“Erzulie: Mirroring the Lives of Haitian Women” will be on display at Wartburg College’s Waldemar A. Schmidt Art Gallery Oct. 31 to Dec. 14.

The gallery, in Bachman Fine Arts Center, is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. A reception will be Friday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. The reception and gallery admission are free and open to the public.

The exhibit will feature selected works on loan from the Waterloo Center for the Arts’ Haitian Art Collection, the world’s largest public collection of Haitian art.

The collaboration provides “an opportunity to present our collection with an interpretive context that can provide a sort of looking glass into the rich Haitian culture,” said Chawne Paige, Waterloo Center for the Arts curator.

Most of the art objects in the exhibition include depictions of Erzulie, one of the many Haitian lwa (spirits). The lwa adapt and respond to the lives of the people who honor them and provide context for understanding the complexities of life’s circumstances. Since Vodou incorporates aspects of Roman Catholicism, Haitians often portray the lwa Erzulie as the Virgin Mary. The exhibition, curated by art gallery director Brittany Deal, was designed to challenge preconceived notions of Haitian Vodou through paintings, drapo (beaded flags), spiritual items and interpretive panels.

The Waterloo Center for the Arts, in conjunction with the Wartburg exhibition, will unveil a selection of recently acquired Haitian pieces in “Objects of Power,” opening Nov. 20 with a free reception and gallery talk at 6 p.m. “Objects of Power” will be on display through Feb. 22.