Vodou Flag

The drapo servis are important religious icons. They are kept in shrine rooms, and carried by flag bearers in elaborate ceremonies in the main chamber of the temple. A drapo servis will include an image of a Catholic saint or a vèvè (trace-work emblem) of an lwa (spirit) such as Papa Legba or Ogun of the Yoruba religion.

Art flags show much wider variation in size and theme than drapo servis, and rarely have a fringe. Some flags are closer to tapestries. In the 1950s collectors started to buy drapo Vodou, and the oungan (priests) began to make them for sale as a source of income. The next generation of artists, active in the 1990s, included Eviland Lalanne, Joseph Oldof Pierre, Le Petit Frere Mogirus, Wagler Vital, Georges Valris, Roland Rockville, Ronald Gouin, and Antoine Oleyant. They introduced various innovations, in part driven by the shortage of materials for flagmaking. Antoine Oleyant has been called "the artist who really brought the flags into the realm of fine art."