Vodoun/Vodounon: Portraits of Initiates December 2, 2010

This exhibition presents compelling diptychs by the Belgian photographer Jean Dominique Burton, who sensitively portrays Vodoun practitioners in Benin and their sacred shrines. The images provide an exceptional glimpse into the esoteric domain of this traditional Fon religion, which is now variously called Vodou, Vodun, Vaudou, or Vaudoux and practiced throughout West Africa and the African diaspora. Burton combines black-and-white with color photographs to reveal a fascinating blend of his subjects' personal charisma and the union of sculpture, painting, and installation art in the interpretation of creation laws that visibly manifest themselves in spirits of plants, animals, humans and ancestors.