INITIATIVE FOR PRACTICES AND VISIONS OF RADICAL CARE


English version

Initiative for Practices and Visions of Radical Care, fondée par Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez et Elena Sorokina, est née en région parisienne lors du premier confinement lié à l’épidémie de COVID-19. Johanna Fayau et simona dvorák les ont ensuite rejoint.

Formée sur la base d’amitiés et de liens professionnelles, l’Initiative se donne pour mission de réunir des recherches et des pratiques curatoriales et artistiques liées aux pratiques du soin, qui s'interrogent sur des problématiques associées à la solidarité et au care. La notion de care est de plus en plus explicitement liée à celle de solidarité et se situe à l'intersection de mouvements sociaux, antiracistes et écologiques.

Se positionnant comme une protection, plutôt qu’une contestation, elle souligne l'importance de prendre soin et d'être des garant.es, attentif.ves et bienveillant.es de nos sociétés comme écosystèmes. Faisant face à la crise du COVID-19 et aux mobilisations du mouvement Black Lives Matter, la France connaît l’une des discussions les plus vives sur les questions de racisme et de care en Europe. En effet, l'histoire française du colonialisme et de la discrimination raciale diffère considérablement de celles d'autres pays. Plusieurs institutions d'échelle modeste franciliennes ont entrepris, depuis de nombreuses années, un travail engagé consacré à l'ensemble de ces questions.

Nous souhaitons mettre en relation ces espaces essentiels sur le plan social et artistique avec d'autres travailleur.ses de l'art et publics européens et internationaux.

Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez et Elena Sorokina

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INITIATIVE FOR PRACTICES AND VISIONS OF RADICAL CARE


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Black Honey Manifesto, or I am not a Foreigner in the Forest

December 4, 2023



For the occasion of Colomboscope | Contemporary Art Festival in Sri Lanka, titled The Way of the Forest, Myriam Mihindou presented the performance Black Honey Manifesto, or I am not a Foreigner in the Forest, on December 4 at AWARE-Archives of Women Artists, Research & Exhibitions.

The performance was photographed by Afghan journalist and war photographer Tawfiq Sediqi. The public had the opportunity to witness both the performance and its documentation process.

One of France's most celebrated female contemporary artists, Miriam Mihindou delves into the languages, energies, histories, landscapes, bodies and materials she injects into her performances, actions, rituals and sculptures. Her work is often healing, shamanic and artistic in equal measure.

This performance was conceived as a test of the artist's body's ability to transcend trauma or injury and adapt to the environment. Black honey is used here as a mythical healing substance known in various ancestral cultures, including Gabon, where Myriam Mihindou grew up. Her community in Gabon has developed a way of life deeply interconnected with the primary forest as a space of knowledge, perception and permanent interaction with the living chain: water, air, sea, bacteria, plants, trees, cork, animals, moon and stars.

The series was presented at Colomboscope | Contemporary Art Festival in its photographic form. In the garden of the Colombo Public Library, an activation of the performance Black Honey Manifesto, or I am not a Foreigner in the Forest was introduced by Elena Sorokina and performed by Tashyana Handy. This was followed by Tamil devotional poems and songs as a source of commemoration and ecopoiesis by artists Thava Thajendran and Srikanthan Sarujan, and an exchange with members of Memory Truth and Justice around the planting of community memories and the dignity of the memories of survivors and families of victims of armed conflict in Nepal.

This project is supported by Memory Truth and Justice, the Ambassy of France in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and Alliance française of Kotte.

Link to performance
Artist: Myriam Mihindou
Thumbnail Photo: Tawfiq Sediqi
Production / Director: Ibro Hasanović