CURATOR'S TEXT

Rajni Perera and Vladim Vilain are two artists who question and redefine notions of time, identity and history through their work. Vilain is interested in Haitian voodoo narratives and their possibilities, while Perera explores the fusion of science fiction and migration history.  

Rajni Perera's work blurs notions of time. Envisioned in a future that could already be our present, she combines science fiction with real history. Reflecting on the body, Perera creates characters who blur their identities, whether related to gender or ethnicity. These are characters who are and remain in constant evolution, allowing her to deconstruct, without repeating, multiple colonial histories. The chosen work, Fuel, is part of the artist's Travellers series. A series that deals with the future of migrants and what a world or border can represent. Using myth and science fiction, Perera creates characters who, whatever the situation, manage to be self-sufficient. Covered in ancestral armor, they are capable of adapting to any danger linked to their travels or to territorial conflicts that may emerge.  

Vladim Vilain plays with the political and sacred body in his photographic work. Reflecting on the history of Ayiti, he interprets key moments with characters whose gender no longer becomes the main subject. In so doing, he brings to light alternative perspectives to narratives that have been told over and over again, but which may have occluded possibilities of belonging. The piece chosen for this fourth edition is Tous Saint, a photographic work depicting a historical figure from the Haitian revolution, Toussaint Louveture. Vladim Vilain reflects on this political figure, but also on the character of Papa Legba, with whom Louverture identified. Legba, an important figure in Haitian voodoo culture, is the guardian of a portal where past and future meet. Tous Saint reminds us that, although Louverture was an important figure, there was no real pictorial representation of his appearance. This work therefore allows us to envisage and imagine a silhouette that could represent both this Haitian revolutionary and his character Papa Legba.  

Rajni Perera and Vladim Vilain offer new perspectives on identity, history and the future through the lens of myth, voodoo and science fiction. Together, their works invite audiences to rethink traditional narratives and imagine new possibilities for the future. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AL-ADEEB, D. (2016). Trauma, Collective Memory, Creative and Performative Embodied Practices as Sites of Resistance. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 12(2), 268-274. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26571770 

Carlson, M. (2005). [Review of The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas, by D. Taylor]. TDR (1988-), 49(3), 191-192. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4488666 

Poblete, J. (2005). [Review of The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memoryin the Americas, by D. Taylor]. The Americas, 61(3), 521-522.http://www.jstor.org/stable/4490941