Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l’Ipséité

Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l’Ipséité

Explorations in a Redefinition of Francophone Identity

Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l’Ipséité is a project of Acadiana Center for the Arts in partnership with La Station Culturelle, Fort de France, Martinique.

presented by: Marie & Reggie Dupré

Curated by:

Eléna Lou Arnoux, La Station Culturelle, Fort de France, Martinique
Jaik Faulk, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
Éline Gourgues, La Station Culturelle, Fort de France, Martinique

Featured Artists:

Gwladys Gambie (Martinique)
Rebecca D. Henry (USA)
Jérémie Priam (Martinique)
Tabita Rezaire (Guyana)
Modou Dieng Yacine (USA / Senegal)

Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l’Ipséité explores variations on Creole and Francophone identities as expressed through the work of a group of contemporary artists.

This project is envisioned as a multi-year, multi-destination exhibition, which will grow and adapt to new contexts of the Creole world as it is re-mounted at new destinations across the French-speaking world. The first iteration of this exhibition takes place at Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA, from September 10, 2022 to January 14, 2023.

This exhibition aims to expand the understanding of Creole identity as a worldwide cultural identity—”Creolité”—which has a well-developed place in contemporary culture through visual art, performance, and personal expression.

The focus of this exhibition is the work of five artists who deal with notions of Créolité in the subject matter of their works, Gwladys Gambie (Martinique), Rebecca D. Henry (USA), Jérémie Priam (Martinique), Tabita Rezaire (Guyana), and Modou Dieng Yacine (USA/Senegal).

These artists work within a variety of media, ranging from traditional media like painting and quilt making, to digital and experimental media and social practices. The exhibition will focus on the interconnected ‘conversation’ between their practices and the world-views they represent.

Rebecca D. Henry, “Just the Three of Us”

The Louisiana artist highlighted in this project is Rebecca D. Henry from Opelousas, Louisiana. A Creole folklorist and a specialist in folk medicine traditions, Henry is the founder of the Creole Heritage Folklife Center in Opelousas, Louisiana, where for the past 30 years she has dedicated her life to preserving the Creole traditions of her home. Henry was born in 1941 and grew up a sharecropper’s daughter, where she spent her youth picking cotton in the fields with her brothers and sisters.

Modou Dieng Yacine, Sacred Love

Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l’Ipséité will travel to a number of international locations over the next five years, including Martinique, Belgium, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and France. The Acadiana Center for the Arts hosts the debut of this project and will serve on the curatorial team that will direct its continued development, as new artists and artworks are added to the conversation with these future showings around the world.

Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l’Ipséité is a project of Acadiana Center for the Arts in partnership with La Station Culturelle, Fort de France, Martinique. This project is supported by Etant donnés Contemporary Art, a program from Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States, with support from the French Ministry of Culture, Institut français, Ford Foundation, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, CHANEL, and ADAGP.

Selected Works