2002 Original LAFORTUNE FELIX Naif Folk Art Vodou Voodoo Haitian Oil Painting Born 1933 in Pont-Sonde, Haiti Died 2016 in St. Marc, Haiti Lafortune Felix first started painting when he was a Vodou priest, creating murals on the interior and exterior of his temple. His paintings form a rich cartography of Haitian Vodou practices, often focusing on intimate everyday scenes, small group gatherings or private moments. These scenes are dynamic and active ones, such that the viewer might feel a sense of coming upon something already unfolding. Felix creates a feel for the duration of a ceremony or ritual, rather than for a particular moment frozen in time. Within these scenes, thresholds of the everyday and supernatural, past and present, unfold. Lafortune Felix began painting in 1974 with the encouragement of Pierre Monosiet, the director of the Haitian Museum of Art at the time. His work has been displayed in exhibits worldwide.