" Ashe’ "

Dahomey, located on the west coast of Africa, present day Benin, is believed to be the birth place of the religion Vodou. Dahomey kings reigned unchallenged for almost two centuries before eventual defeat by European Powers and final take over by the French. With Dahomey’s sudden demise came the harsh realities of colonialism, and its subsequent Christian/Muslim persecution, and oppression of Dahomian culture, language, and religion. Many of the priests were killed, imprisoned, or sold as slaves to work the plantations on the tiny French colony of Saint Domingue, modern day Haiti. As such they carried with them their strong religious beliefs and traditions.

That tiny colony would grow to become one of the richest European colonies. By the late 1700’s Saint Domingue had the largest number of slaves of any colony in the Caribbean. At least 500,000 African slaves were living on the island. Its economy was supported by huge plantations, which depended completely on the slave labor of West Africans, taken against there will from their homeland and shipped across the ocean by the thousands. On those plantations, nurtured in secrecy, a new religion evolved from the co-mingling and fusion of beliefs from several West African ethnic groups, as well as European Catholicism and the religious traditions of the native Carib Indians - Vodou.

Vodou took hold in the slave quarters of the huge plantations there, born out of the slave’s desires to preserve their African traditions and culture. On arrival in Saint Domingue slaves from different parts of West Africa were deliberately mixed in order to prevent slaves from unifying and rebelling as a single force. It was believed that slaves who didn’t come from the same place and didn’t speak the same language would not be able to communicate and thus would not be able to unite against their masters. The slave owners knew that religion had the power to unite the slaves and in conjunction with the Catholic Church enacted strict laws forbidding the practice of African religions. Any slave caught worshipping the African spirits would be horribly punished, tortured, or executed.

The plan backfired and religion became the unifying force of the slaves. In the misery of slavery, the transplanted Africans found in their faith a common thread. Their religious rituals allowed them to find common ground and come together as a group. Although they were form different ethnic groups, they were still African, and Vodou made them all one people.

By defiantly practicing Vodou in secret, the slaves never truly submitted to the will of their masters. Having every part of their lives controlled, having Christianity forced on them, having been torn from their homeland, the slaves held onto their cultural and religious traditions as a way to survive. The solace that the slaves found in their religion helped them to endure the hardships of plantation life. Through Vodou, they maintained ties to their homeland and never forgot where they had come from. Their religion was the only form of independent free will they had, the only way they could maintain some control over their own lives. Overtime the freedom, control, and common bond that the slaves grasped through Vodou would give them the strength to engage in outright rebellion and would lead to the first successful slave revolt in the Western Hemisphere.

Ashe’, a term comparable to "Amen," it could be translated as "so be it", is the all pervasive energy that permeates the universe. It is the life force energy infused by the creator that all objects carry. Everything in the universe vibrates with this power. This piece was created as an allegory for the resistance of a displaced people to renouncing their African roots. In Vodou, the old African spirits are called Rada. The center-piece mask represents these spirits who act as protective parental figures, keeping order and passing along ancient wisdom. They are benevolent, gentle, and kind and are called upon in the pursuit of good, such as ensuring good health and fortune, protecting the community from evil, making ethical decisions, and finding love. It is surrounded by leather gris-gris bags which are typically used as juju or mojo elements in Vodou. Gris gris bags contain admixtures of objects and are used as fetish articles. The use of the feathers, fur, and nails makes use of this power to create a talismanic symbol. The foundation is mud cloth and linen with hand and machine stitching ( x ).