Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti
Photographs made in Haiti between 1993 and 1997 form the spine of this volume, which sets portraits of oungan, manbo and ounsi alongside altars, sacred waterfalls, flags and ritual objects. Galembo works by portrait rather than reportage. Sittings are arranged in collaboration, with practitioners choosing how they wish to appear, borrowing garments and bringing companions, and she describes setting the camera down to take part when a Gede ceremony asked for her hands instead. Commentary by Gerdes Fleurant and other contributors places what the lens records inside a history that runs from the arrival of enslaved Africans in Hispaniola after 1502, through the Bwa Kayiman gathering of 1791 and the war it opened, to present-day practice. That commentary presents Vodou as a monotheistic system whose lwa mediate between people and a supreme creator, distinguishes Rada from Petwo observance while noting how porous the boundary is, and connects Haitian spirits to their Fon, Yoruba and Kongo counterparts.
Galembo, P. (2005). Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti. Ten Speed Press.