Ogou Vodou Flag

Haitian women working in clothing factories in Port-au-Prince since the 1960s have made Beaded Vodou flags, referred to in Haitian Creole as dwapo. They collected extra beads and sequins used in the production of high-end dresses destined for French buyers and began using them to decorate the flags. As distinct from dwapo made for over a century by men for ceremonial purposes, these works were specifically made for the art market.

Here, Amina Simeon depicts a scene derived from a Catholic lithograph of Saint James Matamoros, who in Haiti is commonly syncretized with Ogou, a hot-headed and temperamental spirit (lwa) associated with battle, hard work, and iron. The syncretization of Vodou spirits with Christian saints was a way for Vodou adherents to continue practicing in the face of colonial oppression. The image depicting Ogou, which is ubiquitous in Haiti, depicts a common visual convention around this saint which shows him riding into battle and trampling Muslim Moors at the mythical Battle of Clavijo.