Affaire de Nuit
Affaire de Nuit
This image gives an unusual compostion for a familiar theme-- the raising of dead flesh in the form of the zombi cadavre. The zombi of the flesh is the corpse reanimated, without consciousness and without soul. Raised from the grave by the bokor (Vodou sorceror) the zombi can be made to work for the person who raised it, or can be sold, like a slave, to another master.
The components-- the zombi bound and robed in its cerements, the slavemaster with the rope and whip, the bokor in the rear with his small hod-- definite as those of Christian iconography. But Présumé has given the theme a naturalistic treatment. The green slopes, the winding path, and the white tombs of the cemetery are all typical aspects of the scene in the Haitian interior.