Holding on to Our Heirtage in a Unique Exhibit by Renée...

Renà ©e Stout: Tales of the Conjure Woman is one of the most unique exhibits you will ever come across in life. Conjure is to maneuver the paranormal forces, using roots, charms and nonliving and handmade articles. Renà ©e Stout was a true conjure woman because she discovered two alter egos within herself, Fatima Mayfield and Madam Ching. She has the enchanted characteristic to observe the world through two sets of eyes, the spiritual and the physical realm. Renà ©e Stout’s art embodies contemporary hoodoo with a combination of African folkloric practices. Through her artwork, Stout conserves the religious heritage of Africans by denouncing colonialism and imperialism, aligning herself with Pan-Africanism, and reimaging African religious traditions through hoodoo. By observing Stout’s exhibit, Tales of the Conjure Woman, one can see she was heavily influenced by the practice of hoodoo. According to Merriam-Webster, hoodoo is a body of practices of sympathetic magic traditional especially among blacks in the southern United States (Merriam Webster). One of the main concepts she focused on her exhibit was colonialism. Colonialism is the control or governing influence of a nation over a dependent country, territory, or people. Much has happened in terms of the development of African-American religion and African-American culture. For example, in American slavery, Africans were snatched from their own belief systems. When they were brought to America, they were taught that