchange between Kongo and Europe that began in 1483 (when Portuguese navigators dropped anchor in the Congo River estuary) and of the later transmission of Kongo culture to the Americas through the Atlantic slave trade.

The Exhibition Kongo Across the Waters has been showcased in different locations throughout the country:

Samuel P.Museum of Art- October 22,2013- March 23,2014

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum- May 17,2014- September 21,2014

Princeton University Art Museum- October 25,2014- January 25,2015

New Orleans Museum of Art- February 27,2015-May 25,2015

Excerpt on Edouard Duval Carrié: Although Edouard Duval Carrié lives and works in Miami, he is Haitian by birth, and his work continuously mines the Haitian experience, much of it centered on the practice of Vodou. Key elements of Vodou can be traced back to Kongo religion and to the blending of Kongo beliefs and christianity that had ocurred in Kongo prior to the development of the slave trade. Duval- Carrié’s paintings here, Le Départ and La Traversé, are two of a series in which he follows the migrations of the Vodou spirits from Africa to Haiti and from there to the United States. They move through forests and across water. The borders of the paintings in the series are suggestive of the borders on Vodou flags. They are painted in a watery blue, and vévé  signs- the graphic writing system used in Vodou- are inscribed on them. He represents most of the Vodou divinities as anthropomorphic figures, humanizing them. In fact, the artist states that when he paints the lwas he is also speaking about the Haitian people. Like the lwas, they have journeyed, against their will, from Africa to Haiti, and other circumstances bring them now to the United States. In Le Départ, the spirits, chained and shackled as slaves, march through the forest, skirting a body of water. Colors may differentiate the hot lwas of the Kongo- based Petwo family from those of the Fon-based Rada family, in cool colors. The leaves on the forest spirit in the lead may indicate Kongo connections.

In crossing the waters, the lwas are packed tightly into the boat in La Traversé. The water-colored spirit at the prow is Simbi, the water-spirit. The question mark on his ear may indicate the uncertain course of the destination.