Fabiola Jean-Louis' Waters of the Abyss

Exploring ancestral connections in the African diaspora

The exquisite exhibit Waters of the Abyss: An Intersection of Spirit and Freedom (on view at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum until May 25, 2025) explores ancestral connections in the African diaspora. Conceptualized and created by Haitian-born artist Fabiola Jean-Louis, the series of 40+ works asks the question: “What lies at the center of Black freedom?”

Delving deeper into the history of her homeland led Jean-Louis to understand that African-centered spiritualities, particularly Vodou, likely played a pivotal role in they country’s fight for freedom from the French.

She writes, “According to Haitian Vodou and other Afrocentric theological and ethical traditions, those rooted in the present have a responsibility to reach both backward and forward in time—to honor, remember, and harness connections with the past and future as sources of empowerment, healing, and knowledge. These connections with ancestors and the Iwa (spirits) of the spiritual realm, combined with an understanding of oneself as a future ancestor, shape and inform visions of a more liberated and beautiful future. In this spiritual framework, time-traveling, shape-shifting spirits are summoned where they are most needed in global pursuits of Black freedom.”

On the sword in the figure’s hands, are the words “PRAN TET,” loosely translated from Haitian Creole to mean “take heads.”

For her first major museum exhibition, Jean-Louis uses papier-mâché to create the primary forms, which she embellishes. She noted that in the past paper often served as a symbol of identity or proof of existence, so she chose to deploy it to rebuild, reframe and repair outmoded narratives. Sourcing many of the raw materials from her neighborhood of Little Haiti in New York City, Jean-Louis uses paper pulp to form sculpture, altars, artifacts and devotional objects embellished with elements such as shells, crystal, sea glass and reflective surfaces which hold sacred significance in Vodou.

In the Vodou faith, spirits of the ancestors dwell in the deep sea, the abyss is their home. The ancestors will surface when the living call on them for guidance or vengeance.

Jean-Louis emphatically states that this series in not simply a collection of her work, but “is the embodiment of my life's journey, both personal and professional.” Her goal was “to create an immersive experience that transcends traditional art forms, inviting viewers to engage with the intersections of spirit, history, and identity in a way that is both profound and transformative.”

The series and the questions prompted are profound. The objects are gorgeous. The experience is transcendental.