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Contemporary Vodun arts of Ouidah, Benin
African Arts, Winter, 2001 by Dana Rush
(7.) The Beninese artists discussed in this article have participated in international exhibitions which are highlighted in a volume of Revue Noire: Contemporary African Art (1995) dedicated solely to Beninese artists. They are also included in the book Contemporary Art of Africa (Magnin 1996).
(8.) Recycling is not a new idea in Africa. See Roberts 1992; Cerny & Seriff 1996.
(9.) The Dakpogan brothers and Biokou were initially impressed, however, by the recycled artworks of Romuald Hazoume, who has come to be known in the international market. Hazoume is best known for his masques bidon, which he makes out of plastic jugs and other recycled objects (see Magnin 1996:132-33).
(10.) There are also striking similarities between this rendering of Legba and an Exu shrine in Salvador, Brazil, illustrated in Galembo (1993:134); that Exu image is also horned and phallic.
(11.) "Fa" (from the Yoruba "Ifa") expresses at least two different ideas in Fon. Its literal meaning, "coolness," in turn conveys ideas of mildness, softness, gentleness, or peacefulness and equilibrium. Du comes from the Yoruba odu, the innumerable verses associated with the 256 possible combinations resulting from. throwing 16 cowries or an 8-seeded divination chain.
(12.) It is worth noting that Robert Farris Thompson illustrates a cement "Eshu Boi" with cowries inserted into his chest. This figure, in the Museu de Policia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was probably made before 1941. Thompson notes that in "Dahomean Yorubaland there are freestanding images for Elegba with mystic signs of the divination deity marked in inserted cowries on the chest of the image," which he compares to the cement Rio Elegba (1983:26, pl. 13).
(13.) "Syncretism" is a term used commonly in Benin. As a practice, it is generally frowned upon and resolutely denied by most devout Catholics and Muslims. Vodun practitioners, however, are very open to syncretism, and claim that Beninese Catholics and Muslims blend their foreign faiths with Vodun. For example, Catholics claim that the veneration of dead twins (hohovi) is not Vodun worship, and they often maintain twin shrines in their homes. Vodun Priest Joseph Guendehou receives guests from all over west Africa and from overseas to attend his "Vodun Mass" every Sunday in Cotonou.
(14.) There are stories of people who had cakatu so badly that they could not be cured through traditional methods. In one case in particular, it is claimed that a man went to a Western hospital, and the surgeon found broken glass, razor blades, and nails inside his body. The force of cakatu and the way it has been rendered in this sculpture is the closest I have come in my studies of Vodun to what is called throughout the Americas a "voodoo doll," which may possibly have some origin in the force of cakatu.
(15.) See de Souza (1992) for a detailed analysis of the de Souza family.
(16.) Although Fon people know the Yoruba word Egungun, most use the Fon word Kulito, literally "the one from the path of death," or ancestor. Kulito are also called Kutito and Kuito along the coast, and more commonly Kututo and Kuuto near Abomey (Segurola 1963:315). Whereas Yoruba peoples have different names for the many different Egungun spirits, Fon peoples tend to divide all Egungun spirits into two classifications: the aggressive spirits who spin and chase (agbanon), and the passive spirits known for proper behavior and dance expertise (weduto). Agbanon, which means "the one with [carrying] the load," usually have some type of superstructure ("load") on their heads (a sculpture, animal horns, etc.) as shown in Figure 10. Weduto, "the one who dances," dance with great poise and an exemplary demeanor reflecting the admirable personalities they had in the world of the living before entering the world of the ancestors.
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