A fragmentary Fon/Voodoo fetish figure from the border district of Togo/Bernin with several objects attached to the body with a string, also numerous padlocks, two bottles, at the feet a child figure, at the neck round objects like containers for medicine; these fetishes are associated with the cult of water, which could probably explain the chromatic predominance of the blue "charrette" pigment spread over the fetish. This colour exerts an aesthetic appeal and evokes a magical effect. (According to some sources, the colour is based on the pigment "charrette blue", a mixture of Prussian blue and barytesulphate, the toxicity of which offers some protection against insects) and which used to be used in France to paint peasant carts (charrette).

While the term Vodun has been translated by scholars in many ways over time, my sources have suggested that its origins lie in the phrase “rest to draw the water,” from the Fon verbs vo “to rest” and dun “to draw water,” referencing the necessity to remain calm when facing whatever difficulties may lie in one’s path1. According to this Vodun philosophy, life is like a pool that humans find in the world into which we are born. Patience and calm are necessary if we are to effectively draw from the pool of water that defines our lives, if we are to conduct our lives in a manner that will bring one greatest fulfillment. Rather than simply rushing through life, it is incumbent upon one to keep one’s composure and to take the time to “breathe.” Following on the tradition of local women who will sit quietly by the side of the spring or river before collecting the daily water, in Vodun belief one is encouraged to take time for reflection. Like the serene, straight-standing human figure that serves as the base and center of bocio, encumbered often by potent additive materials, one is encouraged in these bocio and Vodun traditions to draw on one’s inner strength and serenity as one pursues one’s course in life...

Suzanne Preston Blier, African Vodun. Art, Psychology, and Power, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1995, p. 39 à 40.- Excerpted from the catalog Vodun: African Voodoo, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 2011.

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Height: 89 cm
Weight: 8,9 kg