Haitian Mystique

The Baptism

HISTORICAL NOTES:

The unseen worlds of Vodou and Catholicism overlap in fundamental ways: spiritual beings are appointed by God to reveal truths, to protect people, to help people make moral choices and to guide them in living and dying. The process of baptism does several things; it singles out a person or thing to be consecrated, it introduces the person or thing to the spirits and angels, and it gives the person or thing a new name that the spirits and angels can recognize. In this way, the person becomes a new member of the unseen worlds of both Catholicism and Vodou. The person is now a child of God in a renewed way, ready to continue on the spiritual journey. ~Elizabeth McAlister

MATERIAL NOTES:

The metal used as the substrate for the attached elements in the composition (side figures, grass and bushes, tree leaves, lizards, candelabra/menorah) was cut from old aluminum newspaper press sheets.

Dimensions: 30in x 24in

Media: Acrylic on masonite, metal sculptures affixed to frame.

Year: 1999