The Shape of Vodou in Diaspora

Haitian photographer Dieu-Nalio Chery grew up knowing little of Vodou. The son of a pastor, Chery wanted to explore the national religion of the Haitian people to better understand the figures and rites that had historically been syncretized with Catholic iconography during the colonial era and thereafter hidden under the veil of Roman Catholicism. Chery earned a living as a news photographer for the Associated Press, but when he wasn’t working on major news stories — at increasing risk to himself and his
family — he visited sacred sites.

His day job soon overtook everything. In 2021, his ongoing reporting on Haiti’s gangs led to threats on his life. He and his family relocated to New York City, where he studied journalism as his family began its journey to claim asylum. The unexpected move brought him the chance to expand his exploration of Vodou in a new context: the diasporic Haitian community in Brooklyn that practiced Vodou semisecretly. Generally, Vodou is practiced in the open air, deep in the countryside, but the constraints of the urban environment forced worshippers in New York to hold ceremonies in basements, out of public view. Over time, he gained the group’s trust and was invited to glimpse a way of life that is notoriously tight-lipped, holds on to remnants of a colonial past, and openly performs feats that most would consider pure magic.

From Haiti and its diaspora, Chery has drawn a portrait of a religion