FRACTURED PULSE

Fractured Pulse is an investigation on the separation of self and consciousness, explored through Vodou in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. What is a pulse, how does it tie ourselves, to human? How does this, in turn, tie us to physicality, in place and time?

FRACTURED PULSE

16 Mixed Media Works

60” x 60” Archival Pigment Prints, Gouache, Ink, Chalk, Charcoal.

VODOU IS REVELATION THROUGH SURRENDER AND CEREMONY.

FRACTURED PULSE IS REALIZATION THROUGH SURRENDER AND CEREMONY.     

What is a pulse, how does it tie ourselves, to human?

How does this, in turn, tie us to physicality, in place and time?

In Fractured Pulse, Quinn Matthews set out to capture the intersection of physicality, focusing on those who practice Vodou in Haiti. Priests and practitioners openly embraced and invited Matthews to photograph their rituals on the condition that he took part. Any superstition against him as a potential outsider would disappear as he would drink from a human skull and hold flaming tongues in ceremony.

The beating heart is one constant that unites every living human worldwide. It is a similarity we share that is exact. Often, to shift focus to our pulse, we need complete stillness and silence. The sights, sounds, feelings and preoccupations of the world around us need to suspend or recede to get in touch with the very thing that allows us to live - but often never feel: our pulse.

The spirit is even more nuanced, and while believed to be constantly living, its rhythm is far more mercurial and erratic than that of a human heart. Vodou explores a dimension outside our understood reality. Possession becomes the fractured pulse as the body now functions as carrier of another’s pulse -another revelation. This sacrifice of humanity, by way of regular pulse, is the acceleration and ultimate return from the surrender of death, the surrender of self.

However, in Vodou, the absolute is absent. Vodou plays to an inherent beat. During the rests of its syncopated rhythm, the outside world is silenced; making space for the spirit to fill in. It is during these times that Matthews made photographs. The result of each photo is a moment suspended.

Fractured Pulse gives us just that: a break in the physical and spiritual rhythm that allows us to reflect on the elements of spirituality and physicality that make us human and more. Each photograph Quinn Matthews gives us is a fractured piece that is part of something much larger. Together, this photo essay documents part of the story of Haitian Vodou and serves as a sort of metaphor that all can use to explore the intersections and bisections of our lives and spirit.