Mother and Child by Jonas Profil

Oil on canvas

In this painting a country mother and child represent the vodou mother/protectress Erzuli Dantor and her child Anais. They sit on a chair in wooden structure, a table with an orange-pink tablecloth behind them and a blue table to their left. The mother wears a blue dress with a white scarf tied around her head and looks lovingly down at her child. Her child wears a yellow shirt with dots on it and reaches up for their mother. Beams of light shine through holes in the surrounding structure creating a halo around them. In the background, six villagers can be seen bearing above their heads a fantastically gigantic ear of corn as an offering. The mother and child deities can be seen across cultures. What are some other holy mother-child pairings that you know of? 

Artist Bio: Jonas Profil was born in Fort Liberte, near Cap Haitien in 1957. His father was a souvenir ven-dor. At age 18 Jonas took the money given to him for school and bought art supplies. Since that day he has been a painter.

Although he now lives and paints in Port-au-Prince, he signs his work 'Cap Haitien'. Profil’s paintings are wry observations of Haitian life rendered in pale and pastel colors. They are laced with generous doses of fantasy and, as Profil is a vodouist, religious symbolism.