Entrée to Black Paris™

Surviving Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Surviving Paris book display
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the evening of September 9, 2026, I attended a delightful event at Le Peloton Studio – Surviving Paris: An Evening Celebrating Community & Culture.

The space quickly filled with people wanting to hear host Aaliyah Heath interview Robin Allison Davis, author of the poignant story about navigating Paris as a single woman with breast cancer.

The evening celebrated the release of the paperback version of the story, which was published in hard cover and e-book roughly a year before.

Beyond Montmartre: Black Voices in French Wine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Clos Montmartre
Photographer: Shadowgate
Source: Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-2.0

Every autumn, Montmartre briefly remembers that before it became synonymous with artists, cabarets and Sacré-Cœur, it was a village replete with grapevines.

The Fête des Vendanges de Montmartre, which takes place this week, celebrates that history with wine, food, and music. At the center is the Clos Montmartre, the district's celebrated, working vineyard. It is a small, yet active reminder of a time when there were numerous vineyards in the Paris area and wine production was a major activity.

A glass of Montmartre wine
© Entrée to Black Paris

As the grape harvest begins, I thought it fitting to raise awareness of a lesser known aspect of the industry—that of the growing presence of Black people in the French wine world.

Their stories challenge the notion that France's wine industry belongs exclusively to old European families whose names have appeared on bottles for generations.

Consider Stephanie Wangui, whose path into French wine began not with inherited vineyards but with experience in London's restaurant world.

A former senior sommelier at Noble Rot, Wangui moved to Burgundy's Côte d'Or and undertook a viticulture internship at Domaine Roulot in Meursault, one of Burgundy's highly regarded estates.

Her trajectory—from the dining room to the vineyard—is unusual and significant. Sommeliers traditionally occupy the world between wine producers and consumers: they translate terroir into something a guest can understand and appreciate. Wangui's move into viticulture represents something more fundamental: learning to work the land itself.

Click here to see a beautiful photo of Wangui and read more about her career trajectory.

Marie-Inès Romelle, founder of Champagne Marie Césaire, offers another version of that journey.

Romelle trained with the Lefevre family in Champagne before establishing her own brand. Marie Césaire brings together French Champagne tradition and Romelle's Caribbean heritage, including the use of cane sugar instead of beet sugar and a distinctive emphasis on tropical aromas. It will celebrate its 11th anniversary in December 2026.

Joséphine en Rose champagne by Marie Césaire for Josephine Baker's pantheonization
© Entrée to Black Paris

Read Travel Noire's article about her here.

Pascal Carole's winemaking story unfolds in France's Loire Valley. Originally from Martinique, he was introduced to winemaking through a course at Ruby Wine in San Francisco. Shortly thereafter, he had the opportunity to harvest grapes and produce a small batch of Chardonnay. This experience prompted a career change and led him to spend a year apprenticing with Brent Mayeaux before moving his family to Saumur to launch his business.

Carole produces wines from his own Cabernet Franc grapes, which he grows in the commune of Distré, as well as from organically-grown grapes from local vineyards. He produces his wines in his garage, limiting his annual production to 2,000 to 3,000 bottles to ensure quality.

Click here for a detailed article about his story.

Plaque to Commemorate the 1956 Congress of Negro Writers and Artists

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Courtyard photo (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

As part of a three-day symposium to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Congress of Negro Writers and Artists at the Sorbonne University, a "plaque unveiling" ceremony was held on Friday, September 18, 2026 .

Event flier
Created by Présence Africaine
Artwork credit: Obou Gbais, L’assemblée de l’émancipation, 2026
Source: Panthéon-Sorbonne Université de Paris I Website

The event featured an official preview of the plaque's inscription, offering attendees a first look at the commemorative text while site selection and installation details are being completed.

Alioune Diop, who initiated the congress, founded the journal Présence Africaine in Paris in 1947 and established the associated publishing house in 1949. His wife, Christiane Yandé Diop (seated in the image below), directed the publishing house after the founder's death in 1980. She was given the honor of unveiling a mock-up of the plaque at a special ceremony held in the Amphithéâtre Descartes, the same room where the original congress was held.

Mme Diop is a two-time recipient of the Legion of Honor (Knight in 2008; Officer in 2020) as well as a recipient of Senegal's Grand Cross of the National Order of the Lion. She celebrated her 101st birthday on August 27, 2026.

Mme Diop seated next to the veiled inscription
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mme Diop seated next to the unveiled inscription
© Entrée to Black Paris

The English translation of the inscription reads: "From the 19th to the 22nd of September 1956, the Sorbonne welcomed the 'First International Congress of Black Writers and Artists' in the Descartes Amphitheater, organized at the initiative of the Présence Africaine review and its founder Alioune Diop."

The inscription
© Entrée to Black Paris

Following the ceremony, conference panelists and attendees—including writers, professors, and artists—gathered in the Sorbonne courtyard for a group photograph. Madame Diop is seated in a wheelchair at the center of the front row.

Group photo of conference attendees
© Entrée to Black Paris

Details regarding the installation date and permanent location of the plaque are expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.

70th Anniversary of the 1st Congress of Negro Writers and Artists

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Detail of flier for 70th anniversary symposium
Artwork credit: Obou Gbais, L’assemblée de l’émancipation, 2026

In September 1956, African and Afro-descendant students and artists gathered in the Descartes Amphitheater at the Sorbonne in Paris for the First Congress of Black Writers and Artists.

Organized by the journal and publishing house, Présence Africaine, this iconic event brought together many of the most prominent intellectual figures in the Black world of the day. They included Alioune Diop (Présence Africaine's founder), Léopold Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire, Richard Wright, Cheikh Anta Diop, Frantz Fanon, and Édouard Glissant.

(In the speech he delivered near the end of the conference, Richard Wright called the participants' and attendees' attention to the fact that women were neither invited to serve as delegates or nor to address the assembly.)

At a time when European colonial empires were crumbling, the congress asserted and expanded upon ideals that emerged from the Negritude movement—the need to recognize African and Afro-descendant cultures as essential forces in universal thought, art, and history. It affirmed the creative power of the Black world and established culture as a vehicle for emancipation, dignity, and dialogue between peoples.

Topics discussed focused on the most pressing issues of the day: the legacies of slavery and the slave trade, contemporary colonization in Africa, and racism.

Aimé Césaire, Jacques Stéphan Alexis, and Richard Wright at the Congress
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Image attributed to florocky
CC-BY-SA-4.0

The 50th anniversary of the congress was organized in Paris by Harvard's W.E.B. Dubois Center and UNESCO, with the opening day of activity being held at the Sorbonne and the remainder of the conference taking place at UNESCO headquarters in the 15th arrondissement.

Photo of Sorbonne sign for 50th anniversary celebration
© Entrée to Black Paris

This week, the Sorbonne will host a symposium that celebrates the 70th anniversary of this iconic conference.

Flier for 70th anniversary symposium
Created by Présence Africaine
Source: Panthéon-Sorbonne Université de Paris I Website

On Friday, September 16, at the Centre Sorbonne's Descartes Amphitheater, a series of roundtable discussions will examine the following topics:

Afro-diasporic youth and book clubs
Art, History, and Transmission
Media: What strategies to amplify our voices?
Intersectional Commitments: Voices from the Past to the Present
Rehumanizing African and Black Subjects in France Today

A ceremony for the unveiling of a plaque that commemorates the 1956 congress will take place from 12:30 PM until 2:00 PM.

The organizing committee for the symposium consists of the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; a collective of faculty-researchers (Lotte Arndt, Sophie Cras, Florence Brisset-Foucault, Anne Hugon, Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle); Tamandra Geny (AZZ-ART, MuCAT); the Institute of African Worlds (IMAF); and Sarah Frioux-Salgas (Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac). Présence Africaine is contributing the historical component of the exhibition and the presentation of archival films and documentaries.

As a tangible acknowledgment of the importance the original congress placed on Black culture, AZZ-ART has partnered with Présence Africaine and the Sorbonne to present an exhibition of works by contemporary artists whose practices and perspectives extend the lines of inquiry first opened in 1956. The show has been mounted in the university's Galerie Soufflot - Centre Panthéon and will be on display through October 30, 2026. The curators are Tamandra Gény and Florence Alexis.

The vernissage (opening) for the exhibition will take place on the evening of Thursday, September 17.

Graphic for Congrès 56
Source: Panthéon-Sorbonne Université de Paris I Website

Black Boxers in Paris: Battling Siki

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Battling Siki (detail) by Camara Gueye
© Entrée to Black Paris

When I wrote about La Galerie Africaine's last show for 2026, D'un Ailleurs à l'Autre 2, I talked about two works that evoked boxing.

One was a sculpture by Jean-Claude K-Bô.

Boudoum
Jean-Claude K-Bô
Composite materials, hemp fibers, acrylic, Posca markers
© Entrée to Black Paris

The other was a painting of Battling Siki (né Amadou Louis M'barick Fall) by Camara Gueye.

Battling Siki
Camara Gueye
Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

These works inspired me to reflect on the history of Black boxers in France.

Entrée to Black Paris has published three articles on this topic in the past:

Sugar Ray Robinson in 1950s Paris

"Panama" Al Brown - Boxing in Paris

"Panama" Al Brown and the Dakar-Djibouti Mission

Today, we're looking at the life and career of Battling Siki. He was the first Africa-born world champion of boxing.

Also known as Louis Phal, Siki was born in Saint-Louis, Senegal in the late 19th century. Much of what I've read or heard about him is contested, even his date of birth.

(Most sources say he was born on September 22, 1897, but he gave his birth date as December 15, 1899 in an 1925 interview for Le Matin.)

He was brought to France as a preteen (some reports say age 10; some, age 11) by a European actress (one source says German; another, Dutch; another, French) and abandoned in Marseille. He began boxing as a teenager.

He voluntarily enlisted as a soldier of the 8th Colonial Infantry Regiment (an all-African unit) during World War I, became a warrant officer for the regiment, and received two medals (Croix de Guerre and Médaille Militaire) for his service.

Returning to boxing thereafter, he fought a middleweight champion and a heavyweight champion in non-title bouts, winning both of them.

Battling Siki
June 11, 1922
Image in public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons

On September 24, 1922, when he stepped into the ring with world light-heavyweight champion Georges Carpentier at the Buffalo Stadium in the Paris suburb of Montrouge, it was ostensibly to participate in a fair fight.

But the bout had been fixed, and Carpentier was supposed to emerge the victor.

During the fourth round, Siki recovered his self-esteem and abandoned the plan. He knocked Carpentier out in the sixth round.

Buffalo Stadium in Montrouge, September 24, 1922
Match between Georges Carpentier and Battling Siki
Press photo / Agence Rol
Collection Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Image in public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons

The referee initially disqualified Siki, saying that he tripped Carpentier. But the crowd displayed such displeasure that after twenty minutes of discussion among the judges, the decision was reversed.

That day, Siki became the light-heavyweight champion of the world.

Watch excerpts of the fight HERE.

Many of the stories published by the press about the fight were unabashedly racist.

In November 1922, the French Boxing Federation stripped Siki of his French boxing titles and revoked his license, so he was no longer able to work in France.

Senegalese Deputy Blaise Diagne defended him, and his license was restored.

Blaise Diagne
Agence Meurisse
Collection: Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Image in public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons

But Siki's professional career went downhill from that point on.

After being denied the opportunity to fight in England because of his race, he went to Ireland, where he "lost" his world title to Mike McTigue on March 17, 1923.

In fact, though the Irish referee declared McTigue the winner and the British and American Boxing Federations subsequently declared him the new light-heavyweight champion of the world, the International Boxing Union did not accept this declaration because the fight was not conducted according to their regulations and international judges were not present.

In their view, the title was never in dispute.

Subsequent bouts in France were organized amidst multiple managerial conflicts and lawsuits, and Siki finally decided to try his hand at boxing in the U.S. He set sail for New York on the RMS Berengaria in August 1923.

Siki frequently did not train appropriately for matches in the U.S. and his boxing record there was poor. He was involved in several public altercations, one of which led to him being targeted for deportation.

On December 15, 1925, Siki was murdered on 41st Street in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. Two bullets fired in his back at close range ended his life.

His assailant was never caught.

Siki's funeral was held in Harlem, with Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. presiding. He was buried in a common grave in Flushing Cemetery.

Through the efforts of the African Boxing Union and the World Boxing Council, his body was repatriated to Senegal in 1993.

An award-winning documentary called Return to Your Corner presents Siki's life and career. It is being streamed on several channels—some paid, some free.

Find them here.

Last Galerie Africaine Exhibition for the Year

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: "Lost wax ladies" (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Galerie Africaine is currently hosting its last Paris-based exhibition of the year at the Cloître des Billettes in the Marais.

Itinerant gallerist Aude Minart chose to name this show after the exhibition she mounted at the cloister in January 2026 - D'un ailleurs à l'autre (From One Elsewhere to Another).

She simply calls the current exhibition D'un ailleurs à l'autre 2.

Cloître des Billettes entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Those who know La Galerie Africaine will find several familiar names among the artists whose works are displayed.

The "lost wax" bronze sculptors— Y. Touré, H. Yameogo, I. Guiré, Is. Gandema, and others—are well represented, as usual.

"Lost Wax Ladies" by multiple artists
© Entrée to Black Paris

Famille à cheval (detail) by I. Guiré
© Entrée to Black Paris

L to R: Série en-corps nbs 10, 17, and 11 by Y. Touré
© Entrée to Black Paris

Minart frequently shows works by Camara Gueye, and three of his paintings are displayed at this show.

La Jeune Fille
Camera Gueye
Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Jeune Fille (detail)
Camera Gueye
Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

But Minart specifically intended to show lesser known artists in this exhibition as well. An intricate work on paper by Benin's Julian Sinzogan stands majestically at the end of the right side of the cloister.

Right walkway of cloister
© Entrée to Black Paris

Gorée
Julian Sinzogan
© Entrée to Black Paris

Along this same passage, one of Y. Touré's En-corps bronzes perfectly compliments a painting by a Swiss-Congolese (Kinshasa) artist named Aimée Mandjila.

En-corps nb 2
Y. Touré
Bronze
Come to Me, You Who Are Weary and Heavy Laden, and I Will Give You Rest
Aimée Mandjila
Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Come to Me, You Who Are Weary and Heavy Laden, and I Will Give You Rest
Oil on canvas
Aimée Mandjila
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the left passage, Bill Kouelany's mixed media Vagabondages works and Kré MBaye's acrylics on canvas are vivid splashes of color against the centuries-old stone wall.

Vagabondages I
Bill Kouelany
Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sans titre
Kré Mbaye
Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Many reverse glass paintings are on display on a table to the left of the entrance.

Reverse glass paintings by BouK
© Entrée to Black Paris

Reverse glass paintings by Ibou Sall
© Entrée to Black Paris

Of all the sculptures in the show, I was most intrigued by three small mixed media creations by Jean-Claude K-Bô.

One of them, entitled Boudoum, evokes a boxing match.

Boudoum
Jean-Claude K-Bô
Composite materials, hemp fibers, acrylic, Posca markers
© Entrée to Black Paris

This and Camara Gueye's painting of Battling Siki on display in this show have me thinking about the history of Black boxers in France.

I feel another article coming on!

D'un ailleurs à L'autre 2 runs through August 29, 2026.

D'un ailleurs à L'autre 2
La Galerie Africaine
Cloître des Billettes
24, rue des Archives
75004 Paris
Metro: Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1 and 11)

Contact Aude Minart at:
aude.minart@gmail.com
+33 6 60 24 06 26
Internet: lagalerieafricaine.com

Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac Celebrates 20 Years

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Musée du quai Branly and Eiffel Tower
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac celebrated its 20th anniversary this June.

I clearly remember visiting the museum a few weeks after it opened. I was thoroughly fascinated by the enormous glass panels that enclosed the property as well as the architecture of the building and the grounds.

Main entrance - July 2006
© Entrée to Black Paris

Front façade - July 2006
© Entrée to Black Paris

Administration building - July 2006
© Entrée to Black Paris

Garden and ticket queue - July 2006
© Entrée to Black Paris

Rear façade and garden - July 2006
© Entrée to Black Paris

Over the years, Entrée to Black Paris has published eleven articles about the museum. The 20th anniversary celebration inspired me to take a look back at them:

Beyond Anthropology

Four Black Women Featured at the Musée du quai Branly

Black Indians of New Orleans

Paul Robeson at the Musée du quai Branly

Picasso at the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac

L'Afrique des Routes - Exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly

The Color Line - Part 1

The Color Line - Part 2

The Color Line - Buzz

The Invention of the Savage - Exposition at the Musée du quai Branly

Paris' Human Zoos Exposed at the Musée du quai Branly

This fall, Musée du quai Branly has three exhibitions that feature Africa in some way.

Almighty God Art Works presents the work of Ghanaian artist and preacher Kwame Akoto. It has been mounted with the support of the Embassy of France and the Institut Français in Ghana, under the "Création Africa" initiative.

Akoto preaches under the name Almighty God. His works blend moralizing slogans, spiritual messages and everyday scenes in a direct, explicit style. The exhibition explores his themes of preference and showcases the influences, meetings — especially with the artist Hervé Di Rosa — and beliefs that have shaped his unique artistic approach.

This exhibition runs through Sunday, September 6, 2026. Read more and purchase tickets HERE.

1913 - 1923 : L'Esprit du Temps (1913-1923: Spirit of the Times) examines the activities of a select few art dealers and gallerists who, through their writing and their exhibitions, managed to convince their contemporaries of the universal value of African and Oceanic arts. Their commitment catalyzed a shift in the Western perception of works from these regions of the world, leading to them being considered as true art.

This exhibition runs through Sunday, September 20, 2026. Read more and purchase your tickets HERE.

Le Mbari Club, un espace de création transnationale au Nigeria (The Mbari Club: A Space for Transnational Creation in Nigeria) will be on display in the Boîte Arts Graphiques (Graphic Arts Box) through October 11, 2026. This presentation showcases artworks, archives, and journals to illustrate the Pan-African artistic and intellectual exchanges of this Nigerian cultural club.

The Graphic Arts Box is an intimate, specialized cabinet located on the museum’s main permanent collection floor (Plateau des Collections). A small, enclosed alcove between the African and Americas sections of this floor, it was created to offer a quiet, focused viewing environment away from the main visitor pathways. It is accessible when you publish a standard entry ticket to the museum.

Gare de Lyon highlights Afro-centric exhibitions in Arles and Marseille

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Display of photo from Deux femmes, un homme by Paul Kodjo
© Entrée to Black Paris

In 2014, SNCF (France's national railway company) began showcasing regional cultural life through a program called Gares & Connexions (Train Stations & Connections). They envisioned France's train stations evolving into modern public squares that would provide a vital link between cities and travelers, and they deliberately placed art and culture at the heart of their initiative.

SNCF created a brand—Place de la Gare—as the corporate/cultural identifier for the company's ongoing arts engagement initiatives. The branding highlights stations as cultural venues themselves, pointing travelers toward in-station exhibitions before they board a train to visit destinations where events are actually occurring.

This summer, at Place Louis-Armand, the Gare de Lyon is featuring two such events that are ongoing in the south of France.

I saw an ad for one of them in the metro but didn't fully grasp its significance.

Metro ad for Les Rencontres de la Photographie Arles
© Entrée to Black Paris

When I saw the photo exhibit at the train station, I was able to read more about the event and then research it online.

Signage for Les Rencontres de la Photographie Arles
© Entrée to Black Paris

I learned that SNCF Gares & Connexions partners with the Rencontres d'Arles to bring the city of Arles' summer festival preview exhibitions directly into major transit hubs like Paris Gare de Lyon.

The 57th edition of Les Rencontres de la Photographie Arles opened on July 6, 2026 and runs through October 4, 2026. It consists of over 40 exhibitions hosted across museums, churches, heritage sites, and other spaces in the city. Many of these shows feature artists from and photo narratives about the African continent.

Indeed, images from multiple photographic exhibitions that are being shown concurrently in Arles grace the square in front of the station.

Display of photos from various exhibitions at Les Rencontres de la Photographie Arles
All images © Entrée to Black Paris

The other featured exhibition at Gare de Lyon is Mossi Traoré - La Mode Aussi (Fashion, Too). It opened on May 20, 2026 at MUCEM (Musée des civilisations
de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée; English translation - Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations) in Marseilles and will be on display through November 16, 2026.

Information panel for La Mode Aussi
© Entrée to Black Paris

This show brings together nearly 150 works, half of them created by Traoré. Several of these were conceived specifically for the occasion.

Traoré's designs are shown alongside works by artists who inspire him as well as textiles, costumes, tools and accessories from the Mucem’s own collections.

Display of photos from Mossi Traoré collections
All images © Entrée to Black Paris

Read about Les Rencontres de la Photographie Arles HERE (Web page in English).

Read about Mossi Traoré - La Mode Aussi HERE (Web page in English).

Black Paris on the Map: Public Sites Named to Honor People of African Descent

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Gare Rosa Parks at twilight
© Entrée to Black Paris

One of the questions I get asked most often on our Entrée to Black Paris walking tours is some version of this: "Wait—there's a whole neighborhood named after Rosa Parks?"

The honest answer is yes!

Flier for celebration in the Rosa Parks quarter
© Entrée to Black Paris

Paris has quietly named more than two dozen of its parks, streets, squares, and transit stations after people of African descent—and most people walk right past every one of them without noticing.

There is the garden named for Nelson Mandela near Les Halles in the 1st arrondissement ...

Signage for Nelson Mandela garden
© Entrée to Black Paris

... the street named after aviator Bessie Coleman in the 20th arrondissement ...

Street sign for rue Bessie Coleman
Photo by Chabe01
License: CC BY-SA-4.0

... the place named after Félix Eboué in the 12th arrondissement ...

Place Félix Eboué
© Entrée to Black Paris

Over the years, we've written about each of these places and spaces as we've discovered them. Some of them have been on the map for years, while others have been recently inaugurated. We count at least one place commemorating a Black person in thirteen of Paris' 20 arrondissements.

The most recent addition came just this past spring with the March 2026 dedication of part of the Trocadero Garden to Jacques Martial, the Guadeloupean actor and former Paris Deputy Mayor who died in 2025. This space will become the home of the National Memorial to the Victims of Slavery.

Not every commemoration takes the form of a garden or a memorial, however. Often, honoring history means marking a single doorway or façade.

In April 2025, the city affixed a plaque above the entrance to the building found at 49, rue Saint André des Arts in the 6th arrondissement during A Ceremony in Honor of the Chevalier de Saint-George.

Going back yet another year, Paris honored one of the U.S.' most beloved singers. The first phase of A Paris Park Named after Aretha Franklin was completed and opened to the public in July 2024. When work is finished in 2028, the park will have expanded to 30,000 square meters (32,917 square feet) of biodiverse terrain.

The reimagining of the Trocadero Garden, the installation of a beautiful marker in central Paris, and the creation of a new park on the edge of the city represent three different ways Paris is writing Black history into its landscape. Entrée to Black Paris will continue to look for and report on new instances of Black people officially being commemorated in the city.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about French Hip-Hop

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Mr. Kayz in the Combo Café Chill Room (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

I am not a fan of hip-hop music.

When I engage in conversation about this, I am frequently known to say that the genre "lost me after 'The Message.'"

Yet, because I work with youth who come to Paris for travel abroad experiences, and because youth need to be met "where they are," I feel that I need to have at least a rudimentary understanding of this music.

So, when I learned about Airbnb's "Explore Paris's hip-hop scene with rapper Mr Kayz," I signed up.

On the morning of July 21, I made my way to the the 18th arrondissement to receive my primer in what has become an integral part of France's musical scene.

Though the Web page describes the locale as the Combo Café and recording studio, I wasn't prepared for what I found there.

Café Combo
© Entrée to Black Paris

At the entrance, visitors immediately encounter the café counter. But moving farther into the room, you find a wall lined with music awards on one side and work stations with cassette players and tapes (yes, you read that right) on the other.

Music awards
© Entrée to Black Paris

Album display and cassette players
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cassette players and tapes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Behind this area lies a turntable, a small display of albums, and Studio 1. The studio was in use that morning.

Turntable and albums
© Entrée to Black Paris

When I arrived, Mr. Kayz was watching two adolescent boys trying to figure out how to work the cassette players. He and the boys' mother were equally amused.

Mr. Kayz finally showed them how the devices worked, and then bought everyone the refreshment of their choice before leading us downstairs.

Mr. Kayz going downstairs
© Entrée to Black Paris

He showed us the "chill room" (where musicians can sit in quiet contemplation) and Studio 2 before ushering us into Studio 3.

Mr. Kayz in the Chill Room
© Entrée to Black Paris

This is where our experience unfolded.

The Web page refers to Mr Kayz as a "rapper, lyricist, and beat-maker whose sharp lyricism and bold sonic identity reflect the pulse of Paris’s underground scene." He is a tall man of U.S. and Congolese origin who grew up in France and experienced the birth of hip-hop in this country. For the first hour or so, he presented the history and evolution of French hip-hop by telling stories and showing videos to illustrate the cross pollination that occurred between artists in France and the U.S.

Searching for a video
© Entrée to Black Paris

He was careful to explain how the music served as a source of identity for young Black people in a nation where no statistics are kept regarding race and the word itself has been stricken from the constitution.

Then, he turned to the hands-on part of the experience, beginning with demonstrating one of the digital tools used to create music from samples.

Sampling tool
© Entrée to Black Paris

The two young men create rap music in the U.S., so they were already familiar with what we were shown.

Demonstrating the sampling tool
© Entrée to Black Paris

While they set about mixing samples to generate clips, Mr. Kayz worked with the boys' mom and me to create songs using AI. Each of us gave him elements of a story we wanted to convert into a song, and the platform worked its magic. In just a few minutes, two versions of the tunes derived from our stories were ready for listening.

Everyone listened to and enjoyed all the music produced during that last hour. When it was time to go, we were able to download the audio files on our phones as an acoustic reminder of our time together.

Mr. Kayz told us that we did not need to rush to leave, and we all ended up spending an extra hour in conversation with him!

To book your experience with Mr. Kayz, click HERE.

Mr. Kayz
© Entrée to Black Paris

Gay Paris Noir—A Black Queer Culture Walk

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Brian Scott Bagley
© Entrée to Black Paris

Anyone who knows contemporary Black Paris has heard of Brian Scott Bagley. The founder of the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendents de Paris, he has devoted much of his professional life to the preservation and promotion of Baker's legacy.

Brian Scott Bagley with items from Le Musée Joséphine Baker
et des Afro-Descendants
Image courtesy of Brian Scott Bagley

Bagley is the creator of Gay Paris Noir (Gay Black Paris), a series of well researched, entertaining, and interactive tours that feature LGBTQ+ individuals and businesses that cater(ed) to them in various parts of the city. He began his career in the performing arts, notably as choreographer of Jérôme Savary's musical production of À la recherche de Joséphine (Looking for Josephine). This work brought him to Paris twenty years ago, and he has been an integral part of the African-American community here since that time.

Early on, Bagley became interested in the work of "touring Black Paris." Thanks to those he met while working on the musical, he gathered anecdotes about people and events, past and present, that form part of the arsenal of information he now presents during his tours.

I had the pleasure of experiencing his walk through the quartier de la Bourse (stock exchange quarter) the other day. My husband and business partner, Tom, and I briefly resided in this off-the-tourist-track 2nd arrondissement neighborhood for a blogging project 13 years ago, and I was happy to return to experience it through a new lens.

When Bagley and I met at the starting point, I noticed that he was sporting a backpack and carrying a tote bag under each arm.

I quickly learned that each was filled with precious, often vintage documents, as well as a digital tablet of images that would be part of his presentation throughout the tour.

We went to a café to get provisions for the hot day and sat at a table so he could reveal a few of these documents and set the stage for what was to come.

Brian Scott Bagley with a vintage copy of Remembering Josephine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Then, we stepped out onto the sidewalk and walked to the corner to find the first stop on the tour.

It was the Opéra Comique, where Bagley launched his career in Paris. He emphasized its proximity to the Olympia Theater and Hôtel Scribe, where several events and encounters relevant to Josephine Baker took place. But those sites were not part of this particular tour.

Brian Scott Bagley at Opéra Comique
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bagley talked about the history of the theater and the cast and staff of À la recherche de Joséphine, weaving in stories about Josephine and her Rainbow Tribe.

Then, he seamlessly segued into a conversation about Alain Locke, "Dean" of the Harlem Renaissance, and his pursuit of Langston Hughes during the time the two men were in Paris in 1924.

Before leaving the square in front of the theater, he wove in the first of many anecdotes about women—straight, gay, and bisexual—who advocated for their rights and created strong, supportive environments for themselves in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

We visited the rue des Colonnes, an 18th-century architectural gem that is only a block away from Place de la Bourse. Its Doric columns were inspired by the Greek temples of Paestum in southern Italy. Bagley first raised the topic of same-sex activities among males in ancient times before proceeding to talk about a male brothel that was frequented by men working at the stock exchange.

We went to Galerie Vivienne, a stunningly beautiful 19th-century covered passage that is home to vintage and contemporary boutiques, tea rooms and other businesses.

Galerie Vivienne
Photo by Mbzt
License: CC-BY-3.0

There, Bagley talked at length about a book in the display case at Librairie Jousseaume, which directly related to the story of the brothel he had just recounted.

We simultaneously spotted another book on display, Eros Noir, that was squarely aligned with the tour's theme.

Eros Noir at Librairie Jousseaume
© Entrée to Black Paris

Stopping into a tearoom for a refreshment break, Bagley shared more of the treasures he had in his bags—magazines and illustrated books that revealed themed information about areas of town we were not scheduled to cover that day.

Leaving the passage, we ventured into the 1st arrondissement and walked over to Palais Royal. There, Bagley told stories about Colette, Jean Cocteau, Josephine Baker, Claude McKay, and our friend Benny Luke of La Cage aux Folles.

Brian Scott Bagley at Palais Royal
© Entrée to Black Paris

He dipped into his bags and pulled out additional books to illustrate these stories.

Brian Scott Bagley with books by Claude McKay
© Entrée to Black Paris

Serendipitously, books on display at yet another boutique reinforced the content he delivered during this last part of the tour.

Books about Josephine Baker and Colette
© Entrée to Black Paris

In addition to working as a choreographer, Bagley sings, dances, and acts. All these professional activities inform his approach to storytelling, which is thoroughly engaging.

Throughout our walk, he was careful to indicate whether the information he presented was factual or possible (giving the reasons why the story was relevant to mention but clearly stating that he did not have definitive confirmation of its veracity). Anyone taking his tours will have an excellent foundation for what they might like to research or explore afterward on their own.

I'm looking forward to exploring Black LGBTQ+ history with Brian in other areas of Paris. The quartier de la Bourse tour was only the tip of the iceburg!

To book a Gay Black Paris walking tour, click HERE. Dates, times, and prices are indicated on the Web page.

The Mesmerizing Self-Portraiture of Célia "Malice" Agboloto

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: En-corps nb 4 by Y. Touré and Analyse, Self-portrait by Célia Malice Agboloto
© Entrée to Black Paris

Have you heard of dotwork tattoos?

Artists who specialize in this style of tattooing create entire images, shading, and visual depth using nothing but individual dots.

Célia Agboloto—aka Malice—began her journey toward portraiture through this practice.

Her mesmerizing work is currently on display at the Cloître des Billettes (Paris' only remaining medieval cloister), near the Hôtel de Ville and the BHV department store in the 4th arrondissement.

Entrance to the Cloître des Billettes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Agboloto hails from Martinique and Togo. Her pseudonym, "Malice," is a contraction of the names "Merry" and "Alice." Though one could easily be tempted to connect her practice to that of the neo-impressionists of the 19th century, her former activity as a tattoo artist is what inspires the work she does today.

Gallerist Aude Minart of La Galerie Africaine, an itinerant gallery that specializes in contemporary African art, is presenting Agboloto's work for the first time this summer. Minart selected multiple self-portraits that reflect the duality of the artist's spirit through a myriad of dots created with markers or stamps.

Célia “Malice” Agboloto and Divinity II
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dualité
Acrylic paint and marker dots on cotton canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dualité (detail - left)
Acrylic paint and marker dots on cotton canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dualité (detail - right)
Acrylic paint and marker dots on cotton canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Agboloto also creates abstract works. Several of her Phototype paintings are on display at the cloister.

Phototype I
Acrylic paint and paint dots on cotton canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

The works that I found most intriguing were two self-portraits made from remnants of canvas that the artist stitched together and glued to a board.

Because she created them at a particularly challenging time in her life, she named them "Resilience."

Résilience I
Acrylic paint and marker dots on sewn strips of cotton canvas on plank
© Entrée to Black Paris

Résilience I (detail)
Acrylic paint and marker dots on sewn strips of cotton canvas on plank
© Entrée to Black Paris

Résilience II
Acrylic paint and marker dots on sewn strips of cotton canvas on plank
© Entrée to Black Paris

Résilience II (detail)
Acrylic paint and marker dots on sewn strips of cotton canvas on plank
© Entrée to Black Paris

Résilience II (signature)
Acrylic paint and marker dots on sewn strips of cotton canvas on plank
© Entrée to Black Paris

As is Minart's custom, lost wax bronze sculptures by artists from Burkina Faso punctuate the exhibition.

Les Grandes Mains
Al. Derme
Bronze - Lost Wax Technique
© Entrée to Black Paris

Several terra cotta works by the recently deceased Senegalese artist, Seyni Awa Camara (1945-2026), are also displayed.

Works by Seyni Awa Camara
© Entrée to Black Paris

Célia “Malice” Agboloto will be on display through July 4, 2026.

Agboloto will be present at a cocktail reception to be held on Thursday, July 2 from 6 PM until 10 PM and on the afternoon of July 4.

Célia “Malice” Agboloto
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cloître des Billettes
24 rue des Archives
75004 Paris
Metro: Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1 and 11)
Hours: 11 AM - 7 PM daily

Contact gallerist Aude Minart at aude.minart@gmail.com.

The Ultimate Treasure Hunt

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Jewelry by Threaded Tribes
© Entrée to Black Paris

I first learned about Paris treasure hunts when I moved here 34 years ago.

And I have occasionally witnessed groups of eager participants following clues.

(Nowadays, they are peering at cell phones instead of paper maps and notes!)

Last weekend, for the first time, I participated in a treasure hunt.

Organized by a group called Mais Af (Mais from Maison, Af from Afrique), which means "the house of Africa," it promised "a self-guided journey through the African-owned businesses, communities, and cultural spaces that make this city truly extraordinary."

Flier for "The Ultimate Treasure Hunt"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon arriving at the starting point, I was surprised to learn that Mais Af is a British organization and that the treasure hunt was part of a weekend series of events surrounding the Fête de la Musique!

Mais Af began in the U.K. in 2014 as a home for the creative work coming out of Africa.

The June 2026 weekend was the occasion to relaunch this initiative, whose mission is to celebrate African-born fashion, ceramics, art, and design and make them more accessible to the rest of the world.

"The Ultimate Treasure Hunt" began at Kojoba, a coffee shop just a few blocks north of the Château Rouge metro station in the 18th arrondissement. It is associated with Haïtian Mama, the Haïtian restaurant at the same address but on the opposite side of the double doors leading into the building's vestibule.

Haïtian Mama and Kojoba
© Entrée to Black Paris

I entered the establishment and found the event organizer, Victoria, next to the counter arranging swag bags made of beautiful, patterned cloth.

She greeted me warmly and began to describe the experience. After the first sentence or two, she asked if I spoke English. When I responded affirmatively, she told me that she was British and that Mais Af was a British organization. She had made the trip from London for the weekend event, which was dubbed "Fête de la Mais Af in Paris."

Ufo Victoria Agwame
© Entrée to Black Paris

The woman behind Kojoba's serving counter then spoke with me in French, saying she recognized me from the time I lunched at Haïtian Mama. She prepared the complementary beverage that Mais Af offered as part of the welcome gift for treasure hunt participants.

Preparing complementary beverage at Kojoba
© Entrée to Black Paris

Two other women—Venessa and Abi—had arrived before me, and I learned that they were also visiting from London.

Victoria explained how the hunt was conceived. Participants would follow a digital clue to each stop, where they would scan a QR code that would reveal the next clue. A prize was awarded to the first ten participants to arrive at each stop, with a single grand prize being awarded to the first person to arrive at the final stop.

Venessa, Abi, and I studied the first clue, wanting to get our bearings before leaving Kojoba to step into the heat of the day. I knew immediately what the first destination was, but being neither Paris residents nor frequent visitors to the city, Venessa and Abby were "clueless."

So, we cheerfully decided to pursue the hunt together.

Left to right: Abi, Venessa, and Monique
© Entrée to Black Paris

We all thought that the hunt would be restricted to the 18th arrondissement, but learned at the first stop that we were destined to move around the city.

That stop was Little Africa Village, a place I know well. We went there on foot and welcomed the cooler temperature inside. After being given a brief explanation of the concept behind the store, Venessa and Abi explored it while I perused the latest art display on the wall. I was taken by a portrait of a Black man by a Cameroonian artist, which made me think of Father's Day.

Cameroonian artwork at Little Africa Village
© Entrée to Black Paris

After several minutes, we collected our lapel pin prizes and turned our attention to our second clue.

Prizes for Little Africa Village
© Entrée to Black Paris

This led us to BMK Folie-Bamako, a pan-African restaurant on rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud in the 11th arrondissement. Even on a cool day, it would have been a challenge to walk there from Little Africa Village. So, we took Metro Line 2 from Barbès-Rochechouart to Couronnes and walked to the restaurant from the metro stop.

The servers at BMK rewarded us with aloco and refreshing bissap, and Abi decided to purchase a package of hibiscus leaves to make her own bissap at home.

Bissap and aloco
© Entrée to Black Paris

The clue for the third shop was a mystery for all of us, so we had to rely on an Internet search to come up with the name and address of the next stop. Venessa found it—Causier on rue de Montreuil in the 11th arrondissement.

This relatively new coffee and brunch place is owned and operated by two Afro-French sisters. It was far enough away from the restaurant that we took Metro Line 9 from Oberkampf to rue des Boulets to avoid the heat and continue to make good time on the hunt.

Causier was almost full when we arrived. The food that customers were consuming looked appetizing, but we weren't there for a meal.

We looked for the QR code that was to provide the clue for our next stop and realized that it was not prominently displayed. It was lying in a corner next to the storefront window, and we had to ask to see it.

Even then, we did not receive any acknowledgment for participating in the treasure hunt, let alone receive any prizes.

QR code for fourth stop
© Entrée to Black Paris

The clue for our fourth stop was also a bit of a puzzle. It invited us to cross into the 12th arrondissement and mentioned an avenue named after a "marshal of France." I felt that I knew where we were to go. But, given that there are so many streets named after French military men, I wanted to double check before we set out again.

I looked online for an African fashion boutique on avenue Daumesnil (named after a man who rose to the rank of brigadier general, but not marshal, in Napoleon's army) and found the name "Saargale." Venessa found it simultaneously and typed this into the clue on her phone. It successfully unlocked.

Clue for fourth stop
© Entrée to Black Paris

This time, we walked to our next destination. Located along the Viaduc des Arts beneath the Coulée Verte, Saargale is a concept store that offers an assortment of cultural products created by eighteen artists from the continent. As we approached, Abi noted that this was the place where the first night of activities for the Fête de la Mais Af in Paris had taken place.

We were greeted warmly here, and Abi and Venessa took advantage of the opportunity to sit for a bit while I looked around. The woman behind the desk explained to me that Adama Paris opened the store in 2019. After a rough spell experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic and afterward, the shop is now enjoying a resurgence.

Interior at Saargale
"Made in Africa, Made by Africans"
© Entrée to Black Paris

We easily found the QR code for the last stop on the treasure hunt, and I was able to decipher the clue. As we were leaving, the woman with whom I had spoken presented our prizes—coconut water and coconut fritters.

We took Metro Line 1 from Gare de Lyon to Tuileries into the heart of the 1st arrondissement. Our final destination was the Style Lounge Wearhouse (SLW) Pop-up Fashion Experience at 24 bis, rue Saint-Roch, a few blocks from the Tuileries Garden.

We found Victoria there when we arrived.

Interior at SLW pop-up fashion experience
© Entrée to Black Paris

There was only one prize to be given at the end of the hunt - a 50€ credit on whatever purchase the winner made at the pop-up. Abi and Venessa graciously allowed me to claim the prize, which I used to purchase three fragrant body and wellness items by Talata.

Body and wellness personal care by Talata
© Entrée to Black Paris

We wandered independently through the two-level, multi-room pop-up and met up again in the room where the personal care items were displayed. We gave Victoria and her friend, Candace, our feedback on the experience to help her with planning.

Because Victoria is determined that next year's Fête de la Mais Af will be even bigger and better!

Black Montmartre in the Jazz Age

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Robert Tomlinson and his painting entitled Anna Comnena (The Screaming Woman)
Image from Black Montmartre in the Jazz Age media kit

Robert Tomlinson's Black Montmartre in the Jazz Age is a labor of love.

Almost 10 years in the making, his book is a three-part exploration of the seminal era of Paris history and culture that revolved around France's embracing of jazz.

The general public likely associates this era with Josephine Baker's rise to stardom.

Josephine Baker - 1930 - Nadar photo portrait
Image in the public domain

Black Paris aficionados may be able to go a step farther and recount the story of Black regiments—most famously, the Harlem Hellfighters under the command of Lieutenant James Reese Europe—introducing France to jazz during the First World War.

James Reese Europe and the Harlem Hellfighters
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

But the story runs much deeper than this, and Tomlinson leaves no stone unturned as he reveals it. For the period between World War I and the 1929 Stock Market Crash, he provides thoroughly referenced names, dates, locations, and narratives that paint a vivid picture of the environment that allowed the music, and the musicians who played it, to thrive.

One of the reasons I appreciate this book so much is that it explores "Black Montmartre" from a geographical perspective and provides intricate detail about the area I present during Entrée to Black Paris' "In the Shadow of Montmartre" walking tour.

In fact, I dedicated this tour to Tomlinson because his research enriches it significantly.

I recently visited Tomlinson at his Paris home to talk about the book and get my copy autographed.

Tomlinson autographing Black Montmartre in the Jazz Age
© Entrée to Black Paris

Part I of Black Montmartre in the Jazz Age examines the early history of jazz in the French capital as it unfolds in clandestine nightspots on rue Caumartin. Those who know the city will rightly place these White-owned clubs on the 9th arrondissement thoroughfare that runs north-south from boulevard des Capucines, past the Printemps department store and the Saint-Louis d'Antin church, and up to rue Saint-Lazare. They were clustered in the southernmost section of the street near the Olympia Theater.

At the end of Part I, Tomlinson describes the event that drives the night scene from this area to what is "properly" referred to as "Black Montmartre"—the neighborhood we now know as Pigalle. It is north and east of rue Caumartin.

Part II is entitled "On the rue Fontaine." On this northwesterly running street that ends with a splendid view of the Moulin Rouge, we find the "famous" Zelli's Royal Box and the many iterations of a club first owned by "Jed" Kiley. Both of these establishments were White-owned, with Black musicians often providing the entertainment.

But Tomlinson also devotes an entire chapter in this section of the book to the Black-owned Tempo Club, which operated above Zelli's and predated the years when Black-owned and operated clubs dominated the scene. He mentions African-American Eugene Bullard's 1930s club, l'Escadrille, here as well as in the epilogue, but focuses more on Bullard in other parts of the book.

Eugene Bullard in WWI uniform
Image in public domain

Part III centers on the clubs operating on rue Pigalle, a quiet, one-way street that runs northeast from rue Blanche to Place Pigalle and boulevard de Clichy. The backstory for the Black-owned and/or operated Grand Duc, Mitchell's, Chez Florence, and Bricktop's are recounted here. The Grand Duc began as a White-owned club, but passed into the hands of Gene Bullard and then Bricktop. Black-owned Mitchell's, Chez Florence, and Bricktop's (Ada "Bricktop" Smith opened several clubs after owning The Grand Duc) flourished during the 1920s.

Ada Bricktop Smith at Le Grand Duc
Image from Bricktop by Bricktop with James Haskins
Fair use claim

Two B&W plate sections illustrate the book. Images consist of illustrations, photo portraits, advertisements, and landscape photos of venues.

The extreme care with which Tomlinson researched in Black Montmartre in the Jazz Age is evident. He talks about the incredible diversity of the crowds that patronized the clubs in Montmartre—people from as far east as India and as far west as Hawaii (which was a U.S. territory at the time). He quips that one of his sources of information, Basil Woon, wrote that these people would be more justly called "Tout-Etranger" (All Foreigners) than "Tout-Paris" (All Parisians)—the name true Parisians facetiously called them.

Tomlinson also systematically dismantles the "myth of a colorblind France" that so many African Americans believed was true of the era. While Black Americans were largely treated much better in France than they were at home, White Americans who were also part of the diversifying mix of people in Paris were known to express racist beliefs and act on them.

U.S. writers were frequently prone to reducing Black Americans to stereotypes, particularly in the press.

And the French, whether naively or deliberately, often did the same.

There is a touch of "gossip column" energy that runs through Black Montmartre. One example of this is Tomlinson's report of the murder of Leon Crutcher of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra by his French wife—an act incited by his flagrant carousing and womanizing. Another is the recounting of the tangled web of British heiress Nancy Cunard's love life: she famously dumped French writer Louis Aragon for African-American musician Henry Crowder, only to later replace Crowder with African-American boxer Bob Scanlon.

Nancy Cunard and an unidentified Black man*
Image in public domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons

If you're interested in a rigorous and absolutely engaging look at this intriguing time in Paris history, I highly recommend Black Montmartre in the Jazz Age. It is available for purchase online at:

University of Georgia Press

iMusic

Green Light Bookstore

Acappella Books

Amazon.com

Tomlinson holding Black Montmartre in the Jazz Age
© Entrée to Black Paris

*While Henry Crowder is listed in the caption on the Wikimedia Commons page where this image is housed, the description reads: "Nancy Cunard and some unidentified man." Having seen photos of Bob Scanlon, I believe he may be the man in this image.

Josephine Baker podcasts

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Josephine Baker in La Folie du Jour - January 1926
Image in the public domain

June 3, 2026 was the 120th anniversary of Josephine Baker's birth.

On the eve of this auspicious occasion, Courtney Traub of Paris Unlocked released a 1 hour 14 minute podcast that takes an unvarnished look at Baker's life. Called "Josephine Baker: Performer, Spy, Civil Rights Hero, Enigma," it is the fourth part of the Website's series entitled Great French Icons of the 20th Century.

On RSS.com, the podcast is cited as being the fifth episode of the first season of The French Culture Podcast, which is also hosted by Paris Unlocked.

I had not seen a single episode English-language podcast about Josephine that was so detailed and thoroughly researched before, and I was inspired to see what else the Internet had to offer about The Black Pearl.

It turns out that there is no shortage of recordings about her.

But I was surprised to find only one additional podcast in English!

Queens Podcast produced a two-part episode in December 2022.

Josephine Baker Part 1

Josephine Baker Part 2

Everything else I found was in French.

Josephine Baker
1939 Harcourt
Image in public domain

Here is the listing in reverse chronological order:

Africaines Queens - Le rêve arc-en-ciel de Joséphine Baker (Josephine Baker's Rainbow Dream) - RFI - 1 episode - 2026

Le journal intime de Joséphine Baker (Josephine Baker's Intimate Diary) - France Musique - Radio France - 7 episodes - 2025

Joséphine Baker, un destin français (Josephine Baker, A French Destiny) - RTL - 1 episode - 2025

Joséphine Baker, héroine résistante et activiste, une icône des Années folles au Panthéon - RTBF Audio - 9 episodes - 2024

The Secret Life of Josephine Baker - French language lessons based on Josephine's life - France Duolingo - 6 episodes - 2023

https://podcast.duolingo.com/episode-96-the-secret-life-of-josephine-baker-josephine-la-danseuse

https://podcast.duolingo.com/episode-97-the-secret-life-of-josephine-baker-josephine-licone

https://podcast.duolingo.com/episode-98-the-secret-life-of-josephine-baker-josephine-la-cible

https://podcast.duolingo.com/episode-99-the-secret-life-of-josephine-baker-josephine-lespionne

https://podcast.duolingo.com/episode-100-the-secret-life-of-josephine-baker-josephine-la-resistante

https://podcast.duolingo.com/episode-101-the-secret-life-of-josephine-baker-josephine-lheroine

Joséphine Baker, l'insoumise (Josephine Baker, the Rebel) - France Culture - Radio France - 5 episodes - 2022

Joséphine Baker, une artiste inclassable au Panthéon (Josephine Baker, an unclassifiable artist at the Pantheon) - Le Monde - 2021

Beautiful Land: A Khalif Tarik Thompson Exhibition at Z&B Gallery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Khalif Tarik Thompson in his studio
Image courtesy of Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery

I first experienced Khalif Tarik Thompson's work in 2024, when Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery organized Chilly Winds Don't Blow, the artist's first solo exhibition in Paris.

It was my great pleasure to meet him last Friday at the opening of his new Paris show, Beautiful Land.

Beautiful Land at Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery
Image courtesy of Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery

Phyllis Hollis, creator of the Cerebral Women podcast, introduced me to him.

Khalif Tarik Thompson and Phyllis Hollis
© Entrée to Black Paris

The room quickly filled with admiring art enthusiasts, and the bartender could barely keep up with the people requesting Saint-Germain spritzes or still water in an attempt to cope with the ~90°F heat.

Vernissage attendees
© Entrée to Black Paris

I managed to view all the works on display before the gallery completely filled ...

Under the Brooklyn Bridge 2026
Khalif Tarik Thompson
Oil, acrylic, handmade paper, papyrus on canvas
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Thompson and attendees in front of Red Lady 2026
© Entrée to Black Paris

Woman admires Betty and Tulips 2026
© Entrée to Black Paris

... and decided that Sun Room 2026 was my favorite.

Sun Room 2026
Khalif Tarik Thompson
Oil, acrylic, handmade paper, papyrus on canvas
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

On Saturday, Zidoun & Bossuyt hosted its first ever artist talk, with Phyllis Hollis interviewing Thompson about his artistic practice, the influence that Fauvism and Harlem Renaissance artists have on his practice, and his thoughts about whether / how his work disrupts inherited stereotypes.

Thompson and Hollis prior to interview
© Entrée to Black Paris

Thompson and Hollis interview
© Entrée to Black Paris

People turned out in great numbers for this event. It ended up being standing room only.

Attendees at the interview
Image courtesy of Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery

Standing room only
Image courtesy of Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery

After the interview, attendees were able to engage with Thompson and look at his works with new perspective.

Attendees after the interview
© Entrée to Black Paris

Beautiful Land will be on display through July 18, 2026.

Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery
51, rue de Seine
75006 Paris
Metro: Mabillon (Line 10)
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11 AM - 6 PM

From Barbès to Harlem: New Olfactive Territories

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Perfume on display at Little Africa Village
© Entrée to Black Paris

Paris celebrated Paris Perfume Week last month (April 9–11, 2026).

Little Africa Village participated in that celebration in a unique and powerful way.

In collaboration with The Colors, a leading multicultural beauty consultancy, it unveiled a new space dedicated to Afro-diasporic niche perfumery "where storytelling takes precedence over raw materials."

Little Africa Village sitting room with perfume display
© Entrée to Black Paris

On April 11, Proprietor Jacqueline Ngo Mpii welcomed the general public to a panel discussion in English during which she, Haweya Mohamed, co-founder of The Colors, and Kimberly Waters, founder of Muse Experience, addressed questions about who gets to tell the stories of fragrance today and from which territories these narratives emerge.

That evening, Little Africa Village and The Colors co-hosted a cocktail to close out Paris Perfume week with the support of Maison Noire Américaine.

I first learned of their collaboration last December during an impromptu visit to the concept store and regretted that I could not attend the events programmed for Paris Perfume Week.

Two days ago, I brought a group of art students from Virginia State University to Little Africa Village as part of ETBP's Spirit of Africa tour and was delighted to have Ngo Mpii tell the students about this innovative and groundbreaking initiative—the first haute perfumery dedicated to Afro-diasporic cultures.

Virginia State University art students at Little Africa Village
© Entrée to Black Paris

Why is this historic?

Because until now, African and Afro-descendant cultures were often only considered by traditional perfumery as "sources of inspiration" or "raw materials" (vanilla, incense, sandalwood).

With The Colors, the paradigm is reversed:

"We don't just sell perfume. We make visible imaginaries that have long been kept on the margins while demanding the highest level of quality and sophistication."

Perfume display
© Entrée to Black Paris

Through its niche perfumery label, The Colors Vanguard, The Colors highlights brands selected for the singularity of their vision and the central place occupied by Black cultures in their creation, and supports them in their strategic development and their international visibility. Every fragrance selected is a work of art telling a story of geography or emotion from the diaspora.

Among the brands available are Scent of Africa (Accra, Ghana) by Tanal Ghandour, Maison Berliner (Paris, France) by Mahamodou Dramé, and Harlem Perfume Co. (New York, NY) by Teri Johnson.

Scent of Africa
© Entrée to Black Paris

Maison Berliner
© Entrée to Black Paris

Harlem Perfume Co.
© Entrée to Black Paris

By moving to Little Africa Village, the perfumery is anchoring itself in a place where Afro-diasporic excellence is already the norm. Its overall objective is to build a repertoire of new olfactory metaphors reflecting the plurality of heritage of the diaspora.

On Stage: The Life of Nelson Mandela

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Graphic for the stage production of The Life of Nelson Mandela
Image from Théâtre en Anglais Website

Late last week, Entrée to Black Paris was delighted to receive the following email communication:

"I’m reaching out on behalf of Théâtre en Anglais regarding The Life of Nelson Mandela, presented at Alhambra Paris on Friday 5 June 2026 at 8:00pm.

"The production retraces Nelson Mandela’s journey through theatre, storytelling, humour and original a cappella music. We thought this event might resonate with your audience interested in Black history, memory and cultural life in Paris."

We responded immediately, expressing our willingness to share information about the show on social media and requesting an interview about the theater—whose mission is to teach English through theater—as well as the play.

Upon receiving an affirmative reply, we set up an interview with artistic director, Lucille O'Flanagan.

Today's post presents this interview. It includes two comments by Chengetai, the first actress in the troupe to play Winnie Mandela.

Actors portraying Nelson and Winnie Mandela

ETBP: What was the inspiration to start Théâtre en Anglais?

LO: I was a theatre director in the UK since 1982 and ran a company called Theatre in Conservation in the 80s and 90s in the UK. When I moved to France, I looked for a company that worked in my native language—frankly because my French was non existent.

At that time I was running an informal play reading group in English for actors in Paris. An actress (Jess from Le Bureau in fact) recommended I speak with Camilla Barnes, who had been running Théâtre en Anglais for two or three years and was looking to pass it on. It was a small company at that time, but motivated by the fact that I was now pregnant and living in France (which I never thought would happen), the company grew.

ETBP: When did you begin taking your shows on the road across France?

LO: 2003 and going from strength to strength in 2026.

Lucille O'Flanagan
Image courtesy of Théâtre en Anglais

ETBP: How many schools have brought students to see your plays?

LO: I would say about half of the collèges and lycées (middle schools and high schools) in metropolitan France and some outre-mer (overseas). We have performed at Saint Martin and often in Guadeloupe. We just added Martinique a couple of seasons ago. We performed in Mayotte last year, plus nearly every year in La Réunion.

ETBP: How many schools use your pedagogical materials?

LO: From what the teachers tell us, nearly all the schools that come to our shows use part or all of the info on our website. The teachers packs, extracts of songs, lyrics, costumes, photos, and most importantly the full texts of the plays, are always available for free.

ETBP: How many take advantage of your Atéliers théâtres (theater workshops)?

LO: We had always run workshops as an extra, but we see more and more teachers need this support and feel their students benefit greatly from either a briefing or debrief before or after the show.

ETBP: How many actors are in your troupe?

LO: Each troupe has six people—4 or 5 actors and 1 or 2 technicians. In The Life of Nelson Mandela, there is a true troupe spirit where they also perform the play The Rosa Parks Story on tour.

In Rosa we have an all-black cast, and in Mandela, there is one white guy. So, quite simply the extra actress from Rosa welcomes the public and sings in Xhosa at the start of Mandela. For Rosa, it is the white dude who welcomes the public. So we stay at six people.

ETBP: How do you recruit your actors?

LO: I advertise via France Travail and Nawak and of course, after all these years, word of mouth.

ETBP: How do you select the plays you produce?

LO: I choose things that touch me, that I think would appeal to our mostly young public. We have produced all sorts from Shakespeare to Sherlock Holmes (see the theater's archive HERE).

Théâtre en Anglais 2025-2026 season

ETBP: Why did you decide to produce a play about Nelson Mandela?

LO: People often ask this.

Quite simply, I was born in 1961 in the UK. I grew up with Mandela.

One day, when my daughter was 13, I realised this would be the play for French kids. So I started to plan a creation and enrolled an old friend in London to do the research.

My then 14-year-old daughter wrote the music you hear in the play. She went on to earn a degree in music and is now writing a new musical called INVINCIBLE, which is about the oppression of the Irish and their fight for freedom. It will also tour for Théâtre en Anglais and be performed at the glorious Théâtre Gymnase Marie-Bell in May 2027. This is a departure for us—there will be 9 actor-singers on stage.

ETBP: How often has Mandela been performed?

LO: The Life of Nelson Mandela began several seasons ago as Prisoner 46664, and I have re-created it many times. It is my life's work, and I just have to tweak and improve it.

ETBP: How many people have seen it over the years?

LO: About a million.

ETBP: Why are you reviving it now?

LO: People want it. Mandela is the icon of our age.

Click on the image to watch "The Life of Nelson Mandela: Behind the Scenes"

ETBP: To your knowledge, has anyone from Mandela's family or network seen the play? If so, what was their reaction to it?

LO: Not that I know, but I hope they would be touched.

We have a South African actor hopefully coming to perform next season. He tells me that when he read the text to his mother, she cried. No greater praise could I ever wish for.

Chengetai said:

"I don’t think anyone from the Mandela family has seen the play. I wish that they should see the impact that Tata has made all around the world."

ETBP: Who writes the plays you produce?

LO: The writers are all based in London. Authenticity in all ways.

ETBP: Do the Black actors in your troupe play non-Black roles in the plays you produce?

LO: Not in The Life of Nelson Mandela. But in The Rosa Parks Story, yes. We use an interesting mask work.

Chengetai commented:

"Yes, in Rosa Parks black actors do play white roles and I think that’s fantastic artistically and mentally for the actors. It is quite the challenge—a little bit of 'step in my shoes' kind of thing."

ETBP: Do Anglophones frequently come to see your productions?

LO: Mostly we perform during the day, but for evening shows, yes we have anglophones or anglophiles. All are welcome.

ETBP: I see that you present French subtitles for some of your plays. How do you decide which ones will be subtitled?

LO: What a great question! At first, it was only upon request. But now we want to reach more people, especially with the shows about civil rights. So more of our productions have subtitles.

ETBP: Do you always perform at the Alhambra when you stage plays in Paris?

LO: In fact, The Life of Nelson Mandela on 5 June at 8 PM will be our LAST ever performance at the Alhambra (the theater is converting to concerts only).

We move to the THEATRE APOLLO (300 seats) and THEATRE GYMNASE MARIE-BELL (750 seats - Italian-style theater) next season.

We will be doing more evening shows than before.

Théâtre en Anglais 2026-2027 season

For example, Mandela in French (a huge departure for us) and Rosa Parks (in English with French subtitles) will be performed every day during the school holidays.

Find information about locations, venues, dates, and times on our new calendar.

**********

Alhambra Paris
21, rue Yves Toudic
75010 Paris
Metro: République (Lines 3, 5, 8, 9 and 11) and Jacques Bonsergent (Line 5)
Internet: https://www.alhambra-paris.com/the-life-of-mandela-lo4387.html

To purchase tickets for The Life of Nelson Mandela, click HERE.

Honoring Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller

Monique Y. Wells — Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
Image in the public domain

At the Berthe Weill exhibition at the Musée de l'Orangerie last year, a sculpture entitled Les Malheurs was displayed.

The Wretched
Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
1901 Bronze
© Entrée to Black Paris

The information card for the work indicated that Weill showed the sculpture at her gallery in 1901 and presented the following quote:

"Miss Warwick exhibited some promising sculptures .... Whatever became of her?"

The "Miss Warwick" that Weill referred to was Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller.

On May 4-5, 2026, Columbia Global Paris Center presented a symposium that explored Fuller's life and art. Scholars, curators, archivists, and members of her family gathered at Reid Hall to examine "her Paris years, her major works, her place among her contemporaries, and the ongoing efforts to preserve and steward her legacy."

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
1919
Image in the public domain

A native Philadelphian, Fuller was the second known African-American woman to go to Paris to study art (the first was Annie E. Anderson Walker). She arrived in Paris in late October 1899 and encountered U.S.-inspired racism on her first day in the city when she was denied lodging at the American Girls' Club—which was located at Reid Hall—because she was Black.

During her three years in Paris, she studied at the avant-garde Académie Colorossi and the ultra-traditional Ecoles des Beaux-Arts.

She became friends with Henry Ossawa Tanner and his wife, met American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and philosopher W. E. B. Du Bois, and was mentored by none other than Auguste Rodin.

In addition to having her work exhibited at Berthe Weill's gallery in 1901, her sculptures (including The Wretched) were displayed in a solo exhibition at Siegfried Bing's Maison de l'Art Nouveau in 1902 and at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Salon (after her departure from France) in 1903.

In a twist of fate, her bust John the Baptist was displayed at Reid Hall in 1902 during the annual exhibition of the American Women's Art Association (where Tanner served as a judge).

If Fuller was the second African-American woman to study art in Paris, she was the first African-American female sculptor to do so. She was a torchbearer for Nancy Elizabeth Prophet and Augusta Savage, both of whom studied in Paris in the 1920s-1930s.

Reid Hall has published an extensive article about Fuller as part of its Digital History project.

Read a description of Fuller's life and art written by a contemporary, Benjamin Griffith Brawley, HERE.

25th Anniversary of the Loi Taubira

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Christiane Taubira, author of the Loi Taubira
Philippe Grangeaud - photographer
CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0

May 10, 2026 is the 25th anniversary of the unanimous passage of the Loi Taubira - the law that declares slavery and the slave trade crimes against humanity - by the French Senate.

May 21, 2026 is the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of this law.

A national day of commemoration of the law has been observed on May 10 of each year since 2006.

Jacques Martial at the 2007 commemorative ceremony
Luxembourg Garden
© Entrée to Black Paris

France's overseas departments commemorate its passage on dates that are specific to their history:

Mayotte - April 27

Martinique - May 27

Guadeloupe - May 27

Saint-Martin - May 28

French Guiana - June 10

Saint Barthelemy (Saint Barts) - October 9

Reunion Island - December 20

Additionally, France and its overseas departments honor the memory of the victims of slavery on May 23 of each year.

This year, the Fondation pour la mémoire de l’esclavage (FME - Foundation for the Remembrance of Slavery) and the Centre des monuments nationaux (National Monuments Center) have organized the “Temps des Mémoires (Time for Memories) 2026,” a series of events running roughly from the end of April to June 10 that recognizes all the national and local dates that mark the history of slavery, the slave trade, and their abolitions.

(Slavery was abolished twice in France - first in 1794 and permanently in 1848.)

With the support of the Ministry of Culture, FME has also invited French museums to create presentations of their collections that highlight the history of the memory of slavery with the intent to raise awareness among a wider audience about this chapter of France's history. According to a report by France-Guyane, over 50 museums responded to the invitation.

The series launched during the weekend of April 25-26 at Hôtel de la Marine, headquarters of the FME, in Paris. It honored the date of the 1848 abolition decree with programming that included concerts (Gwo Ka), choreographic and musical performances, a memorial walk, and a conference‑debate on the 25 years of the Loi Taubira. This building is the site where Victor Schoelcher wrote the 1848 abolition decree.

Hôtel de la Marine - façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

After being held in La Rochelle in 2024 and Brest in 2025, the national May 10 commemorative ceremony returns to Paris' Luxembourg Garden this year.

Commemoration plaque and Le Cri, L'Ecrit
Luxembourg Garden
© Entrée to Black Paris

Additional Paris events include the following:

The Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac will host the “Esclavage & Cinéma – 25 ans de la loi Taubira” film festival on Saturday 16 May 2026. Find the program HERE.

The Institut du Tout-Monde will host Les Poétiques de Christiane Taubira (The Poetics of Christiane Taubira) at La Maison de Poésie on the evening of Friday, May 22.

For the 18th consecutive year, Claude Ribbe and the Friends of General Dumas Association are pleased to invite the general public to their Parisian ceremony on Sunday, May 10, 2026 at 6:00 p.m..

It will be held in front of the Fers Monument dedicated to General Dumas at Place du Général-Catroux, 75017 Paris (Metro: Malesherbes, Line 3).

Fers
Place du Général Catroux
© Entrée to Black Paris

The event is free, but you must register to attend: https://signup.ymlp.com/xgejushbgmguy

The media has also planned special events.

To commemorate the May 10 anniversary date, the Overseas division of France Télévisions is mobilizing its entire editorial staff, on both television and radio.

France 2 and France TV screened a 52-minute documentary called Christiane Taubira, une loi pour memoire (Christiane Taubira, A Law for Memory) on May 6. France TV is making it available online at no charge through October 28, 2026.

On May 13, France 2 will rebroadcast a documentary called Aux origines, l'esclavage (At the origins, slavery)—a film that follows French celebrities and others on a genealogical quest for their ancestors.

Black-American PIONEERS

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200

PIONEERS on display at Galerie Laurent Rigail (detail)
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

I had the good fortune to be able to visit Galerie Laurent Rigail last Saturday, which was the last day of a remarkable exhibition called Ceux Que Nous Sommes (Those That We Are).

The show was organized by the recently deceased, award-winning contemporary artist, Fabien Verschaere.

Press image for Ceux Que Nous Sommes exhibition
Courtesy of Galerie Laurent Rigail

Verschaere organized this exhibition as a showcase for his work as well as the work of nineteen artist friends. Among them was Pierre-Olivier Balu, creator of a series of paintings called PIONEERS.

Balu's subjects are famous and not-so-famous-yet-accomplished African Americans of the 19th and 20th centuries.

More precisely, his subjects are photographs of these people.

Nine paintings from his series were included in Verschaere's show.

PIONEERS and art by Fabien Verschaere
© Entrée to Black Paris

After watching a fascinating interview with Balu and seeing his work in person, I contacted him to ask for an interview. He graciously took precious time from his preparation for Fashion Week to grant ETBP an exclusive and extensive interview about the PIONEERS series and the passion that drove him to create it.

ETBP: During the Icon Icon interview, you said, “All emotion comes through in portraits.” Do you feel that the emotion evoked by a photographic portrait differs from that of a painted portrait? If so, how?

Balu: In one case, one can doubt the original; in the other, not—what is visible is indeed what was. I show photographic portraits, but what we see is painting, that is to say, interpretation. It wasn't simply a matter of saying, "These people were here," but rather of asking the viewer to seriously consider their importance in our history.

The emotion evoked by a painted portrait goes beyond a simple photographic observation; it requires a commitment from the viewer to grasp the significance of what these women and men accomplished. At the same time, I wanted to be as faithful as possible to the original photographs in order to be as close as possible to what they were.

Florence Mills
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: In 2014—the first year you went to the U.S.—you visited NYC and went to “all the museums.” During that visit, did you see works that depicted Black people?

Balu: No, it wasn't until 2016, during my third trip to the United States, that I saw representations of Black people at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Just ten years ago, the only Black artist represented in museums was Jean-Michel Basquiat. But that's changing.

With the increasing presence of Black artists in museums, the representation of Black people is finally being addressed in many museums. I am thinking particularly of the work of artists such as Kehinde Wiley, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas, or Henry Taylor.

ETBP: For how long did you stay in the U.S. during that first visit?

Balu: I only stayed two weeks, but that was enough to immediately fall in love with the United States, and its freedom which allows for an extraordinary cultural openness.

ETBP: When you decided to return, why did you decide to visit cities other than NYC?

Balu: During my second stay, I visited Chicago because my wife, Virginie, who does voice acting, wanted to see the Chicago hospital from Chicago Med. For my part, I wanted to discover the city where the first skyscrapers were built and Lake Michigan, see its museums, and of course, visit the DuSable Museum, named after a mixed-race man of French and Haitian descent who traded furs and who was the founder of Chicago.

PIONEERS
© Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: How many times have you visited the U.S. since that first visit?

Balu: Since my first stay, I have returned to the United States every year except during the Covid years.

ETBP: What caused you to select the specific additional cities you visited? The interview mentions Chicago, SF, Oakland, Detroit, Charleston, and Atlanta.

Balu: After Chicago, I went to Oakland to see the city of the Black Panthers, where Jack London lived, where Bruce Lee founded his first dojo, where Clint Eastwood played in a piano bar to earn a living before becoming an actor, and where the East Bay Dragon, the first African American motorcycle club, was founded.

From there, visiting San Francisco was a no-brainer: the city of Flower Power, Silicon Valley, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Gold Rush, Alcatraz, and Wells Fargo.

Detroit was all about Motown, Eminem, Motor City, and its industrial landscape.

My wife wanted to visit Charleston after we saw on Arte Journal that the International African American Museum had just opened on the site of the most important slave-trading port.

And finally, Atlanta, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, since it's where Martin Luther King Jr. was born and educated.

PIONEERS - L to R: Jackie Robinson, Aïda Overton Walker, and Doris (Dorie) Miller
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: You spoke about visiting an exhibition on the Black Panthers. Did you happen to see Revolutionary Grain: Celebrating the Spirit of the Black Panthers in Portraits and Stories? It was displayed at the California Museum in Sacramento from June 14 – December 14, 2025.

Balu: No, unfortunately, I missed that exhibition, but I was able to visit the incredible Oakland Museum of California which traces the entire history of California with a permanent exhibition hall entirely devoted to the Black Panthers.

ETBP: Did you discover the Black Panthers through the exhibition you saw or in some other way?

Balu: Through rap, and particularly through the stage productions of Public Enemy, even before I knew anything about the Black Panthers, their imagery was already familiar to me. Then, after my first trip to NYC in 2014, my interest in African-American culture, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis led me to truly study the historical and cultural contributions of this movement, so, going to Oakland was really important to me.

ETBP: Where did you find the portraits of the people you painted?

Balu: During a visit to the African-American Museum in Philadelphia, I discovered James Hemings, an African American who was Jefferson's personal chef, active at the end of the 18th century, and who revolutionized the art of dining in Philadelphia.

Similarly, at the Museum of the American Revolution, I learned that many African Americans had served in the military.

Back home, research on Frederick Douglass led me to the U.S. Postal Service website dedicated to all the great African American figures featured on stamps. It was there that I realized that the African American community had accomplished extraordinary things very early on and had never stopped. I was then inspired to create portraits to share my enthusiasm for these great figures.

I then searched for photographic portraits of these individuals online, which led me to discover many more.

PIONEERS - L to R: Florence Mills, Lena Horne, and Frederick Douglass
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: In your interview with Icon Icon, you spoke of using oil and paper for these works. I read and appreciated the symbolism in this deliberate choice. Please describe the difficulties artists experience when combining these two media.

Balu: It's very simple: the texture of the canvas allows the paint to adhere. Nothing like that with paper, on which the paint just slides off without ever blending. So, with each brushstroke, you have to find the right tone, which makes the work much more difficult.

ETBP: According to your Website, you originally planned to paint portraits of people who were born in 1925. What inspired you to reach farther back in history for subjects to paint?

Balu: In reality, I set my starting point at the oldest photograph of an important figure, that of Sojourner Truth.

To define a boundary among the most recent portraits, I chose Malcolm X's birth year, 1925, for two reasons. First, because he is one of the most important intellectuals of the 20th century, a fascinating figure driven by penetrating rhetoric. And second, because he marks a turning point in the fight against racism.

After his death, the struggle for African American rights, which became widespread and intensified, revealed strong opposing forces.

This is evident in the Black Lives Matter movement on one side and the election of Donald Trump on the other.

And ultimately, this will have summarized the work and actions of Malcolm X, who at the same time never ceased to assert the strength of African-American culture and always had to fight to confront his enemies.

ETBP: You have painted 38 portraits of African-American pioneers to date, all of which are presented in the booklet you produced for visitors to the show. You plan to create up to 50 portraits. Who will be the 12 remaining subjects of the series?

Balu: My initial choices include Charles Jackson French, Thurgood Marshall, Victor Hugo Green, Gordon Parks, Mamie Phipps Clark, Thomas Fountain Blue, and Hattie McDaniel, to name just a few. But I'm leaving myself some room to discover new personalities.

PIONEERS - booklet cover
© Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: I imagine that the person you painted during the Icon Icon video will be one of them. Who is he?

Balu: This is Charles Jackson French, a sailor who rescued 15 men from an American ship hit by the Japanese navy. To do so, he towed a raft with the survivors, swimming for eight hours in shark-infested waters.

ETBP: Virginie told me that you’ll take the exhibition to the islands, beginning with Guadeloupe. Will you take the entire series, or only the works shown at Laurent Rigail?

Balu: I am currently in contact with Patrick Adélaïde, a lawyer from Guadeloupe who saw my work at the gallery and would very much like to show it in Guadeloupe.

The more portraits there are, the more the diversity of personalities, eras, and fields fades, revealing a unity that gives an impression of strength and cohesion to all these individuals united by a common goal: to achieve fulfillment and exist despite obstacles.

PIONEERS in Pierre-Olivier Balu's studio
Courtesy of Pierre-Olivier Balu

ETBP: Do you plan to take this exhibition to the U.S.? If so, where would you like to have it shown?

Balu: The Laurent Rigail Gallery was the first to exhibit this work, now I obviously plan to show it in the United States where there are many places that aim to preserve and disseminate the African-American heritage.

I'm thinking in particular of Charleston, Oakland, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Atlanta—cities where African American history, both past and present, is very much alive. But what's fantastic is that in every major American city, there's a place dedicated to the memory and current events of African American culture where I would love to show this work.

ETBP: Is it safe to presume that you are creating these works to share them primarily with French audiences?

Balu: The contributions of African American culture are so significant that I believe it's important to disseminate and share them wherever possible; that's the purpose of my work.

In France, African American culture is highly valued, but aside from Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, few people are aware of the richness of its past or appreciate its importance.

In contrast, in the United States, these figures are highly respected because they all contributed to the recognition of African American rights. This respect is further amplified by the fact that their actions are part of a struggle that continues to this day.

Ernest Everett Just
© Pierre-Olivier Balu
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: Why do you think it is important that French people understand the richness and depth of African-American history?

Balu: If the French were more familiar with this culture and its many facets, they would be better able to appreciate its relevance today. Rap could then be seen more as a manifestation of a community's culture and history, rather than being reduced to a mere cult of success.

African American history offers us a lesson in humility, courage, perseverance, open-mindedness, self-confidence, and a thirst for justice—all keys to personal fulfillment.

While I firmly believe that the French would benefit from discovering this wonderful culture, the African Americans who maintain it are already able to appreciate its power, richness, depth and value.

This culture, born in suffering, must be preserved from the thorns that today try to stifle it.

ETBP: Do you have any final comments you’d like to share?

Balu: During the three years I spent making this series, I put my work at the service of these men and women because they taught me so much and gave so much in return, and that is what I would like to pass on.

Pierre-Olivier Balu and PIONEERS
© Entrée to Black Paris

Find Pierre-Olivier Balu on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pierreolivierbalu/.

Galerie Laurent Rigail
40 rue Volta
75003 Paris
Website: https://www/laurentrigail.com
Metro: Arts et Métiers (Line 11)
Telephone: 01.42.77.09.00 / 07.59.57.50.90

Visiting the Martin Luther King Center in Creteil

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Espace Grand Paris Martin Luther King viewed from rue Dominique Duvauchelle
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon receiving an invitation from artist Waymond Anthony Grier to lunch with him at the Martin Luther King Center in Creteil, my husband Tom and I headed to this Paris suburb with anticipation.

I first visited the center in June 2021, when it was just days from opening to the general public.

Located across the street from the University Paris-Est Creteil's Sports Sciences et Techniques Department, the Espace Grand Paris Martin Luther King is home to three nonprofit organizations affiliated with the Fondation MLK as well as the Protestant Evangelist Eglise Martin Luther King.

With over 5,600 square meters of space, it welcomes families, associations, professionals, businesses and communities in the eastern Île-de-France region.

Espace Grand Paris Martin Luther King - entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

The auditorium seats 1,000 people, and modular spaces named after Rosa Parks and Denis Mukwege are excellent settings for workshops, training sessions, and cocktail receptions.

The facility also boasts additional meeting rooms, a café, a Fun Park (sports hall), office space, and a nursery.

Foyer and Café by MLK
© Entrée to Black Paris

And then, there's the restaurant - Seven Rooftop.

Located on the fourth floor of the building, there is a dedicated elevator that takes diners up to the enormous interior dining room and terrace.

Signage for Seven Rooftop elevator
© Entrée to Black Paris

Signage at restaurant entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lunch is always served buffet style, whereas dinner is served from a menu.

Dining room set up for lunch buffet
© Entrée to Black Paris

The buffet was plentiful, with charcuterie, cheeses, and salads on round tables at the beginning of the line; assorted steamed veggies, mashed potatoes, fish, and sausage in individual chafing dishes on a single long table, and multiple desserts on a round table at the far end.

Buffet offerings
© Entrée to Black Paris

Charcuterie, cheeses, and salads
© Entrée to Black Paris

Desserts
© Entrée to Black Paris

A beautiful pizza oven sits at the far end of the dining room, and multiple, fresh pre-sliced pizzas are available to choose from.

Pizza oven and pizzas
© Entrée to Black Paris

We were among the first people to arrive. It was a sunny day, but the wind was brisk, so we opted for a small table on the covered terrace rather than sit outdoors.

Covered terrace set up for dining
© Entrée to Black Paris

Outdoor terrace
© Entrée to Black Paris

From this vantage point, we could make out a few Paris landmarks - but nothing as iconic as the Eiffel Tower.

There was an interesting view of painted gas storage tanks on the opposite side of the covered terrace.

View from covered terrace
© Entrée to Black Paris

Though the fare offered at the buffet was not particularly innovative, we were satisfied with our meal. It's hard to go wrong with freshly made pizza!

Pizza with truffle and rocket
© Entrée to Black Paris

The buffet costs 18.90€ plus beverages. If you're in the neighborhood at lunchtime, it's definitely a good deal.

Espace Grand Paris Martin Luther King is at the end of Metro Line 8 (Creteil - Pointe du Lac).

This is where the Paris metro system connects with C1 téléphérique, the new aerial cable car system that serves distant suburbs to the southeast of Paris.

Before heading back to Paris, we decided to take the C1 from Pointe du Lac to the first stop—Limeil-Brévannes—just to say we had the experience.

C1 station at Pointe du Lac
© Entrée to Black Paris

C1 cable cars at Pointe du Lac
© Entrée to Black Paris

C1 cable cars
© Entrée to Black Paris

In transit to Limeil-Brévannes
© Entrée to Black Paris

We exited our car at Limeil-Brévannes, asked the station attendant a few questions about the system, and then took the journey back to Pointe du Lac.

All in all, it was a lovely day!

Espace Grand Paris Martin Luther King
1 Rue Martin Luther King
94000 Créteil
Metro: Creteil - Pointe du Lac (Line 8)

Art and Food Pairing™: Henry Taylor at the Picasso and Le Petit Dakar - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Le Petit Dakar façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Petit Dakar is only a five-minute walk from the Musée Picasso.

Tom and I dined there on Tuesday evening.

Arriving at 7 PM, we had the place to ourselves for almost a full hour.

We enjoyed the artwork that graced the walls and reflected on the fact that many Paris restaurants hang and sell the work of contemporary artists.

Le Petit Dakar dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Our table
© Entrée to Black Paris

The menu at Le Petit Dakar is simple and the portions are large. The only dish offered in two varieties is mafé, for which you can order the traditional beef version or a vegetarian version made with sweet potato.

I began the evening with a vodka bissap cocktail and was surprised to receive a glass of spiked hibiscus infusion as large and the one in which soft drinks are served.

Tom ordered a glass of bouye, a drink made from baobab fruit. He found that it needed sugar.

Bouye and Bissap
© Entrée to Black Paris

As starters, I selected aloco (plantain) and Tom selected the entrée du jour, which consisted of a brochette of aloco, a beef-filled pastel (turnover), and a fish-filled pastel.

Aloco
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entrée du jour
© Entrée to Black Paris

Our waiter brought us a tiny bowl of pepper sauce, which he described as being assez fort (fairly hot). The other server called out from behind the bar to say that it was très fort (very hot). We found the latter to be the case. The tiniest drop of this preparation packed a powerful punch!

Pepper sauce
© Entrée to Black Paris

For the main course, I ordered my favorite yassa (made with chicken) and a glass of a soft bissap to accompany it.

Similar to Tom's experience with their bouye, Le Petit Dakar's bissap is not as sweet as what I've tasted at other establishments.

Yassa
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom ordered farci, a red bell pepper stuffed with shredded cod and served with a tomato-y sauce.

Farci
© Entrée to Black Paris

Both came with a massive mound of steamed rice.

The yassa did not include olives, which I prefer. The chicken leg was massive, and I knew that I would take some of it home.

Tom enjoyed his farci, but could not finish it either.

Even though we only ate half of our main courses, we did not have room for dessert.

We asked the waitress for take-out boxes and happily took our leftovers home!

Le Petit Dakar
6, rue Elzevir
75003 Paris
Internet: https://www.lepetitdakar.com/

Read Part 1 of this Art and Food Pairing™ HERE.

Art and Food Pairing™: Henry Taylor at the Picasso and Le Petit Dakar - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Man admires No Chicken Please, "We're born again Vegan" (2011-2013) displayed in Where Thoughts Provoke
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Building on his first European solo exhibition at Atelier Cardenas Bellanger in Paris in 2007 and his residency and solo show with Hauser & Wirth in Paris in 2023, Henry Taylor has returned to the City of Light with an exquisite retrospective exhibition called Where Thoughts Provoke.

The Picasso Museum hosted the vernissage (opening) of the show on Tuesday, April 7. Perfect spring weather provided the backdrop for the hundreds of people who partook in the champagne reception in the courtyard of the Hôtel Salé before entering the museum to enjoy the exhibition.

Where Thoughts Provoke brings together around one hundred (100) works—paintings, sculptures, and installations—in rooms on the lower level and ground floor of the building. Each room has a specific theme, which is presented in French and English on a wall panel near the entrance to that room.

The exhibition begins on the lower level. Walking past the cloak room on the left, you enter an "anteroom" that presents a large scale triptych, a large scale painting, a sculpture, and a bio and timeline for the artist.

Exhibition "Anteroom"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Henry Taylor timeline and bio
© Entrée to Black Paris

You must walk to the far side of the room and behind the wall bearing the single large scale painting—We Were Framed (2014)—to enter the exhibition.

The vaulted rooms of the lower level evoked a sense of intimacy that enhanced my contemplation of the works shown.

Lower level exhibition room - "The 1990s"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Having a fondness for three-dimensional art, I particularly enjoyed the room entitled "It’s like a jungle." In it, Taylor has assembled an installation of the same name that dominates this long, narrow space. From a multitude of objects—broken furniture, cardboard boxes, and other found materials—he has created something that for me does indeed evoke a jungle.

It's Like a Jungle
2011 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It's Like a Jungle - Tarzan is coming soon
2011 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It's Like a Jungle - Michael Jackson badges
2011 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It's Like a Jungle - Ghana premium pies
2011 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The wall sculptures in this room also captivated me. Made from bleach bottles, broomsticks, table legs and other various objects, they were either attached to a flat surface or hung free form on the wall.

Untitled (wall sculpture)
2012 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Paragraph and Caption (wall sculpture) - far right
2014 - Mixed media
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The painting for which the exhibition is named hangs in this room.

Where Thoughts Provoke, getting deep in shallow water
2015 - Acrylic on canvas
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Returning to the ground floor, you will find six exhibition rooms in which paintings, painted objects, and a single sculpture are on display.

For many, the main attraction of the exhibition—and undoubtedly the reason the Picasso Museum was keen to host it—is the painting called From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again.

From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again
2007 - Acrylic and mixed media on board
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It represents Taylor's "take" on Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, which is held by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

Taylor has represented Black women in his work where Picasso used white women. Similar to Picasso's work, the two women at the right of the painting have African masks for faces. The woman in the center of the painting resembles Josephine Baker.

From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again - Josephine Baker
2007 - Acrylic and mixed media on board
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The arm of a white male extends around the arm of the faceless woman at the far left of the painting. (No males are represented in Les Demoiselles.)

From Congo to the Capital, and Black Again - white man's arm
2007 - Acrylic and mixed media on board
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Nothing in the information I've read about Where Thoughts Provoke indicates that Taylor created this work 100 years after Picasso created Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.

There is no mention of the fact that Taylor created From Congo to the Capital in Paris when he came here for his solo exhibition entitled We’re All Water, But Some Of Us Are Muddy, which was held at Atelier Cardenas Bellanger.

And there is no mention of the fact that Taylor's painting was auctioned by Sotheby's in New York in 2023 and fetched the record breaking price of $2,000,000 ($2,480,000 with fees).

Three original works by Picasso are shown in the room where From Congo to the Capital is hung.

Among the dozens of works in the entire show, the one that intrigued me the most was an acrylic on paper portrait of Jay-Z.

I Am a Man (portrait of Jay Z)
2017 - Acrylic on paper
Artwork © Henry Taylor
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

It hangs in Room 0.1. - Icons.

Where Thoughts Provoke will be on display through September 6, 2026.

Musée Picasso
5 Rue de Thorigny
75003 Paris
Internet: https://www.museepicassoparis.fr/en/henry-taylor-where-thoughts-provoke

Next week, Part 2 of this Art and Food Pairing™ will review the Senegalese restaurant, Le Petit Dakar.

Slavery in the Mediterranean

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200

National Memorial to the Victims of Slavery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Jardin Jacques Martial (circled in red) at Trocadéro
Ibex73, photographer
Source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA 4.0

A few years ago, President Emmanuel Macron agreed to the construction of a Paris memorial that will pay homage to the victims of slavery in France's former slave territories.

It will be a tribute to the 200,000+ “new free people” named after the abolition of slavery in 1848 in Guadeloupe, Guyana, Reunion, and Martinique. The names of these people will be respectfully presented and classified by territory and municipality to facilitate recognition by their descendants.

The memorial will be installed at the Jardins du Trocadéro.* This site is replete with symbolism, given its proximity to

1) the Parvis des Libertés et des Droits de l'Homme at the Trocadéro esplanade, which commemorates the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris at the Palais de Chaillot on December 10, 1948

and

2) the Musée de l'Homme in the Palais de Chaillot, which has become a site for educating the public about racism.

Parvis des Libertés et des Droits de l'Homme at Trocadéro
Photographer: Kollin
Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC-BY-3.0

Palais du Chaillot - Musée de l'Homme
Photographer: Gzen92
Source: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC-BY-SA 4.0

As of March 25, 2026, the site became even more symbolic regarding the installation of the memorial when Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo presided over a ceremony during which she named the western part of the gardens after Guadeloupean actor and former Deputy Mayor of Paris Jacques Martial (1955-2025).

Jacques Martial in 2019

Photographer: Rastapopoulos25
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
License: CC-BY-SA 4.0

Martial was President of the committee for the Mémorial ACTe museum in Guadeloupe from 2015-2020 and served as Paris Councilor, delegate in charge of the Overseas Territories and then as Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of Overseas Territories. Deeply involved in preserving the memory of slavery and the history of these territories, he supported several initiatives aimed at increasing their visibility in Parisian public spaces, including the Solitude statue, the Toussaint-Louverture Square, and celebrations highlighting the territories during the 2024 Olympic Games.

The National Memorial to the Victims of Slavery is scheduled to open in 2027.

While its budget of €4.8 million is being entirely funded by the French government, a fundraising campaign is being conducted by the Fondation Esclavage et Réconciliation (Slavery and Reconcilation Foundation) to support enhancements such as scenographic lighting, sound benches, and improvements to the Swiss River. These additions require an additional budget of €1.5 million.

To read more about the campaign, click HERE (Website is in French).

*The National Memorial to the Victims of Slavery was originally to have been installed at the Tuileries Garden. African-American artist Steve Locke responded to a call to artists to design the memorial at that site. Read about his concept HERE.

Posthumous Release of Carole Fredericks LIVE!

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Carole Denise Fredericks
©CDF Music Legacy LLC

Entrée to Black Paris has featured the inimitable Carole Denise Fredericks (1952–2001) in multiple blog posts over the years, beginning with an article in our original Black Paris Profiles™ series in 2012. Fredericks is best remembered as a beloved member of the multi-platinum French trio Fredericks Goldman Jones and for her solo career, which showcased her ability to cross cultural and musical boundaries with ease.

Nine months ago, CDF Music Legacy proudly announced the release of Carole Fredericks LIVE!, a limited-edition posthumous album capturing Fredericks at the height of her artistry. The release was celebrated on June 6, 2025 with a tribute concert at the Apollo Theatre in Paris.

The restoration project was spearheaded by Carole's sister, Connie Fredericks-Malone (whom ETBP has also featured on the blog), and overseen entirely by the small, family-run CDF Music Legacy organization.

It was a labor of love more than twenty-two years in the making.

Carole Fredericks LIVE! CD

The recordings, discovered in late 2003 among Fredericks' belongings, came from her only solo tour—the Couleurs et parfums Tour (1999–2001). Though they suffered from technical flaws and low fidelity, the tapes revealed electrifying performances where Fredericks blended American blues, R&B, and soul with French pop and rock.

"Despite the challenges of the raw recordings, what I heard was astonishing," recalls Fredericks-Malone. "This was Carole at her peak—singing in English and French, moving effortlessly between genres. These tracks could not remain unheard."

With the help of audio engineers Frank Scheidt and later Robert Pickert, the fragile recordings were painstakingly restored and remastered. The final selection of nine tracks includes fan favorites such as "Mighty Love," "Tender Love," "Think," "Veille," "Sex Machine," "Run Away Love," "Tu Es La," and "Respire" as well as an extraordinary rendition of Gershwin's "Summertime" (featuring Manu Guerrero on piano).

"Sex Machine" (first made famous by James Brown) is garnering fresh attention. Honk Magazine says "Fredericks brings back the song’s classic funk sound." Lyrical Odyssey Music says it "sounds more like a moment captured in amber than audio. The song has the kind of raw energy you would hear in a live stage performance, and it captures the unmistakable spirit of an artist whose voice and presence linger well after the lights dim." Blazemuse says "She doesn't just play a classic again, she turns it into a lively conversation between the performer and the audience. Her strong vocal runs rise above the groove, mixing control, charisma, and emotion in a way that feels both natural and skilled."

Carole Fredericks LIVE! cements Fredericks' place as one of the most distinctive voices of her generation—an artist whose music was as fearless as it was soulful.

The album is available in two physical formats:

Limited edition vinyl LP – eight tracks from her concerts at Auditorium Saint Germain des Prés, plus "Summertime," available exclusively at www.caroledfredericks.com.

Limited edition CD – featuring the same nine tracks, available exclusively at www.caroledfredericks.com.

Carole Fredericks LIVE! is also distributed digitally via CD Baby and streaming platforms, ensuring fans around the world can experience Carole's legacy anew.

Read about Fredericks on the ETBP blog at the links below:

U.S. - French Cultural Exchange Proposed Based on Carole D. Fredericks' Life and Music

Celebrating Carole Denise Fredericks (1952-2001)

A Visit to Montmartre Cemetery

Read about her on the Paris Insights blog here: Celebrating the Memory of Carole Fredericks

Read about the U.S.-French Cultural exchange inspired by Fredericks here: Classes Duo Paris / New England

Chef Mory Sacko and Air France Take African-Inspired Cuisine to New Heights

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Chef Mory Sacko and Air France plane (detail)
© Air France

I first wrote about Chef Mory Sacko in December 2022: Street Food by a Michelin-star Chef.

Just over three years later, Chef Sacko continues to be one of the most prolific and influential figures in global gastronomy. His career has expanded well beyond the kitchen of his Michelin-starred flagship, MoSuke, into major international collaborations and lifestyle design.

In January 2026, Sacko launched a major partnership with Air France, becoming the airline's first "signature chef" for flights departing from sub-Saharan Africa. He has created 24 original dishes that favor short supply chains and local seasonal produce and feature a dialogue between African products, French techniques, and Japanese influences.

His menus debuted on January 15, 2026 in La Première (first class) and business cabins on flights from Abidjan to Paris. Throughout the course of Spring/Summer 2026, they will be rolled out for business class departures from Cotonou, Dakar, Libreville, and Nairobi.

Sea Bass in Banana Leaf is a refined take on the Ivory Coast's traditional attiéké-poisson. The fish is cooked in banana leaves and served with fresh sauce vierge, smooth avocado cream, and attiéké (fermented cassava couscous).

Sea bass cooked in banana leaves with sauce vierge, avocado cream, and attiéké
© Air France

Coconut Milk Chicken (inspired by France's poule au pot) is slow-cooked chicken in a rich coconut milk base, accompanied by pilaf rice, tender carrots, and celery.

Offerings in the business cabin focus on "gourmet comfort" with an emphasis on vibrant textures.

Sea Bass and Prawns in Bouillabaisse broth is inspired by the Provençal fish soup that originated in Marseille. Sacko's fusion version of this dish is enhanced with African spices and poached vegetables, combining the influences of West African fish soups with those of the Mediterranean.

Sea bass and prawns - bouillabaisse broth on side
© Air France

Vegetarian Gnocchi is soft gnocchi served with a sweet corn cream and fresh spring onions.

Chicken Mafé is Sacko's reimagining of the classic West African peanut stew, utilizing high-quality French poultry and refined plating.

Several side dishes across the menu cycle feature roasted sweet potato or okra prepared with Japanese seasoning like shio koji (a fermented marinade prepared with salt, water, and koji) or togarashi (a blend of spices that feature chili pepper).

To accompany Sacko's main dishes and sides, Air France work with other specialists who select the wines and spirits and create the desserts that maintain the elegance of the menu selections.

Regarding soft drinks, passengers will often find hibiscus (bissap) or ginger-based mocktails served as an apéritif on these routes, mirroring the welcome drinks served at Sacko's Paris locations.

Chef Mory Sacko
© Air France

Chef Sacko is not the first person of African descent to provide signature dishes for Air France routes. Award-winning Chef Jean-Charles Brédas of Martinique began working with Air France in November 2023—he provides meals for business-class travelers flying between the French Caribbean (Pointe-à-Pitre, Fort-de-France, Saint-Martin) and French Guiana (Cayenne) to Paris, as well as travelers on flights on its Caribbean regional network.

Black Paris: The City You Don't See

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Title screen of presentation "Black Paris: The City You Don't See"
© Entrée to Black Paris

On February 3, 2026, I had the honor and pleasure of speaking to new and visiting students at the American Business College (ABC—formerly the American Business School) in Paris.

ABC's Head of Admissions, Yuanist Woods, asked me to talk about how Entrée to Black Paris' work complements ABC's mission to provide students with a first class business education in a multicultural environment to prepare them for an international career.

I delivered a roughly 20-minute presentation to three remarkably diverse groups totaling approximately 100 students during the course of the afternoon.

Students at orientation session
© Entrée to Black Paris

I first showed images of three iconic Paris landmarks—the Eiffel Tower, the obelisk at Place de la Concorde, and the Pantheon—and asked the students if they were aware of Black people or events evoking Black people at those landmarks.

Less than one percent of the students responded affirmatively to these questions.

Addressing students at orientation session
© Entrée to Black Paris

After providing anecdotes related to each of these landmarks, I explained that while Black presence in Paris is neither marginal nor recent, its influence on the development of the city is largely invisible.

Why does Black Paris matter?
© Entrée to Black Paris

And because of this invisibility, the majority of visitors—and even residents—will never appreciate the full richness of even the best known and most beautiful landmarks of the city.

Dean Samuel Berthet attended one of the three presentations that afternoon.

By the end of the day, Head of Admissions Woods announced that he and Dean Berthet were considering incorporating ETBP tours into the mandatory intercultural studies course that degree-seeking students must pass to graduate.

Woods sent me the following testimonial re: the presentations:

We were honored to host Entrée to Black Paris as part of the orientation day for students at American Business College on February 3^rd, 2026. At the Admissions Office, we see it as an essential part of our mission to enrich student life with meaningful cultural and educational experiences—from athletics and student clubs to deep engagements with the history and diversity of the city ABC calls home.

There is perhaps no better partner to support this mission than Dr. Monique Wells. As co-founder and driving force behind Entrée to Black Paris, Dr. Wells brought Black Paris, its history, contributions, and stories that often remain hidden to life in a way that is both compelling and deeply educational. Through her expertise, students gained insight into the vibrant Black heritage of Paris, an important complement to their academic journey.

Dr. Wells’s presentation was engaging, informative, and grounded in real experiences and historical depth. Her ability to connect with students and inspire curiosity about culture, identity, and community reflects the very spirit of what we strive for at American Business College.

We are grateful to Entrée to Black Paris and Dr. Wells for helping broaden our students’ perspectives and for contributing to a richer, more inclusive student life at ABC.

Watch a brief (3:30-minute) video of two snippets of the presentation HERE.

To explore how your organization can engage Entrée to Black Paris to provide similar keynote presentations and / or support your institution's study abroad or international travel program, click HERE.

Josephine Baker and Loïs Mailou Jones in American Women in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Panel announcing American Women in Paris (cropped)
© Entrée to Black Paris

A few weeks ago, I received an email announcing American Women in Paris, an exhibition that "examines the lives, challenges, and achievements of the remarkable American women who made this city [Paris] their home."

It was created by 16 college women who are pursuing Anglophone Studies at Université Paris Cité Grand Moulins campus.

My husband and I were not able to attend the opening, which took place on January 20, but we did make it over to the campus last Friday to see the exhibition.

We didn't know what to expect from the location or the exhibition itself, so our excursion turned out to be a bit of an adventure.

The university is in the heart of what I call the "New Paris" in the Quartier de la Gare in the 13th arrondissement.

Skyline of the "New Paris" in the 13th arrondissement
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition is displayed on the 4th floor of Bâtiment Olympe de Gouges at 8, place Paul Ricoeur.

Bâtiment Olympe de Gouges
© Entrée to Black Paris

We didn't know (and the invitation did not specify) that you need a badge to enter the building. If you are not a student, faculty, or staff at the university, you must leave your ID at the reception desk in exchange for a badge that allows entry.

Once you get to the 4th floor, there is no signage to indicate how to find the exhibition.

We had to ask someone in an office to direct us to it.

Thankfully, her directions were not difficult to follow.

The exhibition consists of a series of panels that present a brief summary of the lives of several American women who lived in Paris during the 20th century. It describes Paris as a place where these women had "the freedom to create, to challenge norms, and to exist on their own terms."

American Women in Paris exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

American Women in Paris brochures
© Entrée to Black Paris

Themes invoked included visual arts, literature, activism, and women in science.

I would have been surprised had Josephine Baker not been included in this exhibition (she was presented as an activist), but I was pleasantly surprised to see a panel devoted to artist Loïs Mailou Jones in the section on visual arts.

Looking at the Loïs Mailou Jones panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Loïs Mailou Jones panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

All panels are presented entirely in English.

Josephine Baker panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

It took less than a half hour to read all the panels, look at the associated images, and peruse the bibliography.

We left campus feeling satisfied that we made the effort to see the exhibition and took the opportunity to have lunch at a nearby restaurant and explore this off-the-beaten-track part of the city.

American Women in Paris will be on display through March 13, 2026.

American Women in Paris title panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jeanine De Bique at the Louvre

Monique Y. Wells — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Jeanine De Bique on stage at the Amis du Louvre gala
© Entrée to Black Paris

For the first time since becoming a member of the Société des Amis du Louvre (Friends of the Louvre Society), I attended the organization's annual gala.

Gala invitation
© Entrée to Black Paris

What attracted me to this year's event was the news that Jeanine De Bique, the inimitable soprano opera singer, was going to perform.

The concert was to be held in the Salle Piazzetta, which is dedicated to large-format 18th-century works by Italian artists from the Baroque period. The gala celebrated the unveiling of Giambattista Tiepolo's Junon au milieu des nuée (Juno in the Clouds) in this room as well as the larger accomplishments of past acquisitions and recent renovations in this part of the museum itself that were funded by the Society.

Visitors got to experience the architectural renovations immediately upon arrival at the museum. We were directed to enter at the Porte des Lions in the Denon Wing.

Queuing at the Porte des Lions
© Entrée to Black Paris

Signage at the Porte des Lions
© Entrée to Black Paris

This area has been completely reconfigured to allow quick access to the renovated 17th and 18th century Italian and Spanish painting galleries on the 1st floor of the Denon wing as well as to the new Galerie des Cinq Continents (Gallery of the Five Continents) on the ground floor.

Entrance to the Galerie des Cinq Continents
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Society invited guests to arrive an hour before the concert was to begin to allow time to visit this new gallery, which was formerly called the Pavillon des Sessions.

Representing a partnership between the Louvre and the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, it presents works from these two museums as well as the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts, the National Maritime Museum, the National Library of France, the Musée d’Aquitaine, and the Boulogne-sur-Mer Museum. Several exquisite works on loan from the Federal Republic of Nigeria are also on display.

Malo sculpture
© Entrée to Black Paris

Obo head - Nigeria
© Entrée to Black Paris

At around 7:25 PM, museum staff began directing the crowd to the Salle Piazzetta. Everyone settled in expectantly.

Crowd taking seats for the concert
© Entrée to Black Paris

After short speeches by Society President Gérard Araud and Adjunct Director of Paintings Stéphane Loire, the concert began.

Société des Amis du Louvre President Gérard Araud
© Entrée to Black Paris

De Bique hails from Trinidad. She studied singing and piano at the Manhattan School of Music and was formerly a member of the ensemble at the Staatsoper in Vienna. She has performed on stages throughout Europe and across the U.S., and her first album—Mirrors (2021)—has won multiple awards.

Jeanine De Bique at the Société des Amis du Louvre gala
© Entrée to Black Paris

Her fondness for the Baroque style coupled beautifully with the music selected for the program and the setting for the concert. Pieces by Vivaldi, Handel, Graun, and Corelli were performed by Julien Chauvin and his Concert de la Loge orchestra, and she absolutely mesmerized the audience with the arias she sang.

Jeanine De Bique singing
© Entrée to Black Paris

The following is the program that was presented:

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)

Sinfonia de L’Olimpiade, RV 725 – Allegro

Georg Friedrich Haendel (1685–1759)

Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17
"Venere bella, per un instante," Acte II, Scène 7

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)

Concerto pour violon et violoncelle en si bémol majeur, RV 547
- I. Allegro
- II. Andante
- III. Allegro

Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–1759)

Rodelinda, regina de’ Langobardi
"L’empio rigor du fato ," Acte I

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)

Sonate en trio « La Follia », RV 63
Ercole sul Termodonte, RV 710
"Zeffiretti che sussurate," Acte III, Scène 1

Georg Friedrich Haendel (1685–1759)

Venus and Adonis, HWV 85
"Dear Adonis, beauty’s treasure"

Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713)

Concerto pour la nuit de Noël, Op. 6 N°8
- I. Vivace – Grave
- II. Allegro

Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–1759)

Cleopatra e Cesare
"Tra le procelle assorto," Acte I

At the end of the concert, she was presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Jeanine De Bique with flowers
© Entrée to Black Paris

This was followed by a champagne reception in the entrance hall of the Porte des Lions.

Staff ready to serve champagne
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jeanine De Bique acknowledging praise at the reception
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jeanine De Bique at the reception
© Entrée to Black Paris

It was an enchanting evening!

Watch a video clip of the concert from Jeanine De Bique's IG page HERE.

Joseph Langley Gifts Paintings to Jean Verdier Hospital

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Joseph Langley pointing to one of his works
Screenshot from YouTube video

In 2011, Entrée to Black Paris featured Joseph Jeremiah Langley for the first time in a blog post that was incorporated into our book entitled Black Paris Profiles.

A prolific visual artist, poet, and musician, he has been part of the Black Paris scene for well over 30 years.

Langley has been incredibly generous with his time and talent for as long as we've known him, and his recent gift of numerous framed pastel works on paper to Hôpital Jean Verdier is the latest evidence of his philanthropy.

In May 2025, Langley contacted Entrée to Black Paris to inform us that he had proposed to donate 60 framed pastels for auction for the benefit of the hospital.

Thumbnails of works to be donated
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

But the sale became too difficult for the hospital to organize, so Langley proposed to decorate the walls of the maternity unit with his work.

The pediatric ward heard about his proposal and asked to receive works as well. They sent a representative to Langley's home gallery and selected 22 pastels for their walls.

In the end, Langley donated a total of 37 works to the hospital.

The "unveiling" of these works, which hang throughout Hôpital Jean Verdier in children's wards, doctors' and nurses' offices, and consultation rooms, took place on Friday, January 16, 2026.

Joseph Langley and two of his works in the Salle des Adolescents
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

Below are images of a few of them.

Army of Chickens
(2021) Pastel on paper
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

Portrait of My Cat
(2023-2024) Pastel on paper
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

When the Saints Go Marching in
(2022) Pastel on paper
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

Watch a walk-through of the hospital with Langley and Céline Percevaux, Health Care Executive of Pediatric Emergency and Consultation Services HERE.

L to R: Joseph Langley, pediatric nurse, and Céline Percevaux
Image courtesy of Joseph Langley

This was followed by a simple collation with hospital staff.

Hôpital Jean Verdier has invited Langley to return in the future to paint with the children and eventually donate more work in anticipation of its planned relocation.

Langley recently returned from Pristina, Kosovo, where a well attended monographic exhibition of his work was shown at Galeria Quahili.

La Galerie Africaine - 25 Years of Exhibiting Art from Africa and the Diaspora

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Works from D'un ailleurs à l'autre
© Entrée to Black Paris

I first learned about Aude Minart and La Galerie Africaine in 2010.

The article I published about the gallery and its then current exhibition—Tout est Possible Tous les Possibles—was the first of 15 posts that showcase the multitude of artists that Minart has supported over her gallery's 25 years of existence.

This January, La Galerie Africaine has mounted yet another exhibition in the idyllic, historically-classified Cloître des Billettes in the Marais.

Entrance to Cloître des Billettes
© Entrée to Black Paris

D'un ailleurs à l'autre (From One Elsewhere to Another) retraces a quarter century of encounters and dialogues with various painters and sculptors from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, Mali, Martinique, Nigeria, DRC, Senegal, and Togo.

Works displayed in and around the cloister's central courtyard
All images © Entrée to Black Paris

La Galerie Africaine exhibitions frequently include works by Camara Gueye (Senegal), Yao Metsoko (Togo), and Yacouba Touré (Burkina Faso), and these artists are represented in D'un ailleurs à l'autre.

Garab
Acrylic on canvas
Camara Gueye
© Entrée to Black Paris

Works by Yao Metsoko
© Entrée to Black Paris

En-corps lost wax sculptures by Yacouba Touré
© Entrée to Black Paris

The gallery is displaying sculptures by Bérengère d'Orsay (France) for the first time. Large ethereal works occupy the center of the courtyard, and smaller ones are displayed along the long corridors of the cloister.

La Femme Papillon (left) and L'Enfant-Soleil (right)
Bérengère d'Orsay
2025 Sandstone, resin, paper cement and pigments on steel frame
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Couple
Bérengère d'Orsay
2025 Paper cement and pigments on steel frame
© Entrée to Black Paris

An award-winning sculptor, d'Orsay studied art at Parsons School of Design in NYC and earned an MBA at the University of Paris IX Dauphine.

La Galerie Africaine is also showing a work by Nigeria's Ebenezer Akinola for the first time.

Gardiens du Royaume III (Guardians of the Kingdom III) is a large figurative painting that commands the space at the far end of the corridor to the left of the entrance of the cloister.

Gardiens du Royaume III
Ebenezer Akinola
Oil on linen canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

A lost wax bronze sculpture by Siriki Ky (Burkina Faso) is being sold to support the work of Africa Solidarity, a French and Malian nonprofit organization.

Sans titre
Bérengère d'Orsay
2010 Bronze (lost wax technique)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Lion (The Lion) is an impressive work of iron welding by Bamassi Traoré (Senegal).

Le Lion
Bamassi Traoré
Iron welding, upcycled materials
© Entrée to Black Paris

Of all the works displayed in this exhibition, my favorites were two by Nelson Gomes Teixeira (Cape Verde). I loved the piercing gaze of the female portrayed in Présent and was touched by what I felt was sadness in the representation of the Tirailleurs Sénégalais in Le Chemin de l'Inconnu.

Présent
Nelson Gomes Teixeira
Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Chemin de l'Inconnu
Nelson Gomes Teixeira
Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

D'un Ailleurs à l'Autre is open daily through January 25, 2026. Visit the cloister Monday through Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM and Sunday from 2 PM to 7 PM.

La Galerie Africaine hosts "Tea-time et Vin chaud (hot wine)" on Saturdays and Sundays from 4 PM - 6 PM.

Admiring Migration / Reflection ? by Piniang (Senegal)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cloître des Billettes
24, rue des Archives
75004 Paris

Contact Aude Minart at:
aude.minart@gmail.com
+33 6 60 24 06 26
Internet: lagalerieafricaine.com

Art and Food Pairing™: Little Africa Paris Village and Au Paradis Tropical - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Au Paradis Tropical façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

After our stimulating visit to Little Africa Village, we made our way to Au Paradis Tropical.

This is one of the few places in Paris that serves goat, and I always order a dish made with this meat when I come here.

We were the first customers to arrive at the restaurant, so we had our pick of tables. We chose to sit at the rear of the main dining room, near the entrance to the smaller dining room and bar.

Au Paradis Tropical - main dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Au Paradis Tropical - view of bar and rear dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

We settled in quickly and perused the menu. Though we normally order ti punch to begin a Créole meal, today we were distracted by the listing of a Haïtian rum called Boukman.

When I saw the name, I was immediately transported to the 2023 Panthéon exhibition called We Could Be Heroes that featured the works of Raphaël Barontini. Dutty Boukman of Saint Domingue (now Haïti) was one of eleven figures in Barontini's "imaginary pantheon" who fought for freedom in France's former slave colonies.

We asked our server about the rum. He told us that Boukman was produced in Haïti by an Irishman and said that it is commonly found in Irish pubs. He then told us that Haïti's Barbancourt rums (aged 4, 8, and 15 years) were extraordinary.

Tom ordered a Boukman and I ordered a Barbancourt 3 étoiles (3-stars), which had been aged for 4 years.

We continued to consult the menu while our server prepared our drinks.

When they were served (along with a ramekin of peanuts), we each took sips of both spirits. We agreed that the Barbancourt 3 étoiles was richer, smoother, and more flavorful.

Haïtian rums - Boukman (left) and Barbancourt 3 étoiles (right)
© Entrée to Black Paris

For our first course, Tom ordered Acras de malanga (fritters made with taro root) and I ordered samoussas aux légumes végétarien.

Acras de malanga
© Entrée to Black Paris

Samoussas aux légumes végétarien
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom's entrée was accompanied by a lovely serving of pikliz (carrot and cabbage slaw), and I received a small ramekin of pepper sauce with mine.

We shared our dishes and found both of them to be delectable!

This was my introduction to taro root fritters, and I liked them so much that I have decided to sample them whenever I see them on other restaurant menus to see how they compare with Au Paradis Tropical's excellent rendition of them.

For the main course, Tom ordered poisson grillé, and I ordered fritaille cabri.

Each dish came with a choice of bananes pésées (savory plantains) or aloko (ripe plantains) and a choice of white rice, white rice cooked with red beans and coconut milk, or riz djon djon (a traditional Haïtian rice dish made with black mushrooms).

We both ordered aloko, but we elected to order different rice side dishes. Tom chose rice and beans, while I chose riz djon djon.

Poisson grillé
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fritaille cabri
© Entrée to Black Paris

The grilled fish was daurade (sea bream) and the fritaille cabri was the fried goat that I had anticipated eating.

Soft lettuce and pikliz added color to our plates. We both appreciated the generous serving of créole sauce that we could use to add additional flavor and moisture to our rice and meat or fish as desired.

Tom was able to finish all of his fish but only half of his rice, and I couldn't finish even half of what I was served. Our waiter boxed everything left on our plates, and we happily took it home.

Au Paradis Tropical
6 Rue Custine
75018 Paris
Metro: Château Rouge (Line 4)
Internet: https://auparadistropical.com/en

Art and Food Pairing™: Little Africa Paris Village and Au Paradis Tropical - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Little Africa Paris Village façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last weekend, Tom and I planned to lunch at Au Paradis Tropical, a Créole restaurant just steps away from the Château Rouge metro station in the 18th arrondissement.

On the way, we decided to swing by the Little Africa Village concept store to see the merchandise on display.

Little Africa Village window displays
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we entered, we found owner Jacqueline Ngo Mpii in a meeting. She took a moment to welcome us and told us that the artwork from the recent Pérou Noir exhibition, which closed on November 15, 2025, still hung in the gallery space downstairs.

Though the exhibition is currently being dismantled, she unlocked the entrance to the gallery and invited us to take our time looking around.

Pérou Noir - graphic announcement
© Entrée to Black Paris

We happily accepted this invitation and descended the stairs to view the display.

This exquisite show featured works by twelve Afro-Peruvian artists that explore the invisible roots and erased voices of Afro-Peruvian visual art and interpret the African presence in Latin America and Abya Yala (a term used by some Indigenous peoples of the Americas to refer to the Americas).

Curator Milena Carranza Valcárcel described the exhibition as "listen[ing] to these submerged voices and bring[ing] them to the surface like a song of rebirth."

Altar Renacimiento I
Herbert Rodríguez
2024 Sublimation fabric
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Máscara Tribal I-IV
Herbert Rodríguez
2024 Cut and painted paper
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Las raíces de nuestro pueblo
Dedee Mandros
2025 Cyanotype photographyImage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jarana con guitarra y charango
Joan “Entes” Jiménes Suero
2022 Acrylic
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

S/T
Serie : cajoneada
César Octavio Santa Cruz
2024 Screen printing and acrylic on wood - wooden box
Images © Entrée to Black Paris

Negro libre
Carlos Alberto Ostolaza Ramírez
1996 Acrylic
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition catalog and music playlist are available at the QR codes shown below.

QR codes for exhibition catalog and music playlist
© Entrée to Black Paris

We reemerged from the exhibition with the intent to learn more about Afro-Peruvian art in general and the artists and curator in particular.

Before we left, Ngo Mpii gave us samples of two fragrances made by the Swedish-Gambian perfumer, Maya Njie. She told us that Little Africa Village is partnering with The Colors, a consulting firm and ecosystem dedicated to multicultural beauty, to offer Afro-descendant cosmetics and perfume brands a new platform for visibility, expression, and connecting with their customers.

The two organizations launched Maya Njie in Paris on September 25, 2025.

Maya Njie perfume samples
© Entrée to Black Paris

Taking a final look around this always well appointed space, we headed out for what we anticipated would be a wonderful midday meal.

Little Africa Village
6 bis, rue des Gardes
75018 Paris
Metro: Barbès-Rochechouart (Lines 2 and 4)
Internet: https://littleafrica.fr/

Entrée to Black Paris wishes you and yours a happy holiday season.

Come back in January for Part 2 of Art and Food Pairing™: Little Africa Paris Village and Au Paradis Tropical!

All About Love - A Powerful Exhibition at the Grand Palais

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Clairvel Face Forward Gazing 2024
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Grand Palais is inviting visitors to Mickalene Thomas' All About Love "to enter a universe of love, leisure, and liberation, spaces where beauty, intimacy, and self-possession reshape the art historical gaze."

Grand Palais entrance - Square Jean Perrin
© Entrée to Black Paris

At the vernissage (opening) of the exhibition on the evening of Tuesday, December 16, attendees experienced just that.

All About Love is a monographic retrospective that features painting, film, collage, photography, and installations.

November 1950 (Jet Magazine)
(2021) Rhinestones, acrylic, and oil on canvas
mounted on wood with an oak frame
© Entrée to Black Paris

Photography
© Entrée to Black Paris

Hair Portrait #15
(2013) Rhinestones and acrylic on wood paneling
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Watching Je
© Entrée to Black Paris

Memory - 1970s living room installation with photo triptych
© Entrée to Black Paris

Virtually all of them are bold, vibrant, unapologetic depictions of Black women.

Collages and paintings on second level
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition's theme was inspired by bell hooks' book, All About Love: New Visions (1999):

‘to truly love
we must learn to mix
various ingredients
- care, affection,
recognition, respect,
commitment, and
trust, as well as
honest and open
communication.’

bell hooks

The physical space accorded the exhibition is enormous. Occupying two floors of mostly open spaces, many of Thomas' large scale works occupy an entire wall.

Large scale "Odalisques"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Afro Goddess Looking Forward (artwork on right)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Views from second level of exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

I first saw Thomas' work in Paris in 2023, when five of her works were shown in an exhibition called Mickalene Thomas : Avec Monet at the Orangerie.

Three of those works—two collages and a film installation—are on display at All About Love in a dedicated room called Avec Monet.

Me as Muse installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Monet's House
(2022) Color photography, mixed media, rhinestones, and acrylic
on heat-pressed paper
© Entrée to Black Paris

The collage Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe: les trois femmes noires avec Monet, which was displayed at the Orangerie, evokes Edouard Manet's similarly titled work.

Other themes represented in rooms throughout the exhibition include "Icons," "Resist," and "Je (I)."

There are many places to sit and converse throughout the exhibition.

Bean bags in the Wrestlers' room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Screen Test - Installation in first room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Icons installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Interestingly, stacks of books are available to peruse in multiple areas as well.

Icons installation - books
© Entrée to Black Paris

Screen Test installation - books
© Entrée to Black Paris

The artist was present for much of the evening, and not surprisingly, attendees flocked to meet her.

Mickalene Thomas with group
© Entrée to Black Paris

I got to meet her as well.

L to R: Monique Y. Wells, Mickalene Thomas, and Alana Manga
© Entrée to Black Paris

All About Love will be on display from December 17, 2025 through April 5, 2026.

To reserve tickets, click HERE.

Djaam - African Bokés in the 10th Arrondissement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Djaam Fresh Food façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, I found myself near the Gare de l'Est at lunchtime and remembered an African restaurant that I had seen near the Château Landon metro station the last time I was in the area.

I easily found my way to the establishment, which is located at 187, rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin.

Djaam Fresh Food was founded 10 years ago by three people who are passionate about raising awareness of and recognition of Africa through its cuisine.

They observed that in France, African cuisine is stereotypically thought of as being too fatty, too spicy, too rich…

But they knew that in actuality, several African countries are among those with the healthiest eating habits in the world.

So they created Djaam as a way to promote African cuisine through the use of quality, organic products and the introduction of new taste sensations.

At four locations throughout France (Paris, Nantes, and Montpellier), they offer fresh, simple, classical West African recipes as well as "compose it yourself" dishes as bokés—in the spirit of Hawaiian poké bowls.

Sandwich board for West African classics
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sandwich board - Make your own Boké!
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because their menu is so extensive, it took more than a few minutes for me to sort out what I wanted to order.

Djaam menu and food counter
© Entrée to Black Paris

Djaam menu panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

During that time, several bicycle food delivery riders came to pick up orders for delivery.

Djaam has a relatively small, no-frills dining room with a large screen television at one end.

Djaam dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because I wanted to order take-out, I knew that I would need to experience their restaurant service at another time.

Standing at the counter, I studied the three classical West African dishes on offer.

Thieb can be made as a vegetarian dish or with your choice of chicken, fish, or beef, while Yassa and Mafé can be made as a vegetarian dish or with chicken.

Thieb comes with red rice, carrots, cabbage, African eggplant, and a traditional tomato-based sauce.

Yassa comes with white rice, olives, onions, and a traditional sauce made from mustard.

And Mafé comes with white rice, cabbage, carrots, and a traditional sauce made from peanut butter.

All can be accompanied by a tiny container of fiery, orange-colored pepper sauce.

I finally settled on two large bokés - one of thieb and one of yassa.

I ordered a beef thieb with a supplemental portion of sweet potato and a chicken yassa with a supplement of okra.

Djaam's beverage list is also quite extensive, including house-made bubble drinks and smoothies.

Djaam beverage case and menu
© Entrée to Black Paris

I ordered a bottle of bissap and a bottle of ginger juice. Both beverages were made on the premises.

When I got home, I photographed the bokés in their recyclable cardboard containers before dishing half of each onto two plates for my husband and me to enjoy.

Thieb bowl with sweet potato
© Entrée to Black Paris

Yassa bowl with okra
© Entrée to Black Paris

Thieb and yassa on a plate
© Entrée to Black Paris

We devoured every morsel!

Djaam offers in-room dining, take-out, and delivery through Ubereats and Deliveroo.

It has two addresses in Paris:

187 Rue du Fbg St-Martin, 75010 Paris (Metros: Château Landon, Gare de l’Est, and Louis Blanc – all on Line 7; RER E - Magenta)

58 rue Réaumur, 75002 Paris (Metros: Sentier - Line 3; Réaumur – Sébastopol - Lines 3 and 4)

It is open seven days a week, from 11:30 AM - 11:00 PM Sundays through Thursdays and from 11:30 AM - midnight Fridays and Saturdays.

Josephine Baker Commemoration in Le Vésinet

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Model for Josephine Baker Commemorative Sculpture
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Sunday, November 30, 2025, the town of Le Vésinet, the Joséphine Baker Commemorative Site team, the Le Vésinet Historical Society, the Fondation pour le Vésinet, and the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendants de Paris feted the 4th anniversary of Josephine Baker's induction into the Pantheon at Baker's former home, le Beau Chêne.

I arrived at the event early to photograph the grounds (access to the interior of the mansion was not permitted) and learn more about the commemorative site project before the expected crowd arrived. I hadn't visited the property in several years, and I was curious to see how things might have changed.

I was pleased to find that the city has installed a plaque that honors Baker next to the front gate of the mansion.

Josephine Baker plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

The mansion itself fairly shone in the sun on this beautiful late autumn day.

Le Beau Chêne
© Entrée to Black Paris

Gravel paths have been laid around the property.

Gravel paths
© Entrée to Black Paris

The large greenhouse that once sat quite a distance from the house (on the part of the grounds that was sold) is now nestled between the mansion and the fence that marks the edge of the property. (The smaller greenhouse was apparently dismantled.)

Greenhouse
© Entrée to Black Paris

Several tomato plants inside the greenhouse have seen better days, but new strawberry plants are preparing to bear fruit.

Greenhouse tomatoes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Greenhouse strawberries
© Entrée to Black Paris

Chiquita's (Baker's pet cheetah) cage has been moved from near the fence to sit adjacent to the rear of the house, and the refurbished dovecote is presently being used to shelter a motorcycle.

Chiquita's cage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dovecote
© Entrée to Black Paris

A tent sheltered the fliers and panels that presented the sculpture project, which is the brainchild of Alice Fennelly, founder of the Joséphine Baker Commemorative Site. She engaged artist Jane DeDecker to immortalize Baker in bronze "to give Joséphine the permanent visibility she deserves and let her legacy inspire generations to come."

Alice Fennelly
© Entrée to Black Paris

Brian Scott Bagley, founder of the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendants de Paris, is collaborating on this project. He and Fennelly worked together to organize the tours and the ceremony that accompanied the light show at the end of the event.

Brian Scott Bagley, Founder of the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendants de Paris
at the information tent
© Entrée to Black Paris

Model for Josephine Baker Commemorative Sculpture
with brochures and info re: donating to support the commemorative site
© Entrée to Black Paris

Information panel re: commemorative site and sculptor Jane DeDecker
© Entrée to Black Paris

As I perused the information provided, pianist John Lander (Opéra de Paris and Opéra de Lyon) warmed up for the ceremony beneath the canopy.

John Lander warms up on piano
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fennelly and Bagley were excited that 77 people signed up for the event online.

They were shocked when roughly 350 people came out to tour the grounds and watch the illumination ceremony.

Crowd at front gate
© Entrée to Black Paris

Among them were Daniel and Ghislaine Valcin. Both of these siblings took the stage with Baker during her last performance run at the Bobino Theater.

Greeting Daniel Valcin
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ghislaine and Daniel Valcin
© Entrée to Black Paris

Queues stretched down the block on both sides of the gate as visitors patiently waited their turn to enter and walk the grounds with a guide.

Queue to right of gate
© Entrée to Black Paris

Queue to left of gate
© Entrée to Black Paris

First tour group assembled
© Entrée to Black Paris

Guide distributing fliers
© Entrée to Black Paris

Off to the tour
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tour groups
© Entrée to Black Paris

Waiting for next tour guide
© Entrée to Black Paris

The commemoration ceremony started at around 5 PM. It took some time to gather everyone who was exploring the grounds and move them to the lawn in front of the mansion.

Crowd gathering for ceremony
© Entrée to Black Paris

As dusk fell, speeches were delivered by

François Gluck, President of the Fondation pour le Vésinet, which is the Joséphine Baker Commemorative Site's principal French non-profit partner,
Alice Fennelly, Founder and Manager of the Joséphine Baker Commemorative Site initiative, and
Didier Guérémy, 4th Deputy Mayor in charge of cultural life, neighborhood councils, sister cities, and general affairs.

They lauded Baker's achievements, including her induction into the Pantheon, and talked about her life as a Vésigondine—a citizen of Le Vésinet.

François Gluck
© Entrée to Black Paris

Alice Fennelly
© Entrée to Black Paris

Didier Guérémy
© Entrée to Black Paris

Then, the front of the mansion was illuminated in blue, white, and red.

Le Beau Chêne illuminated
© Entrée to Black Paris

Rooms on the upper floors were lit in blue and red inside as well.

Interior lighting
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lander played for several minutes before Bagley joined him beneath the canopy. Accompanied by Lander, Bagley sang several tunes - including the iconic "J'ai Deux Amours, Mon Pays et Paris."

John Lander playing during ceremony
© Entrée to Black Paris

Brian Scott Bagley performing during ceremony
© Entrée to Black Paris

The event ended with Bagley thanking everyone for attending and reminding them that funds are being raised to support the Commemorative Site project.

Alice Fennelly and Brian Scott Bagley after ceremony
© Entrée to Black Paris

The team needs 165K€ to fully realize their goal of installing the sculpture on a dedicated grassy area adjacent to the property in time for the September 2026 Journées du Patrimoine.

Illustration of the concept for the commemorative site
Image from the Commemorative Site Website

In collaboration with Le Fondation pour Le Vésinet and the French-American Cultural Foundation, it has raised 45% of the project costs to date.

The team is accepting tax-deductible donations in euros and dollars at the following links:

La Fondation pour le Vésinet for donations in Euros: LINK HERE
The French-American Cultural Foundation for donations in US Dollars: LINK HERE

Those making a tax-deductible donation of $5,000/€5,000 or more will receive permanent recognition on a bronze donor plaque affixed to the sculpture site - ensuring their name stands alongside history.

Instead of making a donation online, these donors should contact the respective foundation directly at info@frenchamericacultural.org or contact@fondationpourlevesinet.org.

Le Beau Chêne illuminated - viewed from Allée de la Gare
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Latest on Josephine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Josephine Baker Paris 100 (detail)
Image courtesy of Brian Scott Bagley

After writing about the extraordinary "Paradoxes of Exile" conference on Josephine Baker and James Baldwin that was organized by Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African & African American Research in Paris earlier this month, I was prepared to publish an article about an entirely different topic this week.

But several additional things have recently happened/are happening in France re: Baker, and all of them merit attention on this blog.

DEATH OF AKIO BOUILLON-BAKER

Akio Bouillon-Baker, the first adopted son of Josephine Baker and Jo Bouillon (Baker's fourth husband), was found dead in his home in Saint-Cyprien, Dordogne on November 25, 2025.

He was 73 years old.

Akio Bouillon-Baker at the inauguration of
Place Josephine Baker in Paris in February 2001
© Entrée to Black Paris

To date, I have not found any information re: the cause of his death.

Bouillon-Baker was adopted from an orphanage in Tokyo in 1954 and grew up at the Château des Milandes in the Périgord region. He was extremely attached to his adopted homeland and will be buried there.

JAZZER JOSEPHINE

On the heels of the "Paradoxes of Exile" conference, for which the opening session was held at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, the university is hosting a second conference called "Jazzer Joséphine."

Flier for Jazzer Josephine

The Sorbonne's Institute for Research in Theater Studies (IRET), an IRET subgroup called SeFeA (a laboratory that studies the contemporary poetics of Francophone dramaturgy shaped by colonial history and the history of migration), and the university's training and research institute (UFR) on arts and media organized this two-day colloquium to spotlight Baker's influence on modern and contemporary creative practice, whether on the stage or through the visual arts, literature, or music.

It will be held on November 27 and 28, 2025 at:

l'Athènée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet
4 square de l'Opéra Louis-Jouvet
75009 Paris
Metro: Opéra (Lines 3, 7, and 8); Havre-Caumartin (Lines 3 et 9); Saint-Lazare (Lines 12, 13, and 14)

Multiple French and foreign universities and cultural organizations, including Louisiana State University in the U.S., partnered with the Sorbonne to organize this event.

There is no charge to attend.

On both days, sessions will begin at 9 AM and end at 5 PM. To the best of my knowledge, all of them will be delivered in French.

Musical interludes will punctuate both days of the event.

On Friday, November 28, a closing cocktail will be offered at 5 PM.

4TH ANNIVERSARY OF JOSEPHINE BAKER'S INDUCTION INTO THE PANTHEON

On Sunday, November 30, from 4 PM - 5:30 PM, the town of Le Vésinet, the Joséphine Baker Commemorative Site team, the Le Vésinet Historical Society, the Fondation pour le Vésinet, and the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendants de Paris are celebrating the 4th anniversary of Josephine Baker's induction into the Pantheon.

They are hosting a guided tour of the gardens at Josephine Baker's mansion, Le Beau Chêne, followed by an illumination ceremony featuring live music by a Paris Opera pianist.

Flier for 4th anniversary celebration of
Josephine Baker's induction into the Pantheon

This event is free and open to the public. Register here: https://villeduvesinet.fr/evenements/celebrons-lanniversaire-de-la-pantheonisation-de-josephine-baker/

Note that you should register for the tour and the light show separately.

JOSEPHINE BAKER PARIS 100

Flier for 25 FOR 25 ON 25 FOR JOSEPHINE BAKER

For years, Brian Scott Bagley has worked tirelessly to honor the legacy of Josephine Baker.

In 2020, with the approval and blessing of the Bouillon-Baker family, he began the work of establishing an official museum in honor of Baker in Paris and created the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendents.

2025 is the centennial year of Baker's arrival in Paris, and 2026 is the centennial year of her birth.

It is also the 20th anniversary of Bagley's arrival in Paris, when he began his career as a choreographer by working on Jérôme Savary's In Search of Josephine Baker at the Opéra Comique.

On November 25, 2025, Bagley launched a fundraising campaign to support an exhibition called Josephine Baker Paris 100, which will celebrate the centennial of Baker's arrival in Paris.

He was not aware that Akio Bouillon-Baker died that very day.

The owners of Le Caroussel, the site where Baker opened her first Chez Josephine club in Paris and where Bagley organized the placement of a Josephine Baker plaque, have agreed to provide space for a daytime exhibition of artifacts owned by the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendants from December 2025 through March 2026.

The exhibition will be open Monday through Saturday from 10 AM until 4 PM.

Unveiling of Josephine Baker plaque at Le Caroussel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Caroussel
© Entrée to Black Paris

The cost for the rental space is 2500€ per month.

To defray costs, the entry fee for the exhibition has been set at 20€, with a reduced rate of 10€ applied to children under the age of 14.

All donors to the 25 FOR 25 ON 25 FOR JOSEPHINE BAKER fundraiser will be able to see the exhibition at no charge and will receive a signed poster from the show.

At their request, they will also be able to have their names included on a donors' plaque.

Donors contributing 500€ or more will receive Josephine Smile, a limited edition photo flip book containing rare images from the Musée Josephine Baker et des Afro-descendants archives.

To give, contact Brian Scott Bagley by:

Telephone: +336.29.26.85.18
Email: museejosephinebakerparis@gmail.com or brianscottbagley@gmail.com

Le Caroussel
40, rue Pierre Fontaine
75009 Paris
Metro: Blanche (Line 2)

Brian Scott Bagley and items from
the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-descendents
Image courtesy of Brian Scott Bagley

Josephine Baker and James Baldwin - The Paradoxes of Exile

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Conference title graphic displayed at Reid Hall
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African & African American Research brought together an amazing chorus of university-affiliated and independent scholars to celebrate two of Paris' most famous African-American expats, Josephine Baker and James Baldwin.

Scholars, artists and writers, and "scholar adjacents" gathered in Paris for a two-day conference that examined the lives of "Jo and Jimmy" through the lens of "exile."

The welcome event and opening discussion took place on the evening of November 12 at the Sorbonne's Amphithéâtre Liard.

Sorbonne courtyard
© Entrée to Black Paris

Signage for welcome event
© Entrée to Black Paris

Moderated by Yale University professor Kaiama L. Glover, it featured an opening statement by Sorbonne Nouvelle President Daniel Mouchard-Zay, followed by a scintillating conversation between Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of the Hutchins Center, and 1986 Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.

Daniel Mouchard-Zay, Kaiama L. Glover, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
© Entrée to Black Paris

Wole Soyinka and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the following two days, panelists, moderators, and attendees filled the Grande Salle Ginsburg-Leclerc at Columbia's Paris Global Center at Reid Hall.

Courtyard at Reid Hall
© Alice Fennelly

Thursday, November 13 was devoted to Baker, and Friday, November 14 was devoted to Baldwin.

Though I can wholeheartedly attest to the passion with which the panelists delivered their insights and opinions, I cannot begin to do justice to the volume and depth of the information they shared during their discussions in this blog post.

So what I am posting here are descriptions of moments that stood out in my memory as I reviewed the numerous photos I shot of the entire event.

During the opening conversation about Josephine Baker, Professor Maboula Soumahoro of the Université de Tours "came out" by saying that she never liked Baker and still doesn't, even though she is quite familiar with the research published about Baker's persona and the ways in which Baker chose to portray herself on and off stage.

Baker opening panel
L to R: Lauren Michele Jackson, Maboula Soumahoro, and Kaiama L. Glover (moderator)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Maboula Soumahoro
© Entrée to Black Paris

That afternoon, during the Scholars' Roundtable, Professor Terri Francis* of the University of Miami screened a video essay called "Joséphine Baker Watches Herself," which plays silent film clips of Josephine Baker performing live in her banana skirt at the Folies Bergère and acting in the film entitled Zouzou. Harry Belafonte's "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" serves as the opening soundtrack, and audio and video of Baker being interviewed in French and English complete the video.

Baker Scholars' Roundtable
L to R: Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Cheryl Finley, Salamisha Tillet, Terri Francis, and Arlette Frund (moderator)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Terri Francis
© Entrée to Black Paris

Later, during the Artists' Roundtable, Professor Deborah Willis of New York University referenced Elizabeth Alexander’s poem "The Venus Hottentot" when she introduced panelists Ming Smith and Carla Williams. Alexander subtly references Baker through Saartjie Baartman's voice when Baartman speaks of her “imaginary daughters, in banana skirts/and ostrich feather fans” in the verse. Willis stated that Smith and Williams could well be considered Baker's imaginary daughters.

Artists' Roundtable
L to R: Deborah Willis (moderator), Ming Smith, Carla Williams, and Mike Ladd
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mike Ladd talked about Baker's ever present influence in his life and showed a scene from the Netflix mini series Transatlantic for which he and a fellow composer wrote the score. In it, the woman performer is clearly modeled after Baker.

Mike Ladd
© Entrée to Black Paris

The afternoon ended with a brief presentation of images of Barbara Chase-Riboud's The Josephines sculptures.

On Friday, Nicholas Boggs provided fascinating insight into the work that went into his new biography entitled Baldwin: A Love Story.

Baldwin opening panel
L to R: Farah Jasmine Griffin, Nicholas Boggs, and Brett Edward Hayes (moderator)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Nicholas Boggs
© Entrée to Black Paris

During the afternoon Scholars' Roundtable, the panelists and moderator kicked off the session with a glass of white wine in the spirit of gathering around Baldwin's Welcome Table.

Baldwin Scholars' Roundtable
L to R: Andrée-Anne Kekeh-Dika (moderator), Nadia Yala Kisukidi,
Dagmawi Woubshet, Robert F. Reid-Pharr, Jacqueline Goldsby, and Yannick M. Blec
© Entrée to Black Paris

In the spirit of the Welcome Table
© Entrée to Black Paris

Professor Jacqueline Goldsby of Yale University dazzled the audience with her discussion of the metamorphosis of the manuscripts that preceded the version of Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain that was finally published in 1953.

Jacqueline Goldsby
© Entrée to Black Paris

Léonora Miano was the only woman participant in the Writer's Roundtable, and I was pleased to listen to her story and learn about her incredible work. She began by talking about her childhood in Cameroon, where the extensive library her parents had created contained no books by Black authors. Her discovery of Baldwin's work was transformational. Years later, she would write a book called L'Opposé de la blancheur: Réflexions sur le problème blanc (The Opposite of Whiteness: Reflections on the White Problem).

Writers' Roundtable
Jesse McCarthy (moderator), Simon Njami, Léonora Miano, and Jake Lamar
© Entrée to Black Paris

Léonora Miano
© Entrée to Black Paris

The last session of the day, and of the conference, consisted of readings by Marlon James and Barbara Chase-Riboud.

James shared his personal thoughts on exile from his vantage point as a Jamaican who expatriated to the U.S. He then read Baldwin's essay "Stranger in the Village."

Marlon James
© Entrée to Black Paris

A ~9-minute video featuring the works displayed in Barbara Chase-Riboud's unparalleled exhibition Quand un noeud est dénoué un dieu est libéré (Everytime A Knot is Undone A God is Released) was shown, followed by Chase-Riboud talking about her sculpture Africa Rising II.

She then read excerpts from her poem "Africa Rising" and entire additional poems, finishing with "Been There, Done That."

Barbara Chase-Riboud
© Entrée to Black Paris

Finally, Professor Gates presented Chase-Riboud with a bouquet of roses, delivered his closing remarks—including thanking Hutchins' executive director, Dr. Abby Wolf, for her role in organizing the conference—and posed for a photo with Chase-Riboud.

Abby Wood and Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
© Entrée to Black Paris

Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Barbara Chase-Riboud
© Entrée to Black Paris

The entire event was rich with scholarship and community!

*Many thanks to Professor Terri Francis for contacting me to inform me of my erroneous reference to the extent to which she referenced Elizabeth Anderson's "The Venus Hottentot." The paragraph was edited on November 29, 2025.

Our Visit to Bordeaux - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Sculpture of Modeste Testas near the Bourse Maritime
© Entrée to Black Paris

While I always enjoy a good museum visit, I wholeheartedly prefer a well-conceived and informative walking tour when I visit a new city.

That is precisely what M. Karfa Diallo, founder and director of Mémoires et Partages, delivered to Tom and me during our recent visit to Bordeaux.

Monique Y. Wells and Karfa Diallo
© Entrée to Black Paris

A nonprofit association, Mémoires et Partages offers three regular walks in Bordeaux and additional walks by special request—all in French.

Of the three regular walks, Tom and I experienced Coeur de Ville (literally, "Heart of the City") and Quartiers de Sucre ("The Sugar Quarters").

On the overcast morning of October 29, we met M. Diallo for the Coeur de Ville walk at 10 AM. We rendezvoused on the Parvis des Droits de l'Homme, a square that stretched in front of the Ecole de la Magistrature, two towers and a stone wall that are remnants of the Fort du Hâ fortress, and the Palais de Justice.

Diallo explained that each Mémoires et Partages tour features six themes that are associated with tangible heritage (the stops on the tour) and intangible heritage (stories that reflect each theme). The themes address every aspect of the Black experience of slavery and the slave trade, from capture to emancipation.

To provide background and context for our walks, Diallo first talked about the trans-African and Arab-Muslim slave trades that predated the trans-Atlantic trade.

Because certain African chieftains were already engaged in the trans-African and Arab-Muslim slave trades, it was not necessarily shocking that they would provide European traders with captives when the traders came to the continent.

Convoy of Captive African Women
Alphonse Lévy
19th century, Brown and gray ink wash
Reproduction on display at Musée d'Aquitaine
Image source: Slavery Images
License: CC-BY-NC 4.0

The trans-Atlantic slave trade differed from these preexisting practices because Europeans codified slavery based on race.

Diallo also pointed out that while the Arab-Muslim and trans-Atlantic trades resulted in the enslavement of a similar number of Africans (we do not have exact numbers for the Arab-Muslim trade), the trans-Atlantic trade operated within a significantly shorter time frame—a few centuries for the triangular trade compared to over a millennium for the Arab-Muslim trade.

Because it relied almost exclusively on the maritime transport of captives, the trans-Atlantic slave trade could move greater numbers of its human cargo more efficiently than the Arab-Muslim trade.

Prior to setting out on this first walk, Diallo told us that the medieval Fort du Hâ was used as a detention center for Blacks whose presence on French soil either had not been lawfully reported in compliance with the "Police des Noirs" (the "Blacks Policy" established under the reign of Louis XVI in 1777) or had exceeded the allotted lawful duration. They were held at the fort until arrangements were made to send them back to the French Antilles.

Fort du Hâ - Tour des Anglais
Guiguilacagouille
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-3.0

Fort du Hâ - Tour des Minimes
Guiguilacagouille
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-3.0

Following this introduction, we proceeded to the central area of the city. The center of Bordeaux is a pedestrian zone, so we were able to stroll and talk without the distraction of automobile traffic. The buildings there are pristine, thanks to the efforts of former mayor Alain Juppé to clean the façades that had been impregnated with pollution.

We ducked into the Cinema Utopia, formerly the Eglise Saint Siméon. There, we learned that in the early 19th century, the disaffected church was used as a maritime training school for disadvantaged youth. One can only imagine how many of them sailed on ships used for direct trade with the French colonies or the triangular trade.

In 2002, the largest room in the movie house was named after Toussaint Louverture, the principal general of the Haïtian revolution.

Karfa Diallo points to the Salle Toussaint Louverture
© Entrée to Black Paris

Farther along the route, near the colossal Place de la Bourse (formerly Place Royale), Diallo pointed out mascarons on the façade of a building. He talked about how some of these have African features and talked about the creolization of the population because of forced miscegenation.

Mascaron with African features
Rue Fernand Phillipart
© Entrée to Black Paris

From Place de la Bourse, we made our way to Promenade Rue Sainte Catherine and followed it to Place de la Comédie. The Grand Théâtre, which serves as the city's opera house, dominates this square.

Diallo told us about the fresco by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Robin that has decorated the ceiling of the performance hall since 1777. Among the representations is an allegory of the City of Bordeaux—a woman at whose feet lie the riches of the city, which are portrayed as wine (grapes), ships, and enslaved Black people.

Detail of the fresco representing enslaved Black people as part of Bordeaux's wealth
Jefunky
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0

Our walk ended at Place des Quinconces (the largest square in France), where a funfair occupied the entire space between the Girondin monument (a column and fountain) and two columns near the Gironde River.

The Girondins were a political faction during the French Revolution. Several of its members spoke out in favor of the abolition of slavery, including its leader, Jacques Pierre Brissot.

The next morning, we met M. Diallo at Place Pierre Renaudel in front of the Eglise Sainte-Croix (near the Gare Saint-Jean) to begin the Quartiers de Sucre walk. More than twenty sugar refineries were located in this area during the height of France's slave trade and Bordeaux's direct trade with the Caribbean colonies.

Under sunny skies, we walked up rue Camille Sauvageau and passed a modern residential building in which the remains of a sugar (sucre) refinery had been found during its construction. The discovery is evoked by a sign in the courtyard.

Le Patio des Fours à Sucre
© Entrée to Black Paris

At the Saint-Michel Basilica and bell tower, we learned about the "mummies of Saint-Michel" and the myth that one of them was a Black person.

Monique Y. Wells, Karfu Diallo, and Tom Reeves near Saint-Michel Basilica
Photo courtesy of Karfu Diallo

Near the Marché des Capucins, we walked down a street where several stores sell produce and other foodstuffs from Africa.

Occasionally, we came across street signs that gave a bit of history about the locale. Diallo explained that Mémoires et Partages actively advocates for the placement of clarifying signage on streets named after individuals who were involved in the trade or owned plantations in the Caribbean.

We saw one of these signs near Place de la Victoire. It informs passersby of the involvement of David Gradis (after whom the street is named) in slavery and the slave trade and categorically states that France has declared slavery and the slave trade crimes against humanity.

Discussing the street sign at rue Gradis
© Entrée to Black Paris

Rue Gradis street sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

We passed another example of a Creole mascaron on rue de Mirail.

Mascarons at rue de Mirail
(Creole mascaron at far right)
© Entrée to Black Paris

As we walked past an unmarked building that once housed a Carmelite monastery, Diallo told us about an 18th-century African man who, after securing his emancipation, joined Bordeaux's Carmelite religious community as a monk. He discovered how to transform wine into vinegar, and he sold his product in the streets and on the port of Bordeaux.

The vinegar is called "Tête Noire" ("Black Head"), and it is still sold today.

Label for Tête Noire Vinegar
Image reproduced with permission

We finished the walk at the Musée d'Aquitaine, where we began our dive into Bordeaux's history of slavery and the slave trade the day before. (Read about it in Part 1 of this blog post HERE.)

That afternoon, we found our way to the Modeste Testas sculpture on the quai des Chartrons after having lunch in the Chartrons quarter.

Sculpture of Modeste Testas near the Bourse Maritime
© Entrée to Black Paris

We were intrigued when we realized that Woodly Caymitte (aka filipo), the artist who created the commemorative sculpture called Clarisse for La Rochelle in 2024, also created this work.

Artist's signature at base of Modeste Testas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Modeste Testas (circa 1765-1870) was born Al Pouessi in Ethiopia. At the age of 14, she was captured in a raid and taken to West Africa, where she was purchased by Bordelais merchants named Pierre and François Testas. They took her to Bordeaux, where she was baptized Marthe Adélaïde Modeste Testas and subsequently taken to the Testas brothers' plantation in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haïti).

Modeste bore two children for François Testas before he took her and another enslaved person named Joseph Lespérance to the U.S. in 1795. Testas decreed that both would be freed upon his death, provided that they married.

The emancipated couple returned to Haïti, where they lived on land that Testas had bequeathed to Modeste. They raised a family there.

Modeste Lespérance died in 1870 at the presumed age of 105. One of her grandsons served as president of Haïti from 1888 to 1889.

For information about Mémoires et Partages' tour offerings, click HERE (Website in French).

Our Visit to Bordeaux - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: "Convoi des femmes Africaines captives"
Alphonse Lévy
19th century, Brown and gray ink wash
Reproduction on display at Musée d'Aquitaine
Image source: Slavery Images
License: CC-BY-NC 4.0

Last year, Tom and I visited La Rochelle to discover the city from the perspective of its involvement with slavery and the triangular slave trade.

A few days ago, we visited Bordeaux with the same objective in mind.

We spent four days in the city, visiting several museums and experiencing two walking tours offered by Mémoires et Partages, a nonprofit association whose mission is to invest in and promote the tangible and intangible heritage of slavery and the slave trade by celebrating the history of struggles for freedom.

Part 1 of this article presents what we learned by visiting museums.

On the afternoon of our arrival, we went to the Musée d'Aquitaine. It houses collections that trace the history of Bordeaux and the New Aquitaine region from prehistory to the present day.

Musée d'Aquitaine
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Bordeaux Office of Tourism sent guide Janneke Dufourquet-Wildeboer to provide us with an extraordinary private visit to the rooms dedicated to slavery and the slave trade, which were inaugurated when Bordeaux hosted the National Commemoration of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and their Abolition on May 10, 2009.

Topics addressed in the expansive section of the museum include representations of the wealth amassed by Bordelais citizens involved in slavery and the trade, the importance of direct trade (commerce en droiture) between the French colonies and Bordeaux compared to the triangular trade, and the Enlightenment movement to abolish slavery.

Several short films punctuate the exhibition. Topics range from the voyages of a ship used for direct trade, graphic depictions of the growth of the slave trade over the centuries, and a "biopic" of a slave trader who narrates a particularly long voyage that took him to the east coast of Africa to find enough captives to take to the French colonies.

Graphic depiction of the number of captives taken to the Americas between 1701 and 1800
© Entrée to Black Paris

One small room spotlights the Arab-Muslim (aka Trans-Saharan) slave trade and the Indian Ocean slave trade. It features several photos of enslaved people from the eastern coast of Africa and neighboring islands in the Indian Ocean.

A large room at the end of the exhibit focuses on the prominent role Bordeaux played in the colonization of Saint-Domingue (now Haïti) and devotes an entire wall to the Haïtian Revolution and the first several leaders of the newly freed nation.

On this wall is a portrait of a man presumed to be Isaac, son of Toussaint Louverture, the principal leader of the Haîtian Revolution.

Presumed Portrait of Isaac Louverture
Oscar Gué (?)
c. 1848
Oil on paper
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Visitors who wish to thoroughly investigate this section of the museum should plan to spend at least three full hours there.

We visited the Musée Mer Marine during the afternoon on the following day. We had asked the tourism office to set up a guided tour there, but we were told that there wasn't enough content on our subject matter to warrant hiring a guide.

After our tour, we agreed that this was an accurate assessment.

The museum examines ocean sailing from prehistory to the present day. The majority of the displays in the several thousand square meter space are composed of ship models. We found three direct references to slavery and the slave trade:

A sculpture of Robert Surcouf, a corsair who participated in illegal slave trading during the French Revolution,
A figurehead in the form of a Black man that was meant to represent the enslaved / soon to be enslaved populations of Africa and the French colonies with a model of the slave ship L'Aurore, and
A short film about Lafayette, which mentioned the Marquis' belief that in supporting the American Revolution, he was supporting the liberation of enslaved people in what was to become the United States.

Display - Navigation in Service of the Slave Trade
© Entrée to Black Paris

A single panel talked about France "opening up" to the Antilles and described the goods traded between the islands and Bordeaux. It mentioned the fact that Bordeaux citizens organized roughly 10% of France's slave trade.

On the upper floor of the museum, a loaned work entitled Bienvenue (Welcome) 2019 by Jean Rooble is displayed above the entrance to the permanent collection.

Bienvenue (Welcome), 2019 on upper level
Jean Rooble
© Entrée to Black Paris

In a room behind the display, there are enormous photographs inspired by Gericault's Raft of the Medusa. They address the challenges that migrants fleeing hunger and oppression face as they attempt to cross oceans and seas in search of a better life.

The Raft of Illusions
Gérard Rincinan
© Entrée to Black Paris

In the room that features Lafayette, there is a poster of President Barack Obama. It describes Obama as being the first head of state to contact France after the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris and the neighboring town of Saint-Denis and places this action in the context of the over 200 years of Franco-American friendship sealed by Lafayette's support of the American Revolution.

Obama info panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the third day of our visit, we toured a private museum called the Musée de l'Histoire Maritime de Bordeaux. M. Stéphane Binaud, the museum's founder, guided us through an impressive collection of ship models, nautical instruments, and artifacts belonging to Bordelais families.

This museum focuses on the maritime history of Bordeaux, including its crescent-shaped port, its access to two rivers, and its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. The displays that present Bordeaux's involvement in slavery and the slave trade were few, but they were packed with information.

M. Binaud spent considerable time talking with us about the construction of ships created specifically for transporting captives to the French colonies, the effect of competition among slave holding European countries on the decision by many Bordelais to prefer direct trade over the triangular trade, and the large number of Bordelais who owned the plantations and enslaved the people who produced the goods that were sent from Saint Domingue to France through the direct trade.

Cross section of slave ship model
© Entrée to Black Paris

He emphasized that during the 19th century, Saint Domingue—which was dominated by Bordelais plantation owners—was the largest producer of coffee in the world.

Coffee and cocoa bean display
© Entrée to Black Paris

This museum also has a display featuring Lafayette and his support of the American Revolution.

I was surprised to see a display that featured Bordeaux's dominance in the peanut trade that resulted from two Bordelais brothers establishing trading posts in Senegal in the 19th century.

Bordeaux and peanuts display
© Entrée to Black Paris

The fortune they amassed depended in part on forced labor and other exploitative practices that existed in colonial Senegal.

Come back next week for Part 2 of this article, which will present the walking tours we took with Mémoires et Partages.

Melvin Edwards Retrospective and Echo Delay Reverb at the Palais de Tokyo

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Signage for Echo Delay Reverb
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Thursday, October 23, 2025, two enormous exhibitions opened in the Palais de Tokyo as the art center renews its carte blanche format with a project conceived by Naomi Beckworth, Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation.

Melvin Edwards takes a look at the 60-year career of sculptor Melvin Edwards.

The Houston, TX-born artist is best known for his large-scale abstract sculptures, such as Augusta and Felton, and his Lynch Fragments. Both bear witness to his love of metalwork and welding.

Augusta, 1974
Melvin Edwards
Painted steel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Felton, 1974
Melvin Edwards
Painted steel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lynch Fragments is a series of wall-mounted assemblages of welded industrial objects and materials.

Lynch Fragments series
Melvin Edwards
© Entrée to Black Paris

In his interview with curator Amandine Nana, Edwards describes them as representing "the social and political reality that my family and I had lived through." He made a conscious decision to keep the works between 12 and 18 inches in diameter and have them hung at eye level, "as if looking at a face."

Kasangadila: For Francisco Romão de Oliveira e Silva (Lynch Fragment), 2004
Melvin Edwards
Welded steel
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition also includes monumental outdoor sculptures, installations built with barbed wire and chains, and several prints and watercolors displayed in a small room adjacent to them.

Homage to the Poet Leon-Gontran Damas, 1978-1981
Melvin Edwards
Steel, in five parts
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lines for the Poet, 1970
Melvin Edwards
Barbed wire and stainless steel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Watercolors
Melvin Edwards
© Entrée to Black Paris

Several works in the show represent Edwards' collaborations with writers such as Edouard Glissant, Léon-Gontran Damas, and Jayne Cortez.

In 1970, Edwards was the first African-American sculptor to receive a solo show at the Whitney Museum in New York. He currently works in Baltimore, New York, and Dakar.

A door at the right side of the curved room in which Edwards' work is displayed leads to Echo Delay Reverb: American Art, Francophone Thought—an expansive and eclectic show that "retraced how Francophone critical thought electrified American universities and the art scene from the 1970s onward."

Entrance to Echo Delay Reverb
© Entrée to Black Paris

Curated by Naomi Beckwith, this exhibition brings together the work of ~60 creatives to shine a light on how art in the United States became a driving force for revolutionary thought, inspiring writers, artists, and activists—to challenge boundaries and reimagine the world.

It connects the ideas of thinkers whose work continues to shape conversations about identity, freedom, and resistance. When these ideas reached the U.S., they were transformed in unexpected ways, sparking new creative movements that questioned both social and artistic institutions.

Among the Black writers and philosophers cited in the exhibition are Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Roussi-Césaire, Edouard Glissant, and Franz Fanon.

Photo of Aimé Césaire and Suzanne Roussi-Césaire
"Non-human Geographies" section of Echo Delay Reverb
© Entrée to Black Paris

All artistic media are represented in the exhibition, including paintings, videos, and sound installations.

A singular work by Glenn Ligon features a passage from James Baldwin's essay, "Stranger in the Village."

Mirror #4, 2006
Glenn Ligon
Silkscreen, coal dust, acrylic, and oil stick on canvas

For me, the most unique work was a "candy spill" by Félix Gonzales -Torres, which consisted of a pile of individually wrapped licorice candies placed in a corner of one of the rooms in the "Dispersion, dissemination" section of the exhibition.

Visitors are invited to take candies from the pile, thereby "activating" the work and contributing to its dispersion.

Untitled (Public Opinion), 1991
Félix Gonzales -Torres
Black licorice candies individually wrapped in cellophane

To round out her carte blanche project, Beckwith commissioned a mural that accompanies the Melvin Edwards and Echo Delay Reverb exhibitions.

Within the Veil, A Grammar by Caroline Kent is displayed on either side of the central staircase in the free access entrance hall. It is an abstract work with some three-dimensional elements that is described as imagining "a cryptic language with its own grammar, syntax, punctuation, and diacritical marks" and "reconnecting with abstraction's aspirations to create a language that is both unique and universal."

Within the Veil, A Grammar, 2025
Caroline Kent
Multimedia mural

Melvin Edwards, Echo Delay Reverb, Within the Veil, and A Grammar will be on display through February 25, 2026.

To learn more and purchase tickets, click HERE.

A New Chapter Begins

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Monique delivering commencement address at Paris College of Art
Image courtesy of Paris College of Art

For most of my professional life, I have delivered speeches from stages around the world.

Over the years, my topics have ranged from veterinary pathology to time management to life balance for high-achieving women leaders.

But, unfailingly, I find that I get the most joy—and audiences receive the most inspiration—when I speak about the influence that the presence of Black people in Paris has had, and continues to have, on French culture.

When I was asked to deliver the keynote commencement address for the graduating class of 2024 at the Paris College of Art, I was thrilled to craft an inspirational talk on the power of art and the power of artists, viewed through the lens of Paris expatriate Beauford Delaney's life and œuvre.

The audience's reception of the speech was overwhelmingly positive, and at that moment, I realized that my passion for connecting art, history, and the Black experience was not just meaningful—it was my calling.

After three months of intensive training offered by HeartPowered Business, I am ready to “step up my game” as a professional speaker. The program helped me refine not only my delivery, but also my storytelling—enriching how I connect with audiences through themes of culture, creativity, and Black excellence.

Left to right: Certificate of Recognition for Pro Speaker Launch program
and Monique Y. Wells at the Louvre

Whether presenting as a keynote speaker, moderator, panelist, or Master of Ceremonies, my goal is to educate and inspire audiences about the breadth and depth of African diaspora history, culture, and contemporary life in Paris.

Monique presenting at 2025 Paris Noir colloquium
Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac
© Entrée to Black Paris

Within that broad topic, I LOVE speaking about Beauford Delaney—the brilliant figurative and Abstract Expressionist artist from Knoxville, TN who spent the last 26 years of his life in Paris.

Portrait of Beauford Delaney
(1953) Carl Van Vechten
Image in public domain

Monique presenting at GeoSym 2025 symposium
University of Tennessee Knoxville
© Entrée to Black Paris

Beauford's life and art have positively impacted the world in countless ways, beginning with the profound influence he had on one of our greatest writers—James Baldwin.

Through the U.S. nonprofit organization, the Wells International Foundation (WIF), elementary school children from Paris and Knoxville began learning each other's language and even came together in person in Paris through a curriculum based entirely on his life and art.

Artwork by students from Jean Zay Elementary School in Paris
© Wells International Foundation

Contemporary artists write poetry and compose music inspired by him.

His life in Paris is the focus of a new study abroad program that is being developed at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

(I also love speaking about the value of international travel and study abroad.)

And through its five-year collaboration with Entrée to Black Paris on the ETBP Cultural Awareness Program, WIF is seeking to establish a network of Beauford Delaney Scholars as part of its 10th anniversary initiatives.

I believe everyone can be moved by at least one element of Beauford's story and inspired by how his life and work have already positively influenced the lives of so many.

As I step into this next chapter of my speaking journey, I carry forward the same passion that has guided me throughout my years at Entrée to Black Paris—the desire to connect people through the narratives and artistic achievements of the African diaspora in Paris.

This moment isn’t simply about refining my stage presence or expanding my repertoire.

It’s about deepening my commitment to sharing the stories of Beauford Delaney, James Baldwin, and countless other Black expatriates who found a home—who made a home—in the City of Light. Their courage and creativity remind me that Black history is not a footnote—it’s a foundation.

Photograph of James Baldwin and Beauford Delaney, circa 1950s.
The Beauford Delaney Papers, MS.3967,
Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire.

Whether I am addressing a global audience from the stage, moderating a panel, or leading a cultural awareness program, my goal remains the same: to inspire transformation through storytelling that enlightens, uplifts, and celebrates Black excellence.

If your organization seeks a keynote speaker, moderator, or program that explores and honors the depth and dynamism of Black presence in Paris and beyond, I invite you to connect with me to explore how we can collaborate. I would be honored to bring that experience to your stage.

Monique speaking from the stage
Image courtesy of United Airlines

Together, we can ensure these stories continue to educate, empower, and illuminate the world.

Celebrating Josephine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Josephine Baker by Henri Manuel
Image in public domain

The year 2025 marks two important milestones for Josephine Baker—the 100th anniversary of her Paris début and the 50th anniversary of her death in a Paris hospital.

La Revue Nègre - the show that catapulted Josephine Baker to international stardom - opened at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on October 2, 1925.

Josephine Baker and Joe Alex in "La Danse Sauvage" in La Revue Nègre
Image in public domain

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of this auspicious occasion, the theater organized three events—a dance performance by Germaine Acogny, an evening of song with mezzo-soprano Adèle Charvet, and a gala featuring music and dance.

Jean-Pierre Hadida, producer/director of Joséphine Baker, Le Musical, has created a new edition of the show to commemorate the 50 years that have passed since Baker's death on April 12, 1975.

Joséphine Baker, Le Musical 50th anniversary flier

Entrée to Black Paris joins in the commemoration by sharing links to several articles we have published about Baker over the years.

Studying Josephine (2024)

Visiting Josephine's Cenotaph at the Pantheon (2022)

Josephine Baker le musical (2022)

Josephine's Glorious Entry into the Pantheon (2021)

What's New at Josephine's House (2017)

Josephine Baker's Heyday - The 1930s (2017)

Renovations at Josephine Baker's Villa Le Beau Chêne (2014)

Josephine's Suburban Paradise - Le Beau Chêne (2013)

Josephine Baker at Paris en Chansons Exhibition (2012)

I hope you enjoy them!

Josephine Baker by Harcourt (1939)
Image in public domain

Kim Dacres at the Zidoun & Bossuyt Gallery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Kim Dacres poses with several works
© Entrée to Black Paris

I saw my first Kim Dacres sculpture at the Zidoun & Bossuyt Gallery's PERSPECTIVE exhibition in February 2025.

Des, 2023 completely captivated me, and I resolved to learn more about the artist.

So, I was thrilled when I was informed that Zidoun & Bossuyt was hosting a solo show by Dacres, and I hastened to the opening.

Zidoun Bossuyt Gallery façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dacres is a first-generation American sculptor of Jamaican descent, and Crossroads Like This is her first solo exhibition in France. The title of the show reflects two themes: one draws on the Jamaican idiom of “crosses,” meaning bad luck or bad intentions and the other refers to the figurative meaning of arriving at a critical point in life where a decision must be made.

The exhibition features eleven works created in the artist's signature media - rubber salvaged from car, bike, motorcycle, and scooter tires; inner tubes; bicycle gears and chains; screws; and spray paint.

Busts either sit atop wooden blocks of varying heights or rest on stands made from wood or tightly coiled tire rubber encased in rubber.

Shelly Ann, Walk Like a Champion (Braids, top hat, silver earrings), 2025
Found auto, scooter, and bicycle rubber, hand braided inner tubes, zipties,
bicycle parts, fender washers, rubber washers, wood, screws, and
spray painted bust mounted stained oak plinth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Nadine, Nuff a dem a pose like a dem run di world, 2025
Found auto and bicycle rubber, hand braided inner tubes, zipties,
bicycle parts, fender washer, rubber washers, wood, screws, and
spray painted bust mounted on pressure treated wood,
metal fence post base, and rubber plinth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dacres pays particular attention to hairstyles in her work. These alone are enough to completely absorb a visitor's attention.

Nadine, Nuff a dem a pose like a dem run di world, 2025
Detail - cornrows
© Entrée to Black Paris

Romie, No Bad Mind Me (Coiled Hair), 2025
Found auto and bicycle rubber, hand coiled inner tubes, wood,
screws, and spray painted bust mounted on stained oak plinth
© Entrée to Black Paris

She titles her works using a person's name and a Jamaican patois phrase that references Jamaican dancehall music. A list that presents these names and translations of the phrases is mounted on the wall at the rear of the main room of the gallery.

Artwork title translations
© Entrée to Black Paris

I had the pleasure of meeting Dacres at the opening. Outgoing and expressive, she was more than happy to talk about her creative practice and inspiration.

Her mother came to Paris for the exhibition, and I got to meet her as well.

L to R: Kim Dacres and her mother
© Entrée to Black Paris

Crossroads Like This will be on display through November 1, 2025.

Zidoun & Bossuyt
51 rue de Seine
75006 Paris
Metro: Mabillon (Line 10)
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11 AM to 6 PM

To learn more about Kim Dacres' personal life, artistic practice, and views on contemporary art, listen to her September 2024 interview on CerebralWomen.com.

Art and Food Pairing™: Philemona Williamson at Semiose Gallery and Big Black Cook - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Sweet Chicken at Big Black Cook
© Entrée to Black Paris

Read Part I of this Art and Food Pairing™ article HERE.

Using Google, Tom and I identified a Senegalese restaurant near Semiose Gallery and were looking forward to having lunch there after visiting the Lopsided exhibition by Philemona Williamson.

It turned out that the listing was completely erroneous – we not only found no restaurant at the location indicated but also discovered that the address didn’t exist!

I pulled out my cell phone on the spot and did another search for African and Afro-Caribbean restaurants in the vicinity.

We found that Big Black Cook on rue Tiquetonne was a ten-minute walk away.

Remembering that we had enjoyed a meal there a couple of years ago, we headed there immediately.

On the way, we realized that it was only a five-minute walk from Semiose Gallery.

The original address of the restaurant was 7, rue Tiquetonne. We walked there, guided by a large vertical sign that hangs above this address, and found the interior completely gutted.

We were understandably disappointed and were ready to abandon the second leg of our Art and Food Pairing™ adventure when we saw a sign in the window that referred customers to 5, rue Tiquetonne.

Walking back to that address, which we had passed without noticing because we were focused on the vertical sign at Number 7, we found Big Black Cook open for business with several tables already occupied.

Big Black Cook façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tall, pressed wood tables and black lacquered stools line the cream-colored stone wall on one side of the restaurant’s single dining room.

Tall tables and chairs
© Entrée to Black Paris

The dark pressed wood tables on the other side are of normal height, and the chairs and stools around them are made of metal. The words “caribbean madness” in pink neon adorn the wall there.

“caribbean madness”
© Entrée to Black Paris

Perusing the menu, which is printed in French and English, Tom and I decided to purchase Sweet Chicken as our main dish.

Big Black Cook English-language menu
© Entrée to Black Paris

Described as a “family recipe of boneless chicken thighs with sweet & chili sauce and peanuts,” it arrived on ceramic dishes containing a mound of long grain rice topped with shredded chicken in a sweet sauce that was dusted with crumbled peanuts and garnished with chopped fresh green onions.

Sweet chicken
© Entrée to Black Paris

We decided to split side orders of vegetarian accras (served with a small container of sauce chien – a condiment containing onions, garlic, vegetable oil, water, chile peppers, salt and pepper) and fried plantains, and we ordered Caribbean blond beers to wash everything down.

Vegetarian accras
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fried plantains
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lorraine – a blond beer from Martinique
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sweet chicken is noted on the menu as being spicy, but we could barely detect the chiles used to prepare the sauce for this dish. We also found the sauce chien to be quite tame.

Still, we enjoyed our meal.

I ordered a bottle of Lorraine beer from Martinique, and Tom ordered a bottle of Corsaire beer from Guadeloupe. We agreed that we preferred Corsaire to Lorraine, as we found this blond brew to have more flavor.

Neither of us ordered dessert.

Tom finished his entire meal, but I became full quite quickly and elected to take the remaining portion of my food home to enjoy later.

As we paid the bill, we inquired about the renovation at Number 7 and were told that the restaurant still occupies the property and will open a “new concept” at that address.

The dining room at Big Black Cook is wheelchair accessible, but access to the toilets is not possible.

Big Black Cook
5, rue Tiquetonne
75002 Paris
Metro: Etienne Marcel (Line 4)
Hours: Sunday through Saturday 12:00 pm – 10 pm (sit down and takeout)

Art and Food Pairing™: Philemona Williamson at Semiose Gallery and Big Black Cook - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Partial view of exhibition room for Philemona Williamson's Lopsided
© Entrée to Black Paris

It's been over a year since I published an Art and Food Pairing™, where I couple a visit to an art exhibition with a visit to an African / African diaspora restaurant. I hope you enjoy this one!

Thanks to Phyllis Hollis, creator of the Cerebral Women podcast, I learned about the Semiose Gallery and Lopsided—an exhibition of paintings by Philemona Williamson.

Semiose is a contemporary art gallery located at 44, rue Quincampoix in the 4th arrondissement, about five minutes walk from the Centre Pompidou.

It can be found in a courtyard that is accessed after walking past through a passage flanked on the left by the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles and on the right by an ominous work of art by the Belgian sculptor Félix Roulin (1979) that depicts bodies emerging from a decaying wall.

Semiose Gallery - signage on rue Quincampoix
© Entrée to Black Paris

Semiose - courtyard entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

The gallery is spacious. Visitors will find all but one of Williamson's nine paintings in its first room.

First exhibition room at Semiose
© Entrée to Black Paris

Five works by Philemona Williamson
© Entrée to Black Paris

Three works by Philemona Williamson
© Entrée to Black Paris

The ninth painting, which appears to be the largest of the works in the show, hangs in a private space near the rear of the gallery.

Painting by Philemona Williamson in office
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lopsided is on display along with an exhibition of much larger works (The Nature Poem) by Laurent Proux. You cannot fail to see them when you wander toward the back of the gallery to catch a glimpse of Williamson's ninth work.

I was disappointed that no information about individual works (name, date of creation, media used) was displayed.

I wanted to learn more about the work that depicts two girls astride a merry-go-round pony. They appear to be framed by vibrant purple sunflowers.

What look like almost amorphous hand puppets frame the face of the bare-breasted girl who appears to survey whomever is in the exhibition room.

Painting by Philemona Williamson
© Entrée to Black Paris

I did not have much time to peruse the works, and the staff person who appeared to be responsible for greeting visitors remained engaged in an intense conversation with a gentleman visitor the entire time I was there.

English- and French-language versions of a press release about the exhibition were available to the right of the gallery entrance.

Books from Semiose's series entitled Corpus Painting were on display in the second room of the gallery, which is where the reception area is located.

One of these books is devoted to Williamson.

Corpus Painting Philemona Williamson
© Entrée to Black Paris

The sixth volume of the collection, Corpus Painting Philemona Williamson presents 30 of the artist's paintings. Presumably, the nine works on display in Lopsided are among them.

Williamson has a fascinating story, having spent the first several years of her life in the sumptuous NYC apartment of a family that hired her parents as domestic workers. Her experiences growing up with this family, which included teenage girls who treated Williamson like their little sister, influence the art she creates today.

Adrienne L. Childs, Senior Consulting Curator at the Phillips Collection, describes Williamson's work as "fragments of memories and fantasies that form their own compelling yet destabilizing universe."

Semiose represents Williamson in Paris and has previously shown her work in a solo exhibition called The Borders of Innocence in 2023 and a group show called The Minotaur's Daydream in 2023.

Lopsided will be on display through October 11, 2025.

Semiose
44, rue Quincampoix
75004 Paris
Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM and by appointment
Metro: Hôtel de Ville (Line 1), Châtelet-Les Halles (Lines 1, 4, 7, 11, 14), and Rambuteau (Line 11)

Listen to Williamson's interview with Phyllis Hollis on Cerebral Women HERE.

And come back to the ETBP blog next week to read about Big Black Cook—an Afro-Caribbean restaurant about a 10-minute walk from Semiose.

Entrée to Black Paris published its first Art and Food Pairing™ article in February 2011.

WAX! at the Musée de l'Homme

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: View of exhibition entrance from 2nd floor
© Entrée to Black Paris

For years, I have talked about the history and popularity of wax fabrics in Africa during the Entrée to Black Paris Spirit of Africa walking tour.

So, I was thrilled when I learned that the Musée de l'Homme was hosting an exhibition that delved deeply into this topic.

I spent several hours at the exhibition last weekend, and I was not disappointed.

The museum has devoted considerable space on two floors to this show.

First floor exhibition entrance and second floor display
© Entrée to Black Paris

Once you arrive at the first floor, you will find the entrance to the exhibition at the far end of an enormous room with wall panels that recount the history of the Musée de l'Homme.

Visitor at WAX!
© Entrée to Black Paris

The first level of the exhibition deals with the contemporary use of wax fabrics. You will find fashion designs, paintings, photographs, and art installations here.

Immediately upon entering, you will encounter a video of several fashion designers and visual artists responding to multiple questions about what the fabric means to them personally, how it figures into their work, and whether they consider the cloth "African."

Thandiwe Muriu talks about wax fabric
© Entrée to Black Paris

One of the interviewees was Gombo, a French man of Angolan/Congolese descent. Several of his works are shown on both floors of the exhibition.

I was happy to recognize one of Lamine M's designs from an exhibition that featured his work at the Saint Denis Basilica almost ten years ago.

Marguerite d'Artois (2015) by Lamine M
© Entrée to Black Paris

Marguerite d'Artois information panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lamine also contributed Série Ventilate, an installation composed of fan blades covered in wax fabric, to the show. You will find it in the section devoted to evaluating the effect that producing wax fabric has on the environment.

Série Ventilate (2015) by Lamine M
© Entrée to Black Paris

Black & white images by the iconic West African photographers Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keïta illustrate the popularity of wax fabric once it became affordable by the general population.

Untitled (The Seamstress) by Seydou Keïta
© Entrée to Black Paris

An installation at the far end of the first floor exhibition space represents the strips of fabric parents used to tie to their children's wrists while fleeing armed conflict as well as the cloth used to bundle and transport belongings during migrations.

La Toile by Sinzo Aanza (2021)
© Entrée to Black Paris

If you decided to use the stairs to get to the second level of the exhibition, you'll notice a vibrant stripe at the edge of the staircase that points you in the right direction.

Stairs to upper level of the exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Stripe indicating the direction of the exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entrance to Level 2 of the exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

This part of the exhibition presents the colonial history of wax fabric, information about several traditional African fabrics (including bogolan [mud cloth] and kente cloth), and numerous motifs that turn garments made from wax cloth into implements for storytelling.

Woman reads main information panel for Level 2 of the exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Traditional African fabrics
© Entrée to Black Paris

Information panel re: Bogolon cloth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Motifs
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le sac de Michelle Obama (Michelle Obama's purse)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le sac de Michelle Obama (Michelle Obama's purse) -
information panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

There is also information about the trade laws and tariffs that upended production of wax cloth in Africa and allowed inexpensive fabrics produced in China and India to flood the market as well as the different grades of fabric available for purchase today.

Panels from Wax Paradoxe, a graphic novel by Belgian journalist Justine Sow, presents the story of Vlisco, the Dutch firm that is currently the world's largest producer of wax fabrics.

Panel from Wax Paradoxe
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition ends with a display of garments that are worn in recognition of special occasions - marriages, childbirth, deaths, and political events.

WAX! will be on display through September 7, 2025.

Musée de l'Homme
17 Pl. du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre
75116 Paris
Metro: Trocadéro (Lines 6 and 9)
Full price entry is 15€; entry is free for those up to 26 years old.

Haiti Institute in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Awning at Haïti Market, 18th arrondissement (detail)
Original image courtesy of Tatiana Balabanis

Entrée to Black Paris has published several blog posts about Haïti in Paris over the years:

We Were Lied to about Haïti

Taste of Haiti: A Glimpse into the Haitian Community in Paris

Haïti at Home: La Cuisine Créole - Part 2

Haïti at Home: La Cuisine Créole - Part 1

Haïtian Art and Artists at Dorothy's Gallery

Today, we're featuring a bold new voice that celebrates Haïti’s heritage — the Institut Ayiti à Paris (Haiti Institute in Paris).

Founded in 2025, the institute's mission is to preserve and promote Haitian cultural heritage in France and Europe and to strengthen the historical ties between France and Haiti since Haiti's independence in 1804.

Intercultural dialogue is a priority - the institute intends to create opportunities for conversation among the Haitian diaspora, French and European citizens by hosting/supporting events that focus on art, literature, innovation, entrepreneurship, and intellectual exchange. It seeks to combat prejudices through knowledge and sharing of the history of France and Haiti and the richness of Haitian culture.

Flag map of Haïti
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Image in public domain

Institut Ayiti à Paris has four foundational pillars:

Culture and Heritage - Preserving and promoting Haitian cultural heritage

Education and Research - Providing educational resources and encouraging research on Haiti

Entrepreneurship and Economic Development - Supporting entrepreneurship and fostering economic development around Haiti

Cooperation and Civic Engagement - Participating in the development of equitable relationships between France and Haiti while encouraging cooperation and civic engagement for a better future.

To support its emphasis on education and research, the institute has a robust library that contains over 5,000 works on Haitian history, literature, and culture - including rare texts and first editions by classic Haitian authors - and a digital database of historical photographs, archival documents, and oral testimonies that are available for use by researchers and the public.

For teachers, it provides educational kits designed to introduce Haitian culture into French school curricula at all levels.

From June 25 - July 11, 2025, Institut Ayiti à Paris collaborated with the French nonprofit association Culture Pièces Détachées to present the fourth edition of Haïti Monde, a literary festival designed to foster dialogue between Haitian and world literature, while encouraging encounters between diverse perspectives and communities in a spirit of openness and respect.

The guests of honor were Gaël Octavia (author, playwright and painter, winner of the Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle 2025) and Jean Marie Théodat (geographer and essayist).

Institut d'Ayiti à Paris's headquarters is found at 2 bis, rue Dupont de l'Eure 75020 Paris.

For additional information about the institute (in French), click HERE.

Two Summer Jazz Festivals

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Joshua Redman at Paris Jazz Festival (detail)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Photographer: Comptoirduson
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Paris' two most popular jazz festivals take place during the summer.

Paris Jazz Festival

The 2025 edition of the Paris Jazz Festival opened on June 25, 2025 and runs through September 7, 2025.

Originally called À Fleur de Jazz (From Flower to Jazz) in reference the botanical garden in which it takes place, the festival has operated at the Parc Floral de Paris in the Bois de Vincennes in the 12th arrondissement since 1994.

It was re-baptized Paris Jazz Festival in 1998 and began to flourish when a dedicated performance space called l'Espace Delta was opened in 1999.

L'espace Delta at Parc Floral in the Parc Floral de Paris
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Photographer: DiscoA340
CC-BY-SA 4.0

For several years, the festival was devoted to showcasing only French jazz artists.

Now, musicians from around the world who perform jazz, blues, and world music are invited to take the stage each summer.

For the festival's 20th anniversary in 2014, the Joshua Redman Quartet gave the final performance on the evening of July 27.

Joshua Redman
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Photographer: Comptoirduson
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Paris Jazz Festival performances take place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The remaining line up for this year's festival is as follows:

August 16 at 4 PM - Monsieur MÂLÂ

August 24 at 4 PM - Tania Giannouli Trio

August 30 at 4 PM - Dafné Kritharas

September 7 at 4 PM - Nubiyan Twist

The park is open from 9:30 AM until 8:00 PM.

You must pay a nominal fee to enter (full price - 2.70 €; reduced price - 1.55 €; free for children up to 7 years old), but the concerts themselves are free.

Click here to purchase tickets on line (site in French).

Jazz à la Villette

This is the 23rd year that La Villette has hosted its summer jazz festival under the name Jazz à la Villette.

Metro ad for 2025 Jazz à La Villette festival
© Entrée to Black Paris

The history of the festival began in 1986, when it was organized under the name "Halle That Jazz" at the Grande Halle de la Villette.

Grande halle de la Villette - Paris XIX
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Photographer: Mbzt
CC-BY-SA 3.0

It solidified its reputation in 1991, when Miles Davis was the star attraction.

Click here to see an image of the promotional flier for the 1991 Halle That Jazz Festival.

An intermediary rendition of the event called La Villette Jazz Festival launched during the summer of 1996, following the merger between the Grande Halle and Parc de la Villette and the subsequent opening of the Cité de la Musique. It expanded the concept of Halle That Jazz to include outdoor concerts, a combination of free and paid events, and masterclasses for amateur musicians and young professionals.

But competition from the Paris Jazz Festival in the Parc Floral was fierce, and by 2001, the La Villette Jazz Festival was on the brink of demise.

Concerted effort by jazz musicians and public authorities brought new life to the festival, which was renamed Jazz à la Villette in 2002.

To minimize competition with the Paris Jazz Festival, Jazz à la Villette was scheduled to open during late summer. It offered fewer concerts, improved the acoustics at the venues where concerts were offered, and maintained educational activities as a focus of the festival.

In 2005, the festival expanded its programming even more, incorporating forums, discussions, and interviews into its offerings.

In 2007, it adopted the motto “Jazz is not dead" from Frank Zappa.

"Jazz is not dead" - detail of ad from 2023 Jazz à la Villette Festival
© Entrée to Black Paris

"Jazz is not dead" - detail of ad from 2025 Jazz à la Villette Festival
© Entrée to Black Paris

In 2009, it launched "Jazz à la Villette for Kids" to offer musical and creative adventures for children (adults enjoy these as well).

In 2014, it launched "Under the Radar"—programming that highlights unknown artists and special or experimental projects.

And in 2016, it launched its free "After Party" events in La Petite Halle de la Villette that prolong the excitement of the festival's evening concerts.

Today, Jazz à la Villette surpasses Paris Jazz Festival with regard to the number and variety of offerings available.

There is still little to no overlap in scheduling, which makes both festivals largely accessible for music aficionados.

Concerts and other activities take place at multiple venues at Parc de la Villette, including the Cité de la Musique and the Philharmonie de Paris.

This year's festival opens on August 28 and runs through September 7.

Click here to see the line-up in English and to purchase tickets.

In Search of Josephine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: 2019 FKDL mural of Josephine Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

In the article I posted last week about the new Josephine Baker mural by Franck Duval (aka FKDL) that graces the landscape of the 19th arrondissement, I mentioned that in 2019, the artist painted another mural of Josephine in the area.

Upon researching the location of this mural on a map, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was only a few blocks away from the new one.

So, last Sunday Tom and I headed back to the neighborhood to see if this first work was still in place and intact.

We took the metro to the Corentin Cariou station (Line 7) and began our walk through a peaceful neighborhood that we had never visited before.

As we made our way to Quai de la Gironde, which borders Canal de Saint Denis, we came across the abandoned railway called La Petite Ceinture

La Petite Ceinture crossing rue Dampierre
© Entrée to Black Paris

and a Caribbean street food establishment called Bamn'Bokit.

Banm'Bokit restaurant
© Entrée to Black Paris

Turning onto the quay and following it to its intersection with Quai de l'Oise and the Canal d'Ourcq, we crossed Canal d'Ourcq via a footbridge that flanked La Petite Ceinture and marveled at the foliage that has overtaken the rails.

La Petite Ceinture crossing Canal d'Ourcq
© Entrée to Black Paris

Looking up the canal, could see the Grands Moulins de Pantin in the distance.

Canal d'Ourcq looking toward Pantin
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we crossed the footbridge, we saw that we were only two blocks from the pub L'Atalante, where the new mural is found.

We proceeded down rue des Ardennes, which is bordered on one side by the vaulted stone wall that supports La Petite Ceinture, and turned right onto rue de Thionville.

The 2019 Josephine Baker mural is across the street from Number 32 on this street.

2019 FKDL mural of Josephine Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

To be sure, it is weather worn. It bears the traces of a dark liquid that dripped from an opening in the wall, and it has the remnants of a flier pasted on it.

But it has not been painted over and it has stood the test of time.

After taking photos of the mural, we retraced our steps to the Canal d'Ourcq and made our way to l'Atalante for lunch.

Along the way, we encountered multiple murals on quai de la Marne that bear witness to the many street art festivals that have been held in this area over the years.

BacktotheStreet photos affixed to 2019 mural by Zenoy
© Entrée to Black Paris

One of 37 BacktotheStreet photos affixed to mural by Zenoy
© Entrée to Black Paris

Commemorative mural for street artist Batsh (1975-2020)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mural by Jack Pionisci (beneath bridge) and
J'ai Deux Amours mural of Josephine Baker by FKCL
© Entrée to Black Paris

Even the dining room at L'Atlante boasts a mural by dAcRuZ, the organizer of the Ourcq Living Colors festival.

dAcRuZ mural in l'Atalante dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

We had a lovely lunch of burgers and fries and watched the beginning of the last stage of the Tour de France Femme on the large screen above the bar.

Look for a review of our meal next week on the Paris Insights restaurant review page.

The weather was perfect on the day we chose to make this excursion, and the neighborhoods we visited were quiet - most likely because the inhabitants had left town for vacation and tourists do not frequent this area.

All in all, our search for Josephine was a delightful experience!

Mural Honors Josephine Baker in Paris' 19th Arrondissement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Josephine Baker "J'ai Deux Amours" mural by FKDL
© Entrée to Black Paris

On July 19, 2025, a spectacular new visual tribute to Josephine Baker was inaugurated in Paris.

Street artist Franck Duval, aka FKDL, created a mural honoring Josephine as part of the Ourcq Living Colors street art festival.

The nonprofit association Cultures Pas Sages, whose mission is to promote, dissimulate, organize, and implement activities that celebrate cultural diversity, has organized the festival in the Ourcq quarter of the 19th arrondissement since 2012. FDKL has participated in the festival for a number of years, frequently depicting female figures in his work.

In this representation, Duval has dressed Josephine relatively casually. Her hands clutch a heart from which what look like roots extend outward and downward. Two lines from her signature song "J'ai Deux Amours" call forth the love that Josephine felt for the city that catapulted her to international stardom.

Josephine Baker mural
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was surprised to learn that this new mural, which is located next to L'Atalante restaurant at 26, quai de la Marne in the 19th arrondissement, is not the first that Duval has painted of Josephine.

Josephine Baker mural and l'Atalante restaurant
© Entrée to Black Paris

His 2019 mural, which he painted across the street from 32, rue de Thionville in the 19th arrondissement, may have been inspired by Josephine's music hall days.

A few months prior to creating this work, he painted a mural of Josephine in Brooklyn, NY!

FDKL is not the only street artist to depict Josephine on the Paris landscape.

Christian Guémy, aka C215, portrayed Josephine in a bas relief wrought iron sculpture on the façade of a building in the 13th arrondissement

Josephine Baker sculpture viewed at night
Christian Guémy (aka C215)
© Entrée to Black Paris

as well as on an electrical box in the 14th arrondissement as part of his series on women who were active in the French Resistance.

Josephine Baker - Résistantes series
Christian Guémy (aka C215)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Demoiselle MM depicted Josephine in a paste-up image in the 13th arrondissement.

Josephine Baker by Demoiselle MM
© Entrée to Black Paris

Unfortunately, the latter two images have been painted over.

Below are images of additional depictions of Josephine on Paris' streets (I do not know who the artists are or whether these works are still in place).

Postage stamp paste-up of Josephine Baker (20th arrondissement)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine Baker music box (5th arrondissement)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine Baker mosaid (5th arrondissement)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Africa News posted a video about the 2025 J'ai deux amours mural, including an interview with FKDL.

In it, you will see that the artist is painting over a mural to create his new homage to Josephine.

Hopefully, it will remain intact for years to come.

To see more of FKDL's work, click HERE.

Something New to Celebrate!

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Brown Girls International on the women-centric Luxembourg Garden walk
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the heels of the 15th anniversary of the Entrée to Black Paris blog (July 16, 2025), we have just learned that we attained Traveller's Choice status at TripAdvisor for the 4th consecutive year!

It has been and continues to be a great joy to bring you our tours as well as our blog.

Today, I'm sharing photos of just a few of the clients we have served over the years. (All images are © Entrée to Black Paris.)

Professor Jacqueline Goldsby on the James Baldwin in Paris walk

Going Global with Barbara students on the Black Paris after WWII walk

Marva Nathan's group on the Black Paris Pilgrimage walk

Theda and Xylena Chapman on the Pastry and Chocolate Walk

Samford University on the Josephine's Suburban Paradise walk

North Carolina A&T University on the Spirit of Africa walk

Washington & Lee University on the Retracing the Steps of Langston Hughes walk

Helen Forbes Fields' group at Galerie Intemporel

La Maison Baldwin Writers Conference on the Rendezvous Eighteenth walk

Terra Foundation group on the Beauford Delaney's Montparnasse walk

Gordon Parks Academy students on the Grandest of Avenues walk

Katrina Stack and Holly Mercer on the Beauford Delaney in Saint-Germain-des-Prés walk

Sharon Owens and Albert Tervalon on the
Black Images and Contemporary Artists at the Musée d'Orsay tour

Elaine Sciolino's group on the Black Images in European Art at the Louvre tour

Carol Sutton Lewis' group on the Montparnasse, the Artist's World walk

Lycée Edgar Faure students on the Richard Wright's Paris walk

Roger Williams University students on the In the Shadow of Montmartre walk

Lynette Brown Sow's group on the Black Pearl Walk

Find our tour listings here: Most Popular Walking Tours

and here: Other Black Paris Walking Tours

If you haven't joined Tom or me on one of our walking tours, we hope to see you in Paris soon!

Celebrating 15 Years of the Entrée to Black Paris Blog

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: First image in debut blog post - July 16, 2010
© Entrée to Black Paris

This week, Entrée to Black Paris proudly celebrates a milestone that fills us with gratitude and joy: 15 years of publishing the Entrée to Black Paris blog!

When we published our first blog post on July 16, 2010 (we were still Discover Paris! back then), we could not have imagined the extraordinary journey that lay ahead.

Screenshot of beginning of July 16, 2010 blog post

We started the blog as means of promoting our walking tours, which bring Black histories to life in the very spaces where they unfolded.

Monique Y. Wells and Brown Girls International at the Luxembourg Garden
© Entrée to Black Paris

It quickly evolved into a passion for researching and reporting on the incredible depth and breadth of Black presence in the City of Light.

In short, the blog became a labor of love.

Throughout the life of this publication, we have held to one guiding truth: Paris would not be the City of Light without the contributions of Africans and people of African descent.

Our aim has always been to focus attention on this often-overlooked aspect of the city and to make Black Paris visible — not as a separate narrative, but as an essential part of the city’s story.

We believe that knowing Paris includes acknowledging all who have built it, lived in it, and dreamed within it.

And we believe that Black Paris is for everyone — whether you’re discovering the city for the first time or deepening a lifelong connection.

Kentucky Institute for International Studies students at Galerie Intemporel
(Gallery owner Laurence Choko at far right)
© Discover Paris!

Over the past 15 years, we’ve taken you across Paris' 20 arrondissements, exploring Black history, culture, and contemporary life in off-the-beaten-track locations as well as major tourist attractions.

Signage for Promenade Jane and Paulette Nardal
© Entrée to Black Paris

We've reviewed exhibitions, covered festivals, offered restaurant recommendations, and reflected on the many ways that Black culture has shaped and continues to shape and elevate the Parisian landscape.

Signage for Louvre exhibition Meroë - un empire sur le Nil
© Entrée to Black Paris

We've also had the privilege of sharing exclusive interviews with individuals who contribute to the rich, living heritage of the African and Afro-descendant communities of the French capital.

Samuel Akins
Image by Jeff Brohier

Thanks to the support of our readers, the ETBP blog has become a cultural archive, a travel companion, and a conversation partner for those who believe that Black stories matter everywhere—especially in places where they’ve long been overlooked or erased.

To each of you who has read, shared, commented on, or taught from our blog—merci ! We thank you!

Your interest and encouragement have affirmed the value of our work.

We’ve drawn strength and inspiration from your support — from long-time followers who’ve been with us since 2010, to newer readers just beginning to explore this aspect of Parisian life.

As we enter our 16th year, we're energized by the possibilities that lie ahead.

We remain dedicated to:

Exploring untold stories of the African diaspora in Paris
Uplifting contemporary Black voices living and creating in France
Providing meaningful experiences for those who want to see Paris "beyond the postcard"
Preserving the cultural memory of Black Paris for generations to come

We invite you to celebrate this moment with us by exploring the archive, revisiting your favorite posts, and sharing our work with others.

You are part of this journey.

If you've joined us on a tour, read something here that moved you, or deepened your understanding of Black history through this platform—we would love to hear from you.

Write to us at paris@entreetoblackparis.com and tell us about your experience with us.

With your permission, we'll share it on our social media platforms with heartfelt thanks!

"Panama" Al Brown and the Dakar-Djibouti Mission

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: "Panama" Al Brown - 1926 - cropped
Press photo in the public domain

The Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac is currently hosting Mission Dakar-Djibouti [1931-1933]: Contre-Enquêtes (Dakar-Djibouti [1931-1933]: Counter Investigations), an exhibition that provides a fresh perspective on Africa's colonial history.

Mission Dakar-Djibouti exhibition flier

The (now defunct) Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadero organized the transcontinental exploration of 14 countries* from the Atlantic Ocean (Dakar) to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (Djibouti) with the intent to document African cultures that were supposedly disappearing due to colonization.

It was meant to enrich the collections of the museum and to promote the science of French ethnology through what were considered to be innovative field research methods.

Palais du Trocadéro
Home of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro
Photo in public domain

The mission raised many ethical questions, particularly concerning the conditions under which thousands of objects and natural specimens (including several human remains) were acquired and housed/displayed at the museum.

Michel Leiris, secretary of the mission, fueled these questions through information published in his personal diary - L'Afrique fantôme** - after his return to France.

The current exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly presents work conducted by a team of researchers from several African countries and France who have been collectively undertaking a re-examination of the Dakar-Djibouti mission since 2021. Prioritizing African perspectives and current knowledge, it examines the acquisition conditions and the narratives generated during the two-year expedition.

The Dakar-Djibouti mission was quite an expensive undertaking. It was supported in part by an extravaganza of eight boxing matches held at the Cirque d'Hiver on April 15, 1931.

Cirque d'Hiver (c. 1925)
Image source: Circopedia.org
CC-BY-NC-ND- 3.0 US

The main draw was a bout between world bantamweight champion Alfonso (Panama Al) Brown and French featherweight champion, Roger Simendé.

Georges Henri Rivière, who was deputy director of the museum, organized the evening. He and Brown were friends, and he persuaded Brown to donate his purse to the mission.

(Professor Bennetta Jules-Rosette reports that Rivière also organized an improvised boxing match between Brown and Josephine Baker, which was refereed by actor/stuntman/songwriter Roland Toutain and photographed by the press in support of the expedition.)

According to biographer Eduardo Arroyo, an image of Brown's head, crowned by a map of Africa, graced the cover of the program.

Brown addressed the sold-out crowd in English to express his support for the expedition, saying that he was boxing for the development of the culture and knowledge of Africa.

"Panama" Al Brown - 1926
Press photo in the public domain

Uniformed guards from the Trocadéro were stationed at the four corners of the ring.

The fight did not last long - Brown knocked Simendé out 30 seconds into the third round. True to his word, he donated every centime of his winnings - 101 335 FF (roughly 15,450 euros at today's exchange rate) to the expedition.

The funds were reportedly used to purchase a boat.

The match inspired American poet E. E. Cummings to write a collage poem called "ondumonde," which takes its title from the words "champion du monde" (world champion). First published in 1932, this work describes Brown and the happenings of the bout. Professor Michael Webster extensively explores the poem and the story behind it in an article called "'Floating Particles of Paper' : E. E. Cummings' Collage Poems."

Interestingly, I have not been able to find a single image of the program or a single photo of the opening announcements, the boxing matches (real or improvised), or the individual boxers taken during this event.

I have not yet visited the Musée du quai Branly to see the Mission Dakar-Djibouti exhibition. It will be interesting to see how much, if any, information is presented about the funding of the expedition.

Mission Dakar-Djibouti [1931-1933]: Contre-Enquêtes runs through September 14, 2025.

*Senegal, French Sudan (present-day Mali), Upper Volta (present-day Burkina Faso), Dahomey (present-day Benin), Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Ubangi-Shari (present-day Central African Republic), Belgian Congo (present-day Democratic Republic of Congo), Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (present-day South Sudan and Sudan), Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the French Somaliland (present-day Djibouti)

**Click HERE to find the English-language translation of L'Afrique Fantôme, entitled Phantom Africa, by Professor Brent Hayes Edwards.

Barbara Chase-Riboud's Africa Rising II at the Tuileries Garden

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Africa Rising II at the Tuileries Garden
© Entrée to Black Paris

In the wake of her unprecedented eight-museum exhibition entitled Quand un nœud est dénoué, un dieu est libéré (Everytime A Knot is Undone, A God is Released), Barbara Chase-Riboud is enjoying yet another prestigious display of her work.

This time, it consists of the first public viewing of a single sculpture in one of the tree-lined green spaces at the Jardin des Tuileries in central Paris.

Africa Rising II is a new version of Chase-Riboud's original, monumental bronze sculpture entitled Africa Rising that was commissioned by the U.S. General Services Adminstration to commemorate the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan. Chase-Riboud received the commission in 1996; her sculpture was installed in the lobby of the Ted Weiss Federal Building in 1998.

Africa Rising (2007)
Lobby of Ted Weiss Federal Building
Carol M. Highsmith Archive
Library of Congress
Public Domain

Frontal view of Africa Rising (2007)
Lobby of Ted Weiss Federal Building
Carol M. Highsmith Archive
Library of Congress
Public Domain

Like its namesake, Africa Rising II is made of bronze. It is the lone sculpture in one of the patches of greenery that lie next to the Tuileries Garden's central alley.

From the alley, you will see the enormous information panels on the grass. In French and in English, they present information about the sculpture and an excerpt from Chase-Riboud's epic 1988 poem, "Africa Rising."

Africa Rising II and information panels
© Entrée to Black Paris

Information panels - excerpt from "Africa Rising"
© Entrée to Black Paris

The best views of the sculpture are from the paths that intersect the central alley.

Africa Rising II - left lateral view
© Entrée to Black Paris

Africa Rising II - right lateral view
© Entrée to Black Paris

Walking and sitting on the grass are not allowed in this area, so you will need a telephoto lens to clearly see the details of the sculpture.

Africa Rising II - frontal view
© Entrée to Black Paris

Africa Rising II - rear view
© Entrée to Black Paris

Africa Rising II is smaller and less elaborate than the original sculpture. It is 3.75 meters (12.3 feet) tall, compared to 4.7 meters (15.4 feet) for the original work.

It has one level of cascading ribbons beneath the figure standing on the concave surface that has been interpreted as an African head rest as well as the prow of a ship.

The figure itself is an amalgamation of the Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Louvre and Saartjie (Sarah) Baartmann (1789 - 1815 [some sources say 1816]), the South African woman who was exhibited as an "exotic curiosity" while she was alive and whose remains were displayed at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris for over 150 years after her death.

The convex surface of the original sculpture has become the base of Africa Rising II; the intricate rendering of ropes in bronze in Africa Rising are not present in this version of the work.

Still, Africa Rising II is utterly majestic and more than worth a visit to the garden to see.

Africa Rising II - right oblique close-up view
© Musée du Louvre. 2025. Audrey Viger

Visitors are well advised to consult a map of the garden to be certain to find the specific location (though wandering throughout the garden and seeing all the delightful installations would also be time well spent!).

Map of the Jardin des Tuileries
(See red circle for location of Africa Rising II)
© Entrée to Black Paris

If you are walking along the central alley toward the obelisk at Place de la Concorde, the sculpture will be on your left.

Central alleyway - view of the obelisk at Place de la Concorde
© Entrée to Black Paris

If you are walking along the alley toward the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics cauldron, the sculpture will be on your right.

Central alleyway - view of the Olympics cauldron
© Entrée to Black Paris

Africa Rising II will be on display in the garden through September 10, 2025.

AFRICA NOW at Galeries Lafayette

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: AFRICA NOW at Galeries Lafayette
© Entrée to Black Paris

Through July 8, 2025, Galeries Lafayette is celebrating African fashion with its AFRICA NOW pop-up store.

Apparel and accessories from the Spring-Summer collections of multiple established and emerging African designers are available for purchase in a dedicated 90 square-meter (~969 square-foot) space on the third floor of Galeries Lafayette's main building on boulevard Haussmann.

Africa Now - Apparel and Accessories
© Entrée to Black Paris

Four of the designers are supported by the “CANEX Presents Africa” program. Launched by Afreximbank in collaboration with Tranoï, the Paris Fashion Week trade show, “CANEX Presents Africa” offers a unique platform for African designers while enhancing their international visibility and access to financing, production, trade, and investment opportunities in the creative industries—especially fashion.

CANEX* x TRANOI designers

Founded in 2020 by David Kusi Boye-Doe, BOYEDOE is inspired by the mythical Ghanaian bird Sankofa. A socially responsible and environmentally conscious brand, it is a semi-finalist for the prestigious LVMH Prize.

Boyedoe
© Entrée to Black Paris

LATE FOR WORK represents the creative vision of Youssef Drissi, a young Moroccan designer who is a graduate of Casablanca’s Casa Mode Academy and a winner of the title of Best Young Designer in Africa prize (FIMA 2018).

Late for Work
© Entrée to Black Paris

We Are NBO is a handmade jewelry brand based in Nairobi. Designer Michael Nguthu collaborates with talented and highly skilled artisans, often from marginalized backgrounds, to create the 24K gold-plated pieces offered by the company.

We Are NBO display table
© Entrée to Black Paris

We Are NBO bracelets and earrings
© Entrée to Black Paris

We Are NBO earrings
© Entrée to Black Paris

WUMAN is a contemporary unisex art and fashion brand founded by Ekwerike Chukwuma and operated between Lagos, Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The designer draws his inspiration from the feminine form.

Wuman
© Entrée to Black Paris

Galeries Lafayette asked partner organizations Adama Paris and Africa Fashion Up x Studio Ka to select additional designers to be represented in the pop-up.

ADAMA PARIS designers

ADAMA PARIS is a women's fashion brand created by Kinshasa-born Adama Amanda Ndiaye for the modern, elegant woman.

Adama Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris

SISTERS OF AFRIKA, founded by sisters Jeanne and Hélène Diouf, relies on a network of Senegalese weavers, dyers, and women's collectives to produce its designs.

Sisters of Afrika
© Entrée to Black Paris

IBRAHIM FERNANDEZ is a high-end "Made in Abidjan" brand of ready-to-wear and custom-made clothing.

Ibrahim Fernandez
© Entrée to Black Paris

NENE YAYA is a high-end Senegalese fashion accessories brand founded by sisters Marième and Néné Yaya.

Néné Yaya
© Entrée to Black Paris

AFRICA FASHION UP x STUDIO KA designers

COLLÉ SOW ARDO, "Queen of the Woven Pagne," creates apparel and accessories with fabrics crafted by Senegalese artisans.

Collé Sow Ardo
© Entrée to Black Paris

ALGUEYE DAKAR designs modern and culturally-inspired clothing for men and women.

Algueye
© Entrée to Black Paris

BANDAMA, a fashion brand based in Abidjan, takes its name from the river that flows through the Ivory Coast from north to south.

Bandama
© Entrée to Black Paris

For more information on the pop-up, visit Galeries Lafayette's Web page HERE.

*CANEX = Creative Africa Nexus

GALERIES LAFAYETTE PARIS HAUSSMANN
40 boulevard Haussmann
3rd floor - Main store
75009 PARIS
Hours: Monday to Sunday from 10 AM to 8:30 PM
Metro: Chaussée d'Antin La Fayette (Lines 7 and 9)

Juneteenth in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: SISTERS announcement for 1995 Juneteenth event

Today is Juneteenth, a day that honors the moment on June 19, 1865, when Union Army Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce that enslaved people in Texas were free—enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln nearly two years earlier.

The order stated:

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."

Texas Map
GDJ (Source: Pixabay)

Celebrations of Emancipation Day (aka Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, and Black Independence Day) have been taking place in Texas since 1866, and the tradition spread across the U.S. with the migration of freed Texans to other parts of the country. Juneteenth was made an official state holiday in 1980.

As a native Texan, I applauded President Joe Biden's signature on the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in 2021, which officially made June 19 a national holiday.

To the best of my knowledge, the first Juneteenth celebration in Paris took place in 1994, when the French nonprofit association called SISTERS (founded in 1993) organized a dinner at Haynes' restaurant.

As treasurer of the first board of directors for the organization, I suggested that we celebrate Juneteenth and was surprised when no one had heard of it.

When I explained the significance of the day, everyone immediately agreed that organizing an event of some kind was in order.

1994 SISTERS Juneteenth dinner invitation

SISTERS organized multiple Juneteenth events in subsequent years and began to mention their celebrations under "SISTERS Annual Events" in their promotion materials for membership drives.

1995 SISTERS Juneteenth invitation - dinner and entertainment

SISTERS membership flier

Democrats Abroad now organizes its own Juneteenth events.

Democrats Abroad 2023 Juneteenth announcement

Democrats Abroad 2024 Juneteenth announcement

This year's Democrats Abroad event is being cosponsored by Sistahs Circle Paris.

Democrats Abroad 2025 Juneteenth announcement

Tonight I will speak about Juneteenth at an invitation-only prospective membership social hosted by the American Club of Paris.

For more information about Juneteenth, click HERE.

Barbès Youth Cultural Center Enjoying Success

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Louisiana State University students at United Youth International
© Entrée to Black Paris

In Barbès, a neighborhood on the southern edge of Paris' 18th arrondissement, the space formerly occupied by the iconic Tati discount department store has been revitalized by an experimental cultural center called Union de la Jeunesse International, or United Youth International (UYI).

Rooftop of Tati discount department store
18 August 2015
Photo by Ketounette
Source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Operating in a unique, ~6,000 square meter space, UYI offers a wide variety of events and activities that include film screenings, art exhibitions, and crafts workshops. It is designed to be an extension of the public space of this corner of the 18th arrondissement, providing visitors with opportunities to listen, discuss, read or simply meander through the facility.

Through 29 June 2025, UYI is featuring ready-to-wear clothing created by independent designers through a project called Le Grand Magasin Ephémère (The Great Pop-up Store).

I visited the center last week, when I took students from Louisiana State University on ETBP's Spirit of Africa walking tour. We were graciously welcomed inside and invited to get some refreshment at the buvette prior to taking a tour of the space.

Ordering soft drinks at the buvette
© Entrée to Black Paris

The students, Professor Annemarie Galeucia, and I explored the expansive atrium, which houses a reading area, café, turntable and sound equipment, and magazine outlet (Kidpresse.com) while sipping bissap, iced lattes made with oat milk, and other soft drinks.

Enjoying the atrium
© Entrée to Black Paris

Card deck and bowl of snacks on table in atrium
© Entrée to Black Paris

LSU student at turntable in atrium
© Entrée to Black Paris

Magazines for sale
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we were ready, a young man named Kevin took us into the ground floor fashion boutique.

Text on the wall to the left of the entrance of the boutique announces a federation of brands, entities, and independent designers that support and encourage international youth.

Wall next to entrance to ground floor boutique
© Entrée to Black Paris

Inside, clothing by independent designers and Air Jordan sneakers were available for purchase.

Though shy about his English language ability, Kevin provided details about each of the areas we visited that day.

Kevin in ground floor clothing boutique
© Entrée to Black Paris

As we mounted the stairs to the first floor (second floor for U.S. residents), I was surprised to see a photo of Loïs Mailou Jones painting in her 1937-38 Montparnasse studio in Paris. When I expressed my excitement about the image, Kevin told me he didn't know who Jones was and thanked me for enlightening him about her significance in the history of African American expatriation in Paris.

Photo of Loïs Mailou Jones in stairwell
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the first floor, we saw an exhibition called Project DEM. It consisted of original comic strip art illustrated and scripted by twin sisters Salamat Kanzal-Noor and Salamat Kanzal-Eman, respectively.

Project DEM exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Kevin and LSU students in exhibition space
© Entrée to Black Paris

We completed our tour by visiting a retail space called Matières Premières on the second floor (third floor for U.S. residents), where more clothing, jewelry, and other accessories were on display.

Entrance to Matières Premières
© Entrée to Black Paris

LSU students (foreground) and Professor Annemarie Galeucia at Matières Premières
© Entrée to Black Paris

Display rack for designs
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fashion accessories and other merchandise at Matières Premières
© Entrée to Black Paris

As we descended the stairs to get back to the ground floor, I stopped to read the center's statement of purpose on the wall at the bottom of the staircase:

"Our planet Earth is home to 7.753 billion human beings, representing as many stories, cultures, and experiences that span the globe. Here, we share these human experiences. United Youth International is an experimental cultural center that welcomes and tells our unique stories. Viewed together, they allow us to redefine the world's center of gravity."

UYI statement of purpose
© Entrée to Black Paris

UYI was founded by Youssouf Fofana, creative director of the fashion brand Maison Château Rouge, in 2022. A French man of Senegalese origin, he remembers shopping at Tati as a boy.

After finding success for Maison Château Rouge through collaborations with national and international brands such as Monoprix, Merci, and Nike, Fofana signed on with the owner of the Tati building in November 2021 to organize his first pop-up cultural center in the space. He credits his collaboration with the Jordan Brand on the launch of Air Jordan 2 and a ready-to-wear clothing line for paving the way to the establishment of UYI.

Last summer, in partnership with the Jordan Brand, Fofana transformed the building into the venue for the ephemeral District 23 project that was launched in tandem with the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Offerings included workshops on sewing, dyeing, design, and customization of apparel, basketball tournaments at the nearby Square Léon and other outdoor spaces, and an exhibition entitled Diaspora Renaissance, which featured the works of 23 contemporary visual artists from the African diaspora, Asia, and Latin America.

Fofana collaborated with Foot Locker on the sporting activities and with Isimeme "Easy" Otabor of the Anthony Gallery in Chicago on the art exhibition.

Almost a year after the closure of the Olympic Games and Project 23, UYI continues to offer a robust line-up of activities for youth from the neighborhood and across the city. Programming changes every two to three weeks.

For more information about the center (in French), click HERE.

United Youth International (Union de la Jeunesse Internationale)
2, bd Marguerite de Rochechouart
75018 Paris
Metro: Barbès-Rochechouart (Lines 2 and 4)
Opening hours (through June 29, 2025): Wednesday - Saturday from 11:30 AM to 7:30 PM; Sunday from 11 AM to 6 PM

Josephine Baker Gala

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Josephine Baker (cropped)
By Henri Manuel c.1920s
Image in public domain

This fall, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Josephine Baker's legendary performance in La Revue Nègre.

The theater describes Josephine as (translated from French) "a timeless icon who left her mark on this venue with her talent from the moment she first took to the stage exactly one hundred years ago, on October 2, 1925 .... With her irresistible smile and showmanship, she captivated Parisian audiences as much with her choreography as with her personality. A revue leader, singer, and actress, she was a true pioneer. She was also a heroine of the Resistance and a fierce civil rights activist."

Josephine Baker
By Henri Manuel c.1920s
Image in public domain
Source: Wikimedia Comons

The gala performance is being produced by the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in collaboration with Les Grandes Voix (a prestigious concert and performance series that highlights some of the world’s most celebrated opera singers and classical vocalists).

South African soprano Pretty Yende will perform Josephine Baker's repertoire accompanied by dancer Precious Adams of the English National Ballet and Luan Pommier, the visually impaired Guadeloupean opera singer and pianist who performed the Paralympic Anthem at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (Watch the video of the opening ceremony, beginning at 17:58, HERE).

Pretty Yende
By Sylvain lasco
CC BY-SA 4.0
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Pretty Yende grew up in Piet Retief, a small town in eastern South Africa. She was first introduced to opera as a teenager when she heard the "Flower Duet" from Delibes’ Lakmé in a British Airways commercial. Classically trained, she has been a prize-winning vocalist since 2009, when she took first prize in the opera and operetta categories of the Hans Gabor Belvedere competition. Since that time, she has performed in most of the major theaters of the Western world, including the Opéra National de Paris.

Yende received a standing ovation for her January 17, 2013 début in Rossini's Le Comte Ory at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She overcame tremendous odds to step in to the lead role of Adèle after only having one week to prepare for the performance. She sang at the coronation ceremony for King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023.

Precious Adams
By Swans for Relief
CC BY-SA 3.0
Source: Wikimedia Commons

A native of Canton, Michigan, Precious Adams is only the second Black dancer in the English National Ballet. She made her way to a solo ballerina position with the troupe via rigorous, top-level training at the National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto, the Princess Grace Academy of Classical Dance in Monte Carlo, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow. In 2014, she won two prizes at the Prix de Lausanne international dance competition in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In a 2021 interview with Dancewear Central, Adams described herself as a dance advocate and role model for diversity in the arts and dance, a freelance model and dancer, and occasionally a dance teacher and mentor for young aspiring dancers and performing artists. When asked about how she was dealing with the inability to perform during the Covid-19 pandemic, she responded that she enrolled in a computer programming course at the University of London with the thought of preparing herself for life after her career as a dancer: "I think it is so, so important to have a life outside dance. This profession is short, so developing who I was with less ballet in my life was important."

Luan Pommier
Promo image for "Mèsi Pou Yo"

Luan Pommier is an Afro-French soprano (born in Sèvres) who won the Jury's Favorite Award at the 2020 "Voix des Outre-mer" competition at the Paris Opera. She is also a pianist, composer, and arranger. Despite suffering from Leber Congenital Amaurosis, a malady that has seriously diminished her vision since birth, her musical prowess became evident quite early - she reportedly hummed her first Ave Maria at just 8 months old and began teaching herself the piano at the age of 3!

Pommier has won numerous awards for her performances and released her first single - Mèsi Pou Yo - in 2017. In 2020, she received a presidential scholarship and enrolled at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. She actively participates in music and education projects, both as an artist and as an ambassador for social causes. In an English-language Instagram post dated November 17, 2020, she describes her blindness as being "more like a source of strength ... it taught me about being and staying strong, over all judgement, discrimination and negative thoughts and energy."

Those wanting to see these three extraordinary women pay tribute to Josephine Baker at the Champs Elysées Theater should block Saturday, October 4, 2025 on the calendar as of today.

Orchestra and Category 1 seats for the gala are already sold out. Remaining seats range in price from 10€ to 75€.

Note that tickets are non-returnable and non-exchangeable – all purchases are final.

Purchase tickets by clicking HERE.

Nofi Store - A Boutique in Château Rouge

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 29 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Nofi Store façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

After a recent ETBP Spirit of Africa walking tour in Château Rouge, I visited a stretch of rue Myrha that I knew was being revitalized to see what progress had been made regarding building demolition and construction.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Nofi Store, a boutique that celebrates Black culture, had moved into one of the new buildings that have been erected in the neighborhood.

New buildings at 37 and 39 rue Myrha
© Entrée to Black Paris

As I approached the boutique, I was immediately seduced by the display of Congolese wax cloth and books (including several children's books) in the window.

Wax Bazaar - Congolese wax fabric
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was particularly intrigued by the book entitled Histoire de l'Amerique Noire, des plantations à la culture rap (Black American History from Plantations to Rap Culture)* by Pascal Archimede. Published by Nofi Editions in French and in English in 2018, it looks at the development of the Black community in the U.S. through the lens of music.

Black American History from Plantations to Rap Culture - book cover
© Entrée to Black Paris

I crossed the threshold of the store to find a table piled with fabrics manufactured by WaxBazaar in Congo as well as more books.

Welcome mat
© Entrée to Black Paris

Black American History from Plantations to Rap Culture - book cover
© Entrée to Black Paris

During the tour I led that morning, I had explained to the group that the majority of "African" fabrics sold in the neighborhood were made in Europe.

So, I resolved to include Nofi Store in my presentation of equitable commerce establishments on rue Myrha.

Against the wall was a display of Sawa Shoes - sneakers manufactured in Ethiopia. From 2015 to 2022, Sawa operated in the same commercial space that Nofi Store now occupies. It then moved to rue de Lancry in the 10th arrondissement. (Sawa closed the rue de Lancry boutique in February 2025, with a promise to return in September 2025.)

Sportswear, pillows, and artwork are among the other items sold at Nofi Store.

Merchandise at Nofi Store
All images above © Entrée to Black Paris

I asked a salesperson about the N&F that appears on the welcome mat at the entrance. She told me that it stands for Noir et Fier (Black and Proud), and that Nofi is a contraction of the words "noir" (black) and "fier" (proud).

She then introduced me to Judith Apey, the store manager.

Judith Apey
© Entrée to Black Paris

Nofi Store opened in the 18th arrondissement in the aftermath of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. It is part of Nofi Group, which also operates a robust online media platform and radio station.

Nofi was founded by Christian Dzellat, who grew the concept from a 2004 marketing campaign for a t-shirt bearing the words "noir et fier." He launched the group on February 14, 2014, the anniversary date of Malcolm X's assassination.

Nofi Store is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM:

Nofi Store
37 rue Myrha
75018 Paris
Metro: Château Rouge (Line 4)

Visit its online boutique HERE.

*Read Nofi Group's in-depth interview with Pascal Archimede (in French) by clicking HERE.

We Were Lied to about Haïti

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Roller banner for On Nous a Menti sur Haïti (We Were Lied to about Haïti)
© Entrée to Black Paris

On May 18, between two Spirit of Africa walking tours, I decided to lunch at Haïtian Mama on rue Labat in the 18th arrondissement.

Haïtian Mama façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

I didn't realize that it was Haïtian Flag Day, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a book signing event was going to be held at the restaurant beginning at 1 PM.

Shortly after I was served my meal (Bateau Djondjon and a refreshing drink made from fresh strawberry, pineapple, and soho [a litchi liqueur]), two women arrived with a roller banner and a suitcase filled with books and other paraphernalia.

Bateau Djondjon and strawberry-pineapple-litchi drink
© Entrée to Black Paris

I learned that the book was entitled On Nous a Menti sur Haïti (We Were Lied to about Haïti).

Roller banner next to entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Books, bags, and Haïtian flag
© Entrée to Black Paris

The restaurant filled quickly. Among the customers was a large group of young people who assembled for a painting party, presumably to celebrate Flag Day.

Painting party
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was unable to stay for the event, so I asked one of the women to show the book to me. I learned that she was one of the authors and that the woman accompanying her was the other author.

They are sisters - Charlène and Claudine Civil.

Charlène told me that their book is the first volume of what they hope will be a multi-volume series that celebrates Haïtian culture and promotes the island as a sustainable tourism destination. She and Claudine have a travel business called PAP'PADAP Travels that specializes in travel to Haïti.

Published in 2024, On Nous a Menti sur Haïti begins with a through exploration of Haïti's history, from before Columbus through the present day. It is written entirely in "easily accessible" French and filled with photos and and timelines.

The second part of the book is about being a responsible tourist in general and how to approach voluntourism, followed by practical details regarding travel to Haïti and a guide through the southern part of the island.

Illustrations of the authors accompany commentary throughout the book.

As Charlène talked about her and Claudine's work on this volume, her passion was palpable. I bought the book, had the two ladies dedicate it to Entrée to Black Paris, and took it home with anticipation.

On Nous a Menti sur Haïti
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Nous a Menti sur Haïti dedication
© Entrée to Black Paris

Yesterday, I read On Nous a Menti sur Haïti (156 pages) in one sitting. It filled in lots of knowledge gaps I had about the country's history and provided insight into wonderful locations on the south side of the island and a calendar of cultural events around which one could build a trip.

If you read French and want a straightforward, easy-to-read introduction to Haïti's history and culture, I recommend this book.

Find it online HERE.

Echoing Black Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Alison Saar at the Brooklyn Museum in 2017
Image by Brooklyn Museum (4x3 crop)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Creative Commons License: CC-BY-3.0

There are a little over six weeks left to visit the Centre Pompidou to see Paris Noir (Black Paris), the monumental tribute to African and Afro-descendant artists who influenced Paris' artistic cultural landscape between 1950 and 2000.

Despite the enormity of the exhibition, curator Alicia Knock could not include all the artists she wanted to honor in it.

"Echoing Paris Noir" is an ingenious "workaround" through which additional works by artists included in Paris Noir and works by artists not included in the exhibition are being displayed across Paris.

Here are a few of the shows that are open for viewing during May 2025.

Sweet Life (May 15 - July 11, 2025)

Beginning today, Galerie Lelong is presenting Sweet Life. This is the first solo exhibition in Europe by American artist Alison Saar, whose poetic yet critical approach explores the complex history of sugar cane in America and its links to Africa and Europe.

Through a series of sculptures, paintings and prints, the artist unfolds a visual narrative in which the bitter irony of the title underlines the brutality of the historical reality it evokes: European and American prosperity built on the exploitation of deported African populations.

Alison Saar at the Brooklyn Museum in 2017
Image by Brooklyn Museum (cropped)
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Creative Commons License: CC-BY-3.0

One of the works in the show, "mischievously" entitled Citizen Cane, is a large female figure wearing a belt of machetes that revisits the iconography of the triangular trade punctuated with revolts.

See images of Citizen Cane and other artworks in the show by clicking HERE.

Galerie Lelong Paris
38 avenue Matignon
75008 Paris Tel : 01 71 72 26 99
Internet: https://www.galerie-lelong.com/en/exposition/426/alison-saarsweet-life/
Hours: Tuesday – Friday from 11 AM to 7 PM

Frank Bowling. Collage (March 22 - May 24, 2025)

Frank Bowling. Collage is Frank Bowling's first solo exhibition in France. Hauser & Wirth is featuring works by this classically trained Guyanese artist that date from the early 2000s up until the present day.

The starting point for the show is reflected in four new large-scale paintings on display in the ground floor gallery, which are comprised of multiple canvas panels. These monumental works—including the 4.4 meter-tall Skid (2023)—are a renewal of Bowling’s use of collaged canvas and marouflage, which has long formed an important part of his practice.

At the age of 91, Bowling still paints every day.

See images of Skid and other artworks in the show by clicking HERE.

Hauser & Wirth
26 bis, rue François 1er
78008 Paris
Tel: 01 57 95 19 60
Internet: https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/frank-bowling-collage-paris/
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM

The Memory of the Future (April 2 - May 29, 2025)

The work of Agustín Cárdenas is prominently featured in Paris Noir. Galerie Mitterand is showing his works at both of its Paris locations in conjunction with the Centre Pompidou exhibition.

Couple antillais 1957 at Paris Noir
Agustín Cárdenas
Wood
© Entrée to Black Paris

Born in 1927 in Matanzas, Cuba, Cárdenas is referred to as is one of the three great sculptors of Surrealism, alongside Arp and Giacometti. His work was deeply appreciated by poet and philosopher Edouard Glissant.

Galerie Mitterand has brought together works from the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s to highlight Cárdenas' distinctive role in the history of modern sculpture. See images of the installations at the galleries HERE.

Galerie Mitterand
79, rue du Temple
75003 Paris

95, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris

Tel: 01 43 26 12 05
Internet: https://mitterrand.com/en/exhibitions/209-agustin-cardenas-the-memory-of-the-futur/
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11 AM to 7 PM; Monday by appointment

Paris Noir will be on display through June 30, 2025.

For a full list of exhibitions, conferences, and other events that are complementing the show, click HERE.

Portrait of an American Family

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Elliott Barnes and Something Special by Alvin Armstrong
© Entrée to Black Paris

The first time I met Elliott Barnes was in October 2013, when he was exhibiting at the Architectural Digest Intérieurs Métamorphose show in Paris.

Among the items displayed in the room he designed for that show were five exquisite portraits of men in his family, all created by Kenturah Davis.

Almost 10 years later, I was delighted to meet with Barnes to brainstorm possible venues for an exhibition of portraits of the Barnes clan. He shared that he had been commissioning works that depict his family for years and explained his vision of the show.

Portrait of an American Family - A Selection from the Barnes Contemporary is the culmination of this vision.

The Septieme Gallery in Paris' 7th arrondissement is hosting this show, which features works by eight Afro-descendant artists.

Septième Gallery signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

The opening was held on April 29, 2025. It was well attended.

Septième Gallery vernissage - in front of the gallery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Septième Gallery vernissage - inside the gallery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Elliott Barnes at Septième Gallery vernissage
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Kenturah Davis portraits are prominently featured in this exhibition.

Portrait of Elliott Barnes
Kenturah Davis
2012 Pencil on paper
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Portrait of Ellington Barnes - Elliott Barnes' son
Kenturah Davis
2012 Pencil on paper
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

The other artists whose work is displayed are Edgar Arceneaux, Alvin Armstrong, Nicolas Lambelet Colman, Noah Davis, Wangari Mathenge, Yoyo Langer, and Ngozi Schommers.

Solo portraits of the Barnes family patriarch and matriarch, Dr. Richard Barnes and Glynell S. Barnes, were created by Yoyo Lander, Wangare Mathenge, and Alvin Armstrong.

Someone to Celebrate
Yoyo Lander
2020 Watercolor on watercolor paper cutouts
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Glynell S. Barnes
Wangare Mathenge
2020 Oil on canvas
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

In excerpts from its press release about Portrait of an American Family, Septième Gallery presents the significance of this exhibition:

"By commissioning portraits of his family, Elliott Barnes composes an intimate atlas, crossed by this current. It is a founding gesture: one of chosen transmission. The act of commissioning—historically reserved for the elite—becomes here an act of repair. Family representation is no longer confined to official memory: it reinvents itself as a river of personal narratives.

"This collection of portraits reflects a free choice: to recompose one’s family according to one’s own bonds. Elliott Barnes selects the faces, embraces their complexities, and reclaims the right to narrate them. It is not simply a tribute—it is a living construction, like a river that welcomes even as it lets go."

The online catalog provides a more extensive view of the collection. In the catalog, Barnes comments as follows:

"The collection honors my family’s heritage and legacy, while also aiming to foster dialogue and disrupt convention. It seeks to break the historical exclusion of Black individuals from the world of portraiture and the history of art—affirming that their stories, experiences, and contributions are equally deserving of representation and visibility in the West."

Portrait of an American Family - A Selection from the Barnes Contemporary will be on display through May 13, 2025.

Click HERE to see more of the Barnes Contemporary collection.

SEPTIEME Paris
31, rue de l’Université
75007 Paris
Metro: Rue du Bac (Line 12)
Opening hours: Tuesday - Friday 10 AM - 7 PM; Saturday 2 PM - 7 PM

A Ceremony in Honor of the Chevalier de Saint-George

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Plaque honoring Joseph de Bologne
© Entrée to Black Paris

By Tom Reeves

On April 27, a ceremony to unveil a plaque in honor of Joseph de Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-George was held in front of the townhouse in which he lived in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

Dignitaries at the ceremony
© Entrée to Black Paris

Presiding over the ceremony were Jean-Pierre Lecoq (wearing tri-color sash), Mayor of the 6th arrondissement; Claude Ribbe (speaking at lectern), Councilor of the 6th arrondissement; Manuel Valls (third from right), Minister of Overseas Territories; and George Pau-Langevin (far right), former Minister of Overseas Territories. (We could not identify the other people in the photo.)

Portrait of Monsieur de St. George by Mather Brown and William Ward
National Portrait Gallery, London
Image in public domain

Joseph de Bologne, born in Guadeloupe in 1745, was the son of an enslaved woman and a French nobleman. Claude Ribbe, who has written a biography on his life, gave a speech about this extraordinarily talented man. Ribbe expressed his hope that someday Paris would honor de Bologne with a statue.

Joseph de Bologne was an accomplished fencer (long before fencing became a recognized sport), a colonel in the Free Legion of Americans and the South, a musician, and a composer. A sample of his musical compositions can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRBUA5rgaLs&list=RDEM7Zi_pSoaWj0XEFuyu339bw&start_radio=1. (Music performed by the Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble.)

Orchestra of the Republican Guard
© Entrée to Black Paris

After the speeches, about two hundred people enjoyed listening to the orchestra of the Republican Guard playing musical compositions by Josephe de Bologne.

Plaque in honor of Joseph de Bologne
© Entrée to Black Paris

The plaque was unveiled, revealing the name Chevalier de Saint-George, by which Joseph de Bologne is remembered.

The townhouse upon which the plaque is affixed is located at 49 rue Saint-André des Arts.

French Researcher Explores "Erased" U.S. Black Cemeteries

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Digital display for The Resurgence of "Erased" Black Cemeteries
© Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP co-owner Tom Reeves recently attended a presentation for an exhibition entitled La Resurgence des Cimetières Noirs Effacés (The Resurgence of "Erased" Black Cemeteries).*

It was given by the exhibition's curator, Pauline Peretz, at the Humathèque library of the Condorcet Campus of L'École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)** in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.

Humathèque library at Campus Condorcet
© Entrée to Black Paris

Curator Peretz became interested in this topic after having read an article in the September 2021 issue of the New Yorker by Harvard historian Jill Lepore. Lepore's question—"Who will speak for the dead?"—struck a cord with her.

Peretz and her colleague, Endika, spent the summers of 2022 and 2023 traveling the U.S. South to research and photograph the locations featured in the exhibition, which consists of a series of photographs and descriptive text (in French) posted to large panels in the center of the great entrance hall of the library.

Resurgence at the Humathèque library
© Entrée to Black Paris

During her 90-minute presentation, Peretz walked to each panel and talked about eleven cemeteries that had been forcibly abandoned, forgotten or "erased" due to construction projects, then rediscovered. In the photograph below, she is talking about Zion Cemetery in Tampa, Florida.

Pauline Peretz talks about Zion Cemetery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Founded by an African-American businessman in 1901, Zion Cemetery was sold in the 1920s when the owner could not pay the taxes that the city illegally imposed upon him. During the 1950s, the city built an apartment complex on the land.

In 2019, while consulting city directories, a Tampa Bay Times journalist named Paul Guzzo realized that Robles Park Village had been built over the burial ground. It was constructed as housing for middle class whites and is now largely abandoned. The current residents of the complex are African-American.

Today, there is an ongoing effort by the Zion Cemetery Preservation and Maintenance Society and the Tampa Housing Authority to find ways to commemorate the space and the memory of those interred there.

Another cemetery featured in the exhibition is Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground in Richmond, VA.

Located near Hebrew Cemetery and Shockoe Hill Cemetery, which are well preserved historic sites, the burying ground lies beneath an abandoned gas station that has been painted to commemorate its existence. The information panel for the African Burying Ground summarizes particularly grim details regarding the desecration of its tombs while it was still active (1816-1879), followed by its decline and disappearance.

Detail of exhibition photo of gas station at Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground
Exhibition photo by Endika
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Detail of exhibition photo of marker at Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground
Exhibition photo by Endika
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Thanks to the efforts of Lenora McQueen, a Texan who found evidence that three of her ancestors were buried at the Virginia site, the African Burying Ground and the neighboring cemeteries have been added to the National Register for Historic Places as the Shockoe Hill Burying Ground Historic District.

Resurgence presents information about multiple cemeteries in Florida and Virginia, as well as College Memorial Park Cemetery in my hometown of Houston, TX.

A glass display table contains newspaper clippings about the conflicts surrounding the discovery of the African Burial Ground in Manhattan in 1991.

Display table of newspaper articles re: African Burial Ground in Manhattan
Images © Entrée to Black Paris

The Resurgence of "Erased" Black Cemeteries will be on display through May 3, 2025.

*Much of the information presented in this exhibition was published in L'Histoire N° 526 in December 2024.

**L'EHESS is the first urban campus devoted to the humanities and social sciences in France and in Europe. Recently constructed, it is where the closing event for the Paris Noir colloquium was held on March 22, 2025.

Billie Holiday in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Detail of 1947 photo of Billie Holiday by William P. Gottleib
Image in the public domain

The other day, I came across a beautiful recording of "April in Paris" by Billie Holiday on YouTube.

Screenshot from YouTube

This inspired me to do a quick Internet search on "Billie Holiday in Paris."

Here's what turned up on Page 1 on Google:

Facebook

A magnificent shot of Billie at Orly Airport was taken by Jean-Pierre Leloir in 1958. See it HERE.

A photo of her singing at the Mars Club (photographer not mentioned) can be found HERE.

Polka Factory

Jean-Pierre Leloir photographed Billie during her November 20, 1958 concert at the Mars Club. View the image HERE.

SetList.fm

This Website provides a short list of songs that Billie performed at the Olympia Theater on November 12, 1968 and at Paris Television Studios on November 18, 1958. Links to recordings of these songs are provided.

Image of program cover for Olympia Theater performance
from Page 41 of Olympia Bruno Coquatrix - 50 Ans de Music Hall
© Entrée to Black Paris

Reddit

Find a color photo of Billie singing at the Mars Club in 1958 HERE.

Les Echos

On April 7, 2015, this French newspaper published a fascinating article on the backstory of Billie's 1958 tour in Italy and France. It mentions "the rare photos taken by the excellent Jean-Pierre Leloir (translated from French)."

The backstory was extensively researched by Philippe Broussard and published as a 230-page book entitled Vivre cent jours en un (Live 100 Days in One) by Stock.

Amazon.fr

Another book turned up independently on Page 1 of my search.

Billie Holiday et Paris: Chronique de la Vie de Billie Holiday à Paris en 1954 et 1958 (English translation: Billie Holiday and Paris: Chronicle of Billie Holiday's Life in Paris in 1954 and 1958) can be found HERE.

Billie Holiday et Paris book cover
Image from Amazon.fr

The book described in the Les Echos article can be found HERE.

Vivre cent jours en un book cover
Image from Amazon.fr

New Yorker

A 2017 article by Richard Brody sings the praises of photographer Jean-Pierre Leloir. A color photo of Billie at the Mars Club in 1958 is the second image (2/10) programmed on the slider at the top of the article.

Happy reading and listening!

What's on in Paris for April - Visual Arts and Music

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Promo image for the 4th edition of the International Competition of Great African Opera Voices
Screenshot from Africa Lyric's Opera Website

The Paris Noir exhibition at the Centre Pompidou is dominating the conversation around arts events in Paris these days. For anyone who is interested in visual arts - painting, sculpture, photography, and even film - this show is not to be missed.

But there are lots of other things for arts aficionados to see and do in Paris this month.

Find a listing of a few of them below.

VISUAL ARTS

Roots - Barthélémy Toguo at Galerie Lelong

Roots VIII 2025 Linogravure by Barthélémy Toguo
Image used for exhibition invitation card

Through April 30, 2025, Galerie Lelong is displaying 15 new linocuts by Cameroonian artist Barthélémy Toguo in an exhibition called Roots. These works are accompanied by wooden bas-reliefs from Toguo's Bilongue series (2015).

Galerie Lelong has mounted seven solo exhibitions of Toguo's work since 2010.

Roots is the fourth of these shows.

Galerie Lelong
13 rue de Téhéran
75008 Paris
Telephone: 01.45.63.13.19

Venus Noire - An Artistic Homage to Josephine Baker

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Josephine Baker's death and the 100th anniversary of her first Paris show, "La Revue Nègre."

In honor of these dates, the Strouk Gallery is hosting an exhibition called Venus Noire - Un Hommage Artistique à Joséphine Baker. It is filled with works that pay homage to Josephine, who was known as the "Black Venus."

Through April 26, 2025, several events will give voice to artists, authors, academics, designers, DJs, directors, activists, and more, exploring various aspects of Josephine Baker's life that continue to inspire us today.

Screenshot from Strouk Gallery Website

Ming Smith, an African-American photographer whose work is being shown at the Paris Noir exhibition, has several self-portraits as Josephine Baker on display in Venus Noire.

Strouk Gallery
2, avenue Matignon
75008 Paris
Telephone: 01.40.46.89.06

Lorraine O'Grady - Mariane Ibrahim Gallery

Mariane Ibrahim is honored to present Lorraine O’Grady, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Paris and her second with the Mariane Ibrahim gallery.

LEFT: Lorraine O'Grady in her apartment, Christianshavn, Copenhagen, 1962
RIGHT: Lorraine O'Grady by Elia Alba, New York, 2014
Photos by Lorraine O'Grady
Source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0

This special presentation is the first since O'Grady's passing in December 2024. Featuring work spanning four decades (1981-2021), it aims to celebrate the artist's extraordinary legacy as an educator, performer, and visual artist.

Lorraine O'Grady will be on display through May 31, 2025.

Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
18, rue Matignon
75008 Paris
Telephone: 01.81.72.24.60

MUSIC

Coup Fatal - Théâtre du Rond Point

Coup Fatal (Fatal Blow) is a show at the crossroads of theater, music and dance in which musicians, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, merge baroque and traditional Congolese music with rock and jazz.

Scene from Coup Fatal
Image from Théâtre du Rond Point press release
Photographer: Chris Van den Burght

The sapeur (dandy) tradition of Congo will be woven into the performances in this show, which will be on stage through April 5, 2025.

Théâtre du Rond Point
2bis, avenue Franklin D. Roosevelt
75008 Paris
Telephone: 01.44.95.98.00

Benjamin Clementine - Olympia

On April 8, Britain's Benjamin Clementine will perform songs from his fourth and final album, Sir Introvert and the Featherweights, at the iconic Olympia Theater.

Screenshot from Olympia Theater Website

From the Olympia Website:

"[Clementine] professes to be an artist whose music is only one element of his creative journey, most notable with his acting roles in Denis Villeneuve’s multiple Oscar-winning film ‘Dune’ and ‘Blitz’ with Oscar winning film Director Sir Steve McQueen. This album marks the end of a musical journey, as Clementine is now venturing into the realms of Film Entertainment."

L'Olympia
28 boulevard des Capucines
75009 Paris
Telephone: 01.47.42.94.88

Concours Grandes Voix d'Afrique - l'Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet

The Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet is hosting the 4th edition of the International Competition of Great African Opera Voices.

Led by Africa Lyric's Opera, a WOMEN OF AFRICA initiative, this competition aims to promote and strengthen the accessibility of opera in all its diversity.

The Africa Lyric's Opera initiative has supported, accompanied and promoted diverse lyrical artists, instrumentalists and composers through training, creation, professional integration and the organisation of events since 2007.

By highlighting new voices from the African and Afro-descendant diaspora, the Competition of Great African Voices aims to showcase African talent to both opera professionals and the general public.

Screenshot from Africa Lyric's Opera

The semi-final competition for this year's event will take place on April 24, 2025.

The final competition will take place on April 26, 2025.

Reserve your seats for these competitions by clicking HERE. (Entry to the semi-final competition is free of charge.)

Athénée
2-4, square de l'Opéra Louis-Jouvet
75009 Paris
Telephone: 01.53.05.19.19

Paris Noir - Women Artists and Curators

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Black woman contemplating a painting
© Entrée to Black Paris

As mentioned in last week's article about Paris Noir: Circulations artistiques et luttes anticoloniales 1950-2000, several of the artists whose works hang in this show are women.

Looking at the list of exhibition artists, I count 22 of them.

Because the exhibition is so large, and because these artists' works are not grouped in a single area based on gender, visitors will be need to be diligent when looking for them.

The one exception to this statement is Valérie John's installation, entitled SECRET(S)... RÊVES DE PAYS... FABRIQUE À MÉMOIRE(S)...PALIMPSESTE..., 1998-2025.

This work is literally built into the architecture of the show, and everyone who visits the entire exhibition cannot help but see it.

Various views of SECRET(S)... RÊVES DE PAYS...
FABRIQUE À MÉMOIRE(S)...
PALIMPSESTE..., 1998-2025
Valérie John
Multimedia installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Today I am presenting a non-exhaustive list of the women who are represented in the show, along with images of their displayed work.

Luce Turnier is the first woman whose work visitors will encounter. There is a brief video interview of her in Room 6 and a display of several of her collages in Room 7. Both of these spaces are devoted to abstraction.

Luce Turnier video interview
© Entrée to Black Paris

In Room 14 of the show, Turnier's Portrait of Yanick Lahens hangs near another video installation.

Portrait of Yanick Lahens, c. 1970
Luce Turnier
Oil on isorel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Younousse Seye's untitled oil with cowrie shells hangs in Room 10 of the Paris Dakar Lagos section.

Untitled, 1972
Younousse Seye
Oil on canvas, cowrie shells
© Entrée to Black Paris

About two-thirds of the way through the exhibition, the information panel for the New Abstractions section (Rooms 19 and 20) specifically mentions "a new generation of African American women artists" whose works "offered critical interpretations of modernist history, balancing feminism, erasure, and self-affirmation."

In this area and beyond, visitors will find several works by Black women artists (not all of whom are American).

Faith Ringgold and Mildred Thompson are represented here.

The Bitter Nest, Part IV: The Letter, 1988
Faith Ringgold
Oil on canvas, quilt
© Entrée to Black Paris

Radiation Explorations 8, 1994
Mildred Thompson
Diptych, Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mary Lovelace O'Neal's Purple Rain hangs next to the wall text for the Self-Affirmation section.

Purple Rain (from the Two Deserts, Three Winters series), 1990s
Mary Lovelace O'Neal
Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Works by Ming Smith (photography) and Elodie Barthélemy (sculpture) can be found in the Parisian Syncretism section (Rooms 25 and 26).

Hommage aux ancêtres marrons, 1994
Elodie Barthélémy
Wool, iron, wood, hair affixed to metallic arrows
© Entrée to Black Paris

Other women whose work is exhibited in Paris Noir include Manuèla Dikoumè, Mavis Pusey, Afi Nayo, Diagne Chanel, and Roseman Robinot.

Works by Manuèla Dikoumè
Multimedia installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

(Manuèla Dikoumè and Diagne Chanel were panelists for discussions held during the Paris Noir colloquium on March 21.)

I would be remiss not to point out that the curators of Paris Noir are also women.

Curator Alicia Knock is curator and head of the Contemporary and Prospective Creation Department at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Paris Noir is the culmination of years of seeking to develop a transnational history of art at the Centre Pompidou. Knock works specifically on modern and contemporary African and Central European art and is interested in the visibility of women artists.

Associate Curator Eva Barois De Caevel is a curator in the Contemporary and Prospective Creation Department at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris. She was awarded the Cnap Curatorial Research Grant in 2020 and the ICI Independent Vision Curatorial Award in 2014. Past notable activities include working for the RAW Material Company in Dakar, curating the LagosPhoto Festival, and co-curating EVA International, the Irish biennial.

Eva Barois De Caevel (L) and Alicia Knock (R) at Ford Foundation reception
on Monday, 17 March 2025
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition catalog includes a 16-page essay by Marie Signier called "Femmes Artists et Féminismes Noirs à Paris" ("Women Artists and Black Feminisms in Paris") about Black women artists in Paris.

Paris Noir will be on display through June 30, 2025 in Galerie 1, Level 6 of the Centre Pompidou.

Click HERE to purchase tickets.

Paris Noir Opens at the Centre Pompidou

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Entrance to Paris Noir exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

The wait was over an hour long to get into the Centre Pompidou for the Tuesday, March 18 vernissage (opening) of the museum's last show before closing for a 5-year renovation project.

Paris Noir (Black Paris) is the toast of Paris!

The full title of the exhibition is Paris Noir: Circulations artistiques et luttes anticoloniales 1950-2000.

Exhibition catalog cover

The museum describes it as follows:

"From the creation of the Présence Africaine review to that of Revue noire, “Black Paris” retraces the presence and influence of Black artists in France from the 1950s to 2000. The exhibition celebrates 150 artists coming from Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, whose works have often never been displayed in France before."

Two events launched the show prior to the public opening reception on March 18.

On Sunday, March 16, Columbia Global Centers Paris at Reid Hall hosted an event called "A Celebration of Paris Noir."

Check-in table at Reid Hall
© Entrée to Black Paris

Exhibition curator Alicia Knock welcomed the standing-room-only crowd in the recently refurbished Grande Salle and presented the concept of the show. She then introduced the moderator and panelists, who proceeded to engage in a scintillating conversation.

Moderator Maboula Soumahoro began the discussion by asking panelists Denise Murrell, Darren Walker, and Claude Grunitzky what they think of when they hear the words "Paris Noir" ("Black Paris").

Curator Alicia Knock addresses the crowd
© Entrée to Black Paris

L to R: Moderator Maboula Soumahouro and
panelists Denise Murrell, Darren Walker, and Claude Grenitzky
© Entrée to Black Paris

This question opened multiple streams of discussion that lasted well beyond the scheduled end time.

On Monday, March 17, the Ford Foundation hosted a private opening of the exhibition. A veritable "Who's Who" of the professional art world attended this event.

As president of the French nonprofit association Les Amis de Beauford Delaney and founder and CEO of the Wells International Foundation, I was thrilled to see that the focal point of the first room of the exhibition is Beauford Delaney's magnificent landscape entitled Street Scene, 1968.

Room 1 of Paris Noir exhibition viewed from queuing area
© Entrée to Black Paris

There are twenty-eight (28) areas grouped into fifteen (15) rooms in this monumental show, which is organized somewhat like a labyrinth around a central circular area that evokes the ocean. This installation, which was created by Valérie John, is meant to call to mind the Black Atlantic and the "Tout-Monde" philosophy of the Afro-French writer, Edouard Glissant.

SECRET(S)... RÊVES DE PAYS... FABRIQUE À MÉMOIRE(S)...
PALIMPSESTE..., 1998-2025
Valérie John
Multimedia installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

A total of fourteen Beauford Delaney works are displayed in various rooms throughout the exhibition. I will publish images and information about them in upcoming posts on the Les Amis de Beauford Delaney blog.

Paris Noir is a 50-year journey through the evolution of esthetic and political artistic expression, beginning with the acknowledgement of the influence of the Présence Africaine journal/publishing house.

Woman in rainbow braids contemplates Présence Africaine installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Works by Black artists from Africa, Europe, North America (including the Caribbean), and South America complement or contrast with each other in the context of thoughtfully selected themes, including Paris comme Ecole (Paris as a School), Paris Dakar Lagos, and Solidarités révolutionnaires (Revolutionary solidarities).

Paris comme Ecole - info panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sculptures punctuate each room.

Couple antillais 1957
Agustín Cárdenas
Wood
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition presents a fair number of works by female artists, including Valérie John (mentioned above), Luce Turnier, Ming Smith, and Younousse Seye.

They are not grouped together; rather, they hang in the appropriate room of the show based on the theme with which they align.

Sans titre 1985
Luce Turnier
Collage of mimeographed paper
© Entrée to Black Paris

Self-portrait as Josephine, New York 1986
Ming Smith
Inkjet printing; modern print
© Entrée to Black Paris

(The U.S. government is honoring photographer Ming Smith with a private reception at the U.S. Ambassador's residence on the evening of Thursday, March 20.)

When leaving the exhibition to go to the Ford Foundation reception, the huge XULY Bët installation next to the exit caused me to pause and contemplate the story of this urban fashion icon. Lamine Badiane Kouyaté launched this brand in the early 90s, right around the time I arrived in Paris.

XULY Bët installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

The reception was definitely one to remember. It was held at Le Georges, the rooftop restaurant at the Centre Pompidou. There were the obligatory speeches by the team that organized the exhibition, gracious thanks to Ford Foundation president, Darren Walker, great food and drink, and fabulous entertainment.

Darren Walker at Ford Foundation reception
© Entrée to Black Paris

I believe that the most memorable performance of the evening was that of Brian Scott Bagley, who impersonated Josephine Baker by singing and dancing wearing a banana skirt and high heels.

Brian Scott Bagley as Josephine Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Centre Pompidou is rounding out this opening week of events with a two-day colloquium that will take place on Thursday, March 20 and Friday, March 21. The first day of events will take place at the museum, while the second day will unfold at the Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac.

(I will speak during the "Dans la ville" ["In the City"] segment of the second day of the colloquium [Friday, March 21 from 2 PM to 4 PM].)

A third, single round table discussion will take place on Saturday, March 22 at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) Campus Condorcet.

This series of panel discussions is open to the public. For information (site in French), click HERE.

Even a cursory visit to the Paris Noir exhibition will take considerable time.

If you are interested in an in-depth plunge into the subject matter, I strongly advise you to plan several visits.

I spent seven hours viewing the show during the public opening, even after having seen it the day before!

Paris Noir will be on display through June 30, 2025 in Galerie 1, Level 6 of the Centre Pompidou.

Click HERE to purchase tickets.

Women's History Month - Paris Sites Named after Black Women

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Gare Rosa Parks at twilight
© Discover Paris!

For Women's History Month, I thought it would be fun to look at articles I've published about places in Paris that bear the name of a Black woman.

I hope you enjoy these blasts from the past!

A Paris Park Named after Aretha

This new park in the 20th arrondissement is already well developed. Two additional phases of construction have yet to be completed.

"Prairie" at Parc Aretha Franklin
© Entrée to Black Paris

https://www.entreetoblackparis.com/blog/a-paris-park-named-after-aretha

New Signage Honors Josephine Baker in Paris

Beautiful black&white photos now decorate two of the three sides of the street sign that stands in the center of Place Josephine Baker.

Black&white photos at Place Josephine Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

https://www.entreetoblackparis.com/blog/new-signage-honors-josephine-baker-in-paris

Jane and Paulette Nardal Honored in Paris

Paulette Nardal was the first woman of African descent to receive a degree from the Sorbonne; her sister Jane followed in her footsteps soon afterward. Both women are honored with a promenade in the 14th arrondissement.

Street sign - Promenade Jane et Paulette Nardal
© Entrée to Black Paris

https://www.entreetoblackparis.com/blog/jane-and-paulette-nardal-honored-in-paris

Rue Bessie Coleman

I have yet to venture back to rue Bessie Coleman since publishing this article. I hope that the street signs that identify this short stretch of pavement are more elegantly mounted now!

Street sign for rue Bessie Coleman
Image by Chabe01 - CC-BY-SA-4.0

https://www.entreetoblackparis.com/blog/rue-bessie-coleman

Honoring Rosa Parks

The 2015 opening of the RER E station named after Rosa Parks inspired the development of an entire quartier, which is also named after the U.S. civil rights heroine.

Gare Rosa Parks at twilight
© Discover Paris!

https://www.entreetoblackparis.com/blog/honoring-rosa-parks

BIRTHMARK - An Art Exhibition

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Aalyiah Heath at BIRTHMARK
© Entrée to Black Paris

Little Africa Village is hosting an exhibition of contemporary painting and photography called BIRTHMARK.

Curator Aalyiah Heath of Popout Together conceived this show as an invitation for visitors to engage with the dual meaning of "color" as it pertains to the rich, diverse shades of black skin as well as the vibrant use of this pigment in art.

Works by three artists are featured in the exhibition. There are photographs from three series by Akil Carter, oil and acrylic paintings on canvas by Setkia, and acrylic and Posca paintings on canvas by Véronique Gonçalves.

Photo by Akil Carter (left) and paintings by Ketsia (center and right)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Photos by Akil Carter (left) and painting by Ketsia (right)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Curator Aalyiah Heath and paintings by Véronique Gonçalves
© Entrée to Black Paris

Part of the text on the information panel mounted on an easel at the beginning of the exhibition reads as follows:

In this exhibition, the term birthmark represents not only physical characteristics, but [also] symbols of individuality, heritage, and the narratives we carry through life. Just as a birthmark can tell a unique story about one's origins and experiences, the colors chosen by the artists represent their diverse backgrounds, influences, and personal journeys.

Little Africa Village has mounted BIRTHMARK as part of the Paris Noir exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, which will open on March 19 and run through June 30, 2025.

BIRTHMARK will be on display through March 28, 2025.

Little Africa Village
6 bis, rue des Gardes
75018 Paris
Metro: Barbès-Rochechouart (Lines 2 and 4)
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11 AM - 7 PM; closed Sunday and Monday

PERSPECTIVE at Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Works by Noel W. Anderson (left) and Kim Dacres (right)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Zidoun-Bossuyt's Paris gallery is currently showcasing the works of multiple artists in an exhibition entitled Perspective. The gallery's intent is to encourage visitors to reflect on the nature of today's society by engaging with the artists' visual expressions of a wide range of themes, including selfhood, culture, historical narratives, and environmental issues.

I had the opportunity to participate in a private viewing of the works on display and was particularly taken by the pieces created by Eddy Kamuanga, Noel W. Anderson, and Kim Dacres.

Eddy Kamuanga presented his first solo exhibition at Zidoun-Bossuyt Luxembourg in 2023. His paintings highlight the impact of globalization on African societies, blending traditional motifs with contemporary elements.

L’esthétique du chaos 3, 2023
Acrylic and oil on canvas
198 x 200 cm (78 x 78 3/4 in)

Specifically, Kamuanga incorporates motifs of printed circuit boards into traditional scenes representative of his homeland, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

His L’esthétique du chaos 3 (2023) is the focal point for all visitors entering the gallery. It is hung in the center at the rear of the exhibition space.

Noel W. Anderson explores the complexities of African-American identity through a blend of traditional and innovative techniques His works intertwine his fascination with mediated images, woven tapestries, and soundscapes.

Each tapestry begins with a found image, which he digitally manipulates through mirroring, inverting, cropping, or other distortions before reproducing it on a digital jacquard loom.

His work entitled Black Exhaustion: But Where? dominates the wall on the left side of the front room of the exhibition.

Black Exhaustion: But Where?, 2022-2023
Picked and distressed cotton tapestry
266.7 x 396.2 cm (105 x 156 in)

Kim Dacres is a visual artist who uses found tires and rubber to create sculptures celebrating influential forces in her life such as family, community, musicians, athletes, and ideas. She collects and disassembles tires, layering them around wooden armatures using screws and treating them with spray paint.

Des, 2023
Recycled tires, braided bicycle inner tubes, zip ties, wood, screws, and spray paint
Sculpture: 66 x 29.2 x 35.6 cm (26 x 11 1/2 x 14 in) 36lbs - 16,3kg
Circle Plinth, Stained wood: 107.3 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm (42 1/4 x 15 x 15 in) 33lbs - 15kg

Dacres constructs facial expressions and hair styles for her pieces to give them charisma and celebrate their Blackness. Through her work, she invites viewers to consider who is entitled to space and deserving of commemoration.

She uses discarded rubber because of its color and odor and also because she views it as a symbolic representation of experience paired with wear and tear leading to discard. Through the process of layering, the rubber is transformed into muscle, bone, skin, hair, and personal style.

One of Dacres’ busts – Des (2023) – is on display on the first floor of the exhibition. It addresses how braids and other hair styles impact how Black women and girls are viewed in the spaces they occupy.

Perspective will be open through April 5, 2025.

Zidoun & Bossuyt
51 rue de Seine
75006 Paris
Metro: Mabillon (Line 10)
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11 AM to 6 PM

L'Oréal at the Louvre

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Advertisement for de toutes beautés at the Louvre
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, Tom and I set off for the Louvre in anticipation of seeing some of the "more than a hundred different works in the museum’s collections" that the Louvre advertised as being part of the de toutes beautés exhibition it curated in collaboration with L'Oréal.

Our curiosity about the show was piqued when we saw the graphic used to promote it.

"de toutes beautés!" at the Louvre
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon arriving at the museum, we went directly to the kiosk where the advertisement is posted and scanned the QR code with the expectation that we'd be able to download a map of the show. I was not able to access the pdf file, so we went to the entrance of the Sully wing (which was closest to the kiosk) and asked for directions.

The ticket scanner told us that we would find the exhibition on the first floor.

Entrance to Sully Wing
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we arrived there, we found no signage about the show and had difficulty finding staff people to ask about it.

Surprisingly, no one knew about the exhibition and therefore could not direct us to it.

A couple of staff members thought we were talking about the France Couture exhibition and endeavored to direct us there.

When I pulled out my phone to show an image of the advertising graphic to the third staff person we approached, I discovered that the pdf file from the QR code was finally accessible. I showed the page to the staff person, and she confirmed that she did not know anything about the show.

That's when I learned that the exhibition works are not assembled into a single space. Rather, they remain in their original locations, and it is up to the visitor to walk through the museum to find them.

The works are found on all four levels (-1, 0, 1, and 2) and in all three wings (Denon, Sully, and Richelieu) of the museum.

According to the pdf file, there are far fewer works in the exhibition than the "more than a hundred" that the Louvre mentions on the promotional page for the show.

There are 44, to be exact.

Of these, only two present Black figures: (Presumed) Portrait of Madeleine (Portrait présume de Madeleine) by Marie-Guillemine Benoist and The Turkish Bath (Le Bain Turc) by Ingres.

Both are in the Sully wing on Level 2.

Monique and Portrait présumé de Madeleine
Marie-Guillemine Benoist
1800 Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le bain turc
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
1862 Oil on canvas mounted on board
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le bain turc (détails)
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
1862 Oil on canvas mounted on board
© Entrée to Black Paris

(These two works are included in our Black Images in European Art at the Louvre tour.)

In traipsing around the Sully wing to try to find the exhibition, we came across a couple of beautiful sculpted fragments representing the heads of Black men (Salle des Bronzes Grecs) and an image of a Black woman in a painting called La Génie de la France anime les Arts, protège l'Humanité on the ceiling of the 9e Salle du Musée Charles V.

Tête d'un homme noir 1
525-475 BC Terra cotta
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tête d'un homme noir 2
525-475 BC Terra cotta
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Génie de la France anime les Arts, protège l'Humanité
Baron Antoine-Jean Gros
1830-1833 Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Génie de la France anime les Arts, protège l'Humanité (détail)
Baron Antoine-Jean Gros
1830-1833 Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

(These works are not included in our Black Images in European Art at the Louvre tour.)

If you intend to see everything in de toutes beautés, be prepared for a marathon walk!

Find the pdf file, with a small image of each work and its location, HERE.

Documentary Honoring Gordon Parks Screened in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Promo graphic for I Needed Paris screening in Paris (cropped)

From May 28 – June 2, 2024, nine students from the Gordon Parks Academy (GPA) middle school in Wichita, KS visited Paris, France to walk in the footsteps of their school’s namesake, photographer/filmmaker/composer Gordon Parks.

Their various activities were video recorded and made into a 40-minute documentary entitled I Needed Paris, which was screened for the first time at the Tallgrass Film Festival in Wichita in October 2024.

Graphic for promotion of Tallgrass Film Festival Screening

In celebration of Black History Month 2025, on February 1, the documentary was screened at the bar of Restaurant le 47 (former home of Josephine Baker's second night club) in Paris' 8th arrondissement.

Façade of Restaurant le 47
© Entrée to Black Paris

The event was jointly organized by Professor D. Michael Cheers, director of the film and professor at San Jose State University, Sistah Circle Paris, the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-déscendents, and the American Cathedral of Paris.

Brian Scott Bagley, founder of the Musée Joséphine Baker, acted as MC for the evening. Speaking to a full house, he introduced Professor Cheers, who in turn, introduced the film.

Brian Scott Bagley
© Entrée to Black Paris

Professor D. Michael Cheers (standing at left) addressing the audience
© Entrée to Black Paris

Professor Cheers met Gordon Parks in 1971, when he was a photographer and writer for his high school school newspaper. Parks mentored Cheers, and the two men became friends.

For the past three years, Cheers has been a scholar-in-residence at the Gordon Parks Museum in Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks' hometown. He works on projects that keep Parks' legacy alive.

The film follows the GPA students and their educators through their preparation for the trip, their flight to Paris, and their activities in Paris.

Frame from I Needed Paris - Gordon Parks Academy in Wichita, KS
© Entrée to Black Paris

It incorporates interviews with multiple African-American expatriates, including singer and Wichita native, Joan Minor. Minor spoke passionately about the impact that traveling and living abroad has had on her life, as did the other interviewees.

Frame from I Needed Paris - Gordon Parks Academy in Wichita, KS
© Entrée to Black Paris

Many scenes were devoted to following the students as they sharpened their photography skills and interviewing them about what they learned during the trip.

Frame from I Needed Paris - Student discussing photography
© Entrée to Black Paris

After the film, Professor Cheers presented a slide show of portraits of African Americans who are long term Paris residents. I was pleased to be included in the portrait series.

Slide presenting portrait of Dr. Monique Y. Wells in the Luxembourg Garden
Image courtesy of Professor Michael Cheers

At the end of the evening, Professor Cheers announced that he will make I Needed Paris available for viewing at no charge.

Watch this space for news of when this occurs.

What's on in Paris for Black History Month 2025

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Detail from Progress of the American Negro by Charles White (1940)
Graphic for Black History Month celebration at Université de Paris 8

For those seeking activities relevant to Black History Month in Paris this year, you have several from which to choose!

I Needed Paris - 1 February 2025

I Needed Paris follows nine middle school photo students from Gordon Parks Academy in Wichita, KS on their Spring 2024 journey to Paris to walk in the footsteps of their school's namesake and re-imagine his fashion, portrait, and street photography during his 1950-1952 tenure as a photographer in LIFE magazine's Paris bureau.

The documentary will be screened at Restaurant 47, 47 rue François Ier, 75008 Paris on February 1, 2025.

RSVP: sistahcircleparis@gmail.com

Black History Month at the Université de Paris 8 - through 5 February 2025

The library at the Université de Paris 8 in Saint-Denis is celebrating Black History Month with a photography exhibition called L’effacement des cimetières noirs aux Etats-Unis (The Erasure of Black Cemeteries in the United States). Works by Pauline Peretz et endika will be featured there.

On February 5, the closing date for the exhibition, the library will host a conference called Des récits et des lieux pour raconter l’histoire africaine-américaine (Stories and Placed to Tell African-American History). Three professors and university students will discuss slave narratives as sources and tools for scientific mediation; the intertwining of history, contemporary art, and the transatlantic slave trade in memory; and the resurgence of African-American cemeteries in cities.

For more information (in French), click HERE.

James Baldwin Study Day - 7 February 2025

On February 7, 2025, the Giacometti Foundation will host a James Baldwin Study Day entitled Rencontres artistiques : James Baldwin en France (Artistic Encounters: James Baldwin in France).

The foundation has organized this day to open research on the richness of artistic exchanges around Baldwin in France. It will bring together art historians and Baldwin scholars who will comment upon Baldwin's little known writings about the plastic arts.

Admission is free.

To learn more and to register for this event, click HERE.

Black History Scavenger Hunt (for children) - 15 February 2025

This event is accessible to library members only.

Participants will learn about several important historical figures; then receive tips and tricks for navigating the Library before heading into the stacks to discover more information about Black heroes in American history. Prizes will be given to those who complete the scavenger hunt. Children under the ages of 9 will require an adult chaperone to assist them.

Guillon Lethière, Né à la Guadeloupe - through 17 February 2025

Guillaume Guillon Lethière was a brilliant mixed-race artist from Guadeloupe who has largely been forgotten by the professional art world.

An exhibition at the Louvre, mounted in collaboration with the Clark Art Center of Williamstown, MA, brings him front and center through February 17, 2025.

Read our review of the exhibition HERE.

Wheatley at 250 - 25 February 2025

Phillis Wheatley was the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published in London in 1773.

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of this work, Wheatley at 250: Black Women Poets Re-imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters brings together 20 Black female poets to reimagine her legacy and voice.

On Tuesday, February 25, the American Library in Paris will welcome Danielle Legros Georges and Artress Bethany White, co-editors of the collection, and Florence Ladd, novelist and poet, for a conversation about Wheatley’s impact on the literary world and how her work resonates today. Professor and author Trica Keaton will serve as moderator.

The discussion will be available both online and in person.

To register, click HERE.

AND IN BORDEAUX

Screening of Spike Lee's film, Malcolm X - 22 February 2025

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, the Mémoires & Partages network is inviting the public to a weekend of free festivities and commitments around the memory of the fights for freedom.

This will include a screening of Spike Lee's film, Malcolm X, on Saturday, February 22.

For information (in French), click HERE.

Midway through the James Baldwin Centennial Year

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Fondation-Giacometti image for James Baldwin Study Day
Screenshot from Fondation-Giacometti Website

On February 7, 2025, the Giacometti Foundation will host a James Baldwin Study Day at the Institut Giacometti in the 14th arrondissement.

It is entitled Rencontres artistiques : James Baldwin en France (Artistic Encounters: James Baldwin in France).

The foundation has created this day to open research on the richness of artistic exchanges around Baldwin in France. It will bring together art historians and Baldwin scholars who will comment upon Baldwin's little known writings about the plastic arts.

Admission is free.

Being invited to this event immediately caused me to think about the fabulous James Baldwin Centennial Festival hosted in Paris by La Maison Baldwin last September.

(Read an extensive article about the entire festival HERE and ETBP's article about the festival gala HERE.)

It also inspired me to look at what else has transpired in Paris to honor Baldwin during the first six months of this special year.

Radio France

On August 2, 2024, Radio France's Les Midis de Culture broadcast a 44-minute conversation called "Il aurait eu cent ans: pourquoi faut-il (re)lire James Baldwin?" ("He would have been 100 years old; why is it necessary to (re)read James Baldwin?")

Speaking were writer/novelist Léonora Miano and professor Yannick M. Blec.

RFI

Radio France Internationale published an article honoring Baldwin on August 3, 2024. It encouraged readers to seek out five specific Baldwin titles to "redécouvrir la puissance et l’universalité de son œuvre singulière" (to rediscover the power and universality of his singular work):

Go Tell It on the Mountain
Giovanni's Room
If Beale Street Could Talk
The Fire Next Time
The Cross of Redemption

On August 23, the station also interviewed Professor Blec about his newly published biography of Baldwin (see below).

Librairie Libertalia

The Libertalia bookstore in the Paris suburb of Montreuil welcomed Professor Blec on the evening of September 6, 2024 to celebrate the publication of Blec's James Baldwin biography.

James Baldwin by Yannick M. Blec
Image of book cover

American University of Paris

The American University of Paris hosted the art exhibition entitled Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin from September 6-30, 2024.

In 2016, the university hosted a symposium on Baldwin entitled "A Language to Dwell in." Artist Sabrina Nelson attended that symposium and created a sketch of Baldwin during a presentation by poet Jessica Care Moore. This was the beginning of Nelson's calling to create the traveling exhibition that "came home" to Paris last fall.

Works from Frontline Prophet at the American University of Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Maison de la Poésie

For last year's Festival des toutes lettres (a Paris literary festival), La Maison de la Poésie hosted "James Baldwin by Dany Laferrière in dialogue with Simon Njami" on November 15, 2024.

Haitian-Canadian writer Dany Laferrière and Camaroonian writer, independent curator, art critic and lecturer Simon Njami talked about Baldwin on camera in front of a live audience for just under an hour. The video and accompanying transcript (in French) are available for viewing/reading on YouTube.

Maison de l'Amérique Latine

On December 17, 2024, La Maison de l'Amérique Latine welcomed Sophie Haluk, journalist and musician who has written an extensive biography called James Baldwin, L'Insaissable (The Elusive James Baldwin). Haluk's book focuses extensively on Baldwin's life in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

James Baldwin, L'insaissable by Sophie Haluk
Image of book cover

Guillaume Guillon Lethière - Born in Guadeloupe

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover Image: Le Serment aux Ancêtres (detail) by Guillaume Guillon Lethière
Image in public domain

When I went to the Louvre several weeks ago to see the Barbara Chase-Riboud works displayed during her Everytime a Knot Is Undone... exhibition, I walked past an exhibition entitled Guillon Lethière - Né à la Guadeloupe (Born in Guadeloupe).

I didn't have time to explore it then, but I was intrigued by the subtitle of the show and vowed to investigate it.

When I learned that Guillon Lethière was the creator of the iconic painting that is being used to advertise the exhibition, Le Serment aux Ancêtres, I decided to explore it to learn about the artist.

Pillar advertising Guillon Lethière - Né à la Guadeloupe at the Louvre
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lethière was the son of a freed mixed-race (metisse) Guadeloupan woman and a white French plantation owner and slave holder. His father brought him to France when he was 14 years old and legally recognized him when he was 39. This allowed Lethière to adopt his father's name - Guillon - which he used professionally thereafter.

Guillaume Guillon Lethière by Julien-Léopold Boilly
Public domain

I have not found any information about the fate of his mother.

Guillon Lethière had an aptitude for painting and became a well-respected and prominent artist during the early 19th century. Trained during the Ancient Regime, he painted professionally during the Napoleonic era and the Restoration. Lucien Bonaparte (Napoleon's brother) was his patron and loyal supporter, and it was because of this relationship that Lethière was appointed director of the French Academy in Rome.

Much of the exhibition portrays the artist's rise to prominence and the classic style of painting he preferred. Two of his monumental works, Brutus condamnant ses fils à mort (1811) and La Mort de Virginie (1828), hang permanently in the Denon wing of the Louvre. At approximately 4.5 m x 8 m (14.7 ft x 26.2 ft), they were too large to move to the Sully wing for this exhibition. They are frequently referenced through the panels at the entrance to both sides of the exhibition, preparatory pieces of various sections of the finished works, and a video near the end of the show.

La Mort de Virginie at entrance to Part 1 of the exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Brutus condamnant ses fils à mort
at entrance to Part 2 of the exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because Guillon Lethière did not adapt to the changes in style that emerged in the professional art world, his works eventually fell out of favor, and he became largely forgotten.

The exhibition pays considerable attention to the importance the French Caribbean held for the artist. In the first section, visitors learn that he was friends with Thomas Alexandre Dumas (who became a general in Napoleon's army), his son, Alexandre Dumas père (writer), and a painter named Benjamin Rolland.

Portrait of Benjamin Rolland by Anne-Louis Girodet
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bust of Alexandre Dumas, père by Jacques-Auguste Fauginet
© Entrée to Black Paris

All these men were of mixed race and all had origins in the French Caribbean. Thomas Alexandre Dumas and Benjamin Rolland were both sons of enslaved women.

It is presumed that Lethière and Rolland met through their mutual friend, history painter Fortuné Dufau, who was born in Saint Domingue (Haïti).

Lethière's son married a Haïtian woman and moved to the island.

Alexandre Dumas, père eulogized Lethière at his funeral.

Toward the middle of the show, we learn that Guillon Lethière taught Caribbean painters at his private studio and at the Académie des Beaux Arts, where he was named a professor in 1819.

He taught several women painters at his studio as well.

As I made my way through the exhibition, I was pleased to learn so much about Lethière's personal motivations and preferences. They whetted my appetite for what I knew was the "grand finale" of the show, the Serment des Ancêtres.

When I arrived at the room where it was displayed, I was disappointed to find a huge black & white replica of it!

Le Serment des Ancêtres in Black & White
© Entrée to Black Paris

The information panel at the lower left of the wall indicated that the original work was unexpectedly not able to travel to Paris for this show.

A recess in the wall opposite the replica shelters a bench where visitors can listen to audio commentary about the painting.

On another wall in this room, a smaller color replica of the painting is "dissected" to provide information about individual elements of the work.

Le Serment des Ancêtres in detail
© Entrée to Black Paris

The men represented are General Alexandre Pétion (left), first president of the Republic of Haïti, and General Jean-Jacques Dessalines (right), governor-general and first emperor of Haïti. A representation of God hovers over them, and scenes evoking the revolution are depicted in the background.

Nearby, a timeline lists the major events that transpired between the Haïtian Revolution and the creation of Le Serment des Ancêtres.

For me, the most interesting thing about this painting is the fact that the artist painted it in secret and offered it as a gift to Haïti!

Napoleon had reinstated slavery twenty years before Guillon Lethière created this work, and France had not yet recognized Haïti as an independent nation at the time he finished it. He was at the pinnacle of his career, which he owed largely to the patronage of Napoleon's brother.

One can easily imagine that to create this work overtly would have provoked the ire of the emperor and his brother and likely jeopardized his professional future.

To signify solidarity with the people of Haïti, Guillon Lethière included the words "Né à la Guadeloupe" (born in Guadeloupe) in his signature for the first and only time when he created this work.

The signature is found at the base of the pillar in the center of the painting.

Le Serment des Ancêtres - signature in replica of painting
© Entrée to Black Paris

A replica of the signature is displayed on the wall next to the black & white replica of the painting.

Le Serment des Ancêtres - replica of signature in painting
© Entrée to Black Paris

The timeline mentioned above indicates that Guillon Lethière's son, Auguste, secretly transported the painting to Haïti and presented it to the country's people on his father's behalf.

Guillon Lethière - Né à la Guadeloupe will be on display in the Napoleon Mezzanine of the Sully wing at the Louvre through February 17, 2025.

Art and Food Pairing™ - with a Twist

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley by Anne-Marie Girodet
© Entrée to Black Paris

Since February 2011, I have periodically posted articles under the rubric "ETBP Art and Food Pairing™."

My original concept was to write these articles after exploring museums and galleries that display African or Black diaspora works, and then dining at a nearby African or Afro-Caribbean restaurant.

Today's Art and Food Pairing™ is different.

It features a single painting of a Black man created by a White European artist and a nearby restaurant that features French cuisine prepared by a Black chef from Mali.

THE PAINTING

Last week, Tom and I ventured to Versailles for a guided tour of l'Attique Chimay - one of the Palace of Versailles's attics. We were drawn there because of advertisements in the metro that featured the portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley, a Senegalese enslaved person turned French citizen, wigmaker, and military officer. He was first Black representative of Saint-Domingue (now Haïti) in the newly formed government that emerged from the French Revolution, serving in this capacity from 1793-1799.

Metro ad for l'Autre Versailles
© Entrée to Black Paris

We have seen images of this portrait in books and online for years and did not want to miss the opportunity to view it in person, given that it is not on permanent display.

So, we purchased tickets for a 90-minute tour.

On a cold, gray, and rainy morning, we took the RER to Versailles.

RER C train to Versailles Château
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because our rendezvous point to meet the guide was at the North Minister Wing of the château, we did not have to stand with the tourists waiting in line for their turn to enter the palace and grounds.

Tourists at Versailles
© Entrée to Black Paris

Our guide was a loquacious woman who took us straight to the attic, which we approached via the Queen's Staircase.

The Queen's Staircase
© Entrée to Black Paris

We learned that l'Attique Chimay is named after Laure Auguste de Fitz-James, Princesse de Chimey, who was Marie Antoinette's lady-in-waiting.

It is also known as the Revolution Galleries, and we quickly understood that we were going to experience a timeline of the French Revolution and the early days of the Napoleonic era through art.

Much of the exhibition focused on Napoleon and the military campaigns that fueled his ascension to Premier Consul of France.

The portrait of Belley was in the last room we visited. While not monumental in size, it is quite large, and it hangs in isolation between two windows that look out onto the palace grounds.

Tour participants look at portrait
© Entrée to Black Paris

Palace grounds
© Entrée to Black Paris

Much has been written about the way in which the artist, Anne-Marie Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, portrayed Belley in this handsome painting.

Where some see a depiction of a proud, accomplished man, others see a work they believe seeks to stereotype and degrade him.

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Bellay, Deputy of Saint Domingue
Anne-Marie Girodet de Roussy-Trioson
1797 Oil on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Interestingly, the first time the portrait was shown, it was listed as Portrait d'un nègre (a "generous" translation would be "Portrait of a Black man").

A year later, it was listed as Portrait du c. Belley (with the "c." standing for "citoyen" ["citizen"]).

A detailed presentation of Belley's life and the artistic critiques of Girodet's portrait of him is beyond the scope of this article.

THE RESTAURANT

After our tour of the attic, we ventured into the town of Versailles, where we had a lunch reservation at Les 4 Saisons.

This small, two-story restaurant is 10-15 minutes away from the palace by foot.

Les 4 Saisons façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

Maître de salle Philippe Arena greeted us and escorted us up a steep stairway to the larger of the restaurant's two dining rooms, which was practically full when we arrived at around 1:15 PM.

We caught a glimpse of Chef Mody Sacko before heading up the stairs.

Chef Mody Sacko
Image courtesy of Les 4 Saisons

We settled in comfortably and perused the menu. Tom decided to get the three-course lunch special, while I ordered two courses à la carte.

Chef Sacko had prepared Velouté de légumes as an amuse-bouche to whet our appetites for our meal. The smooth, thick, creamy soup was dressed with a dollop of heavy cream containing diced chestnuts. It was scrumptious!

Velouté de légumes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom ordered Rouleau d’avocat farci au tartare de saumon as a starter. This was salmon tartar wrapped in thinly slice avocado and dressed with rose petals and soft salad leaves.

Purées of watercress, beet, and orange gave additional color to the plate.

Rouleau d’avocat farci au tartare de saumon
© Entrée to Black Paris

The main dish for the lunch special was Chapon farci au foie gras et champignons (capon stuffed with foie gras and mushrooms). It was served with puréed potatoes and root vegetables and topped with a leaf of mesclun salad. Tom selected a Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune 2023 from the Château de Melin as the wine accompaniment.

Chapon farci au foie gras et champignons
© Entrée to Black Paris

Though the plate was beautifully presented, Tom discovered that he does not like the flavor of capon!

I opted for the Souris d'agneau désossé et legumes confites as my main dish.

I received a disk of deboned lamb encircled with a single strip of cooked zucchini. Resting in a pool of dark gravy, it was surrounded by preserved root veggies and a dollop of puréed potato.

Souris d'agneau désossé et légumes confites
© Entrée to Black Paris

I absolutely loved this dish, as well as the 2019 Pic Saint-Loup, Pleine Lune, Domaine Beauthorey that I selected to accompany it!

For dessert, Tom was served Tarte aux Myrtilles - a blueberry tart made with a shortbread crust. The tart was topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a sesame crisp.

Mango and raspberry coulis added vibrance to the dish, which Tom enjoyed.

Tarte aux myrtilles
© Entrée to Black Paris

I selected Mœlleux au chocolat caraïbes, cœur coulant, caramel au beurre salé for my dessert. This consisted of rich, dense, melted chocolate encased in a thin shell of chocolate cake and accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a thin sesame crisp, and coulis of raspberry, mango, and caramel.

Mœlleux au chocolat caraïbes, cœur coulant, caramel au beurre salé
© Entrée to Black Paris

I would have loved to be served only caramel coulis, because I don't like raspberry and only tolerate mango.

My favorite parts of this dish were the melted chocolate center of the cake and the sesame crisp!

Chef Sacko perfected his art in the kitchens of Le Potager du Roy and Les Trois Marches in Versailles, under the direction of renowned French chef Gérard Vié. He and Maître de Salle Arena have served up superb French cuisine at Les 4 Saisons for over 10 years.

Les 4 Saisons
40, rue Carnot
78000 Versailles
RER C - Versailles Château Rive Gauche
Tel: 09.83.31.60.09

Our Visit to La Rochelle - Part 3

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Toussaint Louverture (2105 bronze) by Ousmane Sow (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

The highlight of our last full day in La Rochelle was our visit to the Musée du Nouveau-Monde (New World Museum).

Musée du Nouveau-Monde entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

The museum lies on rue Louis-Benjamin Fleuriau, a street named after a descendant of one of La Rochelle's most prominent slave owners.

Street sign - rue Louis-Benjamin Fleuriau
© Entrée to Black Paris

The magnificent edifice that houses the museum was built between 1740 and 1750 in the Parisian style - a three-sided building flanking a courtyard closed by a grand doorway. Plantation and refinery owner Aimé-Benjamin Fleuriau purchased the property in 1772 and enlarged it in 1780 by adding an adjoining building and garden at the rear of the original property.

Musée du Nouveau Monde garden
© Entrée to Black Paris

The museum presents the history of France's conquest of the "New World," namely North America, South America (Brazil), and the Caribbean. Our two-hour visit with our guide, Marie-Agnes, focused solely on France's history of slavery and the slave trade.

Much of what we saw was located on the first floor of the museum.

Panels at the top of one room list a subset of the numerous voyages made by slave ships that departed La Rochelle for various destinations on the West African coast.

Musée du Nouveau Monde - Triangular Commerce - Room 4
© Entrée to Black Paris

In another room, we saw paintings, models, and other items representing plantation life in the Antilles.

Le Saladier aux Esclaves
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Saladier aux Esclaves (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Marie-Agnes was careful to explain that part of the reason France came to rely so heavily on the triangular trade was because it lost its holdings in Canada to the British during the Seven Years War. She informed us that while sugar cane rapidly became the most lucrative crop to produce in the French Caribbean, indigo, tobacco, and cacao were also produced there.

She spoke about Le Code Noir (The Black Code), the book-long set of regulations on slave ownership, including forms of punishment.

The whip displayed on the panel pictured below is made from rhinoceros nerve.

Panel describing Le Code Noir
© Entrée to Black Paris

We saw what is purportedly the most faithful likeness of Toussaint Louverture in a portrait by Leboiteux after a drawing by Montfayon.

Portrait of Toussaint Louverture by Leboiteux
© Entrée to Black Paris

The top floor of the museum is dedicated to contemporary art. I found two of the works displayed there particularly intriguing.

One was a huge allegorical painting by Congolese (RDC) artist Camille-Pierre Pantu Bodo that presented Barack Obama and the challenges he faced during his first term as president.

A New World ?
Pierre Pantu Bodo
2008 Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

The other was a photographic representation of an installation by Pierre David that the museum mounted in 2011.

Intrigued by the artistic portrayal of an 18th-century Black albino named Siriaco in a painting called La Mascarada Nuptiale by José Conrado Roza, David was inspired to reproduce the nuances of the skin tones of Black people using paint.

La Mascarade Nuptiale
José Conrado Rosa
1788 Oil on canvas
Permanent collection
Musée du Nouveau-Monde
© Entrée to Black Paris

He created an installation called Nuancier, which was first shown at the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia in Salvador de Bahia in 2009.*

In Salvador, David created photo portraits of 40 museum employees. At the same time, he photographed a 15-centimeter (5.9-inch) area of each employee's scapula to create a color chart similar to what is used to select paint shades for architectural and interior design projects.

He had paint created in each of these colors. On each can of paint, he placed the photo portrait of the corresponding museum employee.

Color fan for Nuancier installation by Pierre David
© Entrée to Black Paris

At the Musée du Nouveau-Monde, David's installation consisted of two rooms that were painted in the rose and brown hues that characterized Siriaco's skin.

The contents of these rooms were removed and replaced with tables on which sat the color chart and the paint cans.

La Mascarada Nuptiale graced the wall of one of the rooms, while the Portrait of Siriaco by Roza (which is part of the collection of the museum of the Ecole de Medicine de Paris) hung in the wall of the other room.

Photos of Nuancier installation at Le Musée du Nouveau-Monde by Pierre David
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was fascinated by the concept of this exhibition and wished I had been able to see it in person.

Descending the stairs to the ground floor, we spent several minutes in the gift shop. Much of the merchandise sold there was books, and I was surprised to see a number of titles by U.S. authors amidst them.

Books by U.S. authors in museum gift shop
© Entrée to Black Paris

Marie-Agnès "saved the best for last" by taking us back into the courtyard to discuss the magnificent larger-than-life sculpture of Toussaint Louverture that welcomes visitors to the museum.

Toussaint Louverture by Ousmane Sow - view from rue Fleuriau
© Entrée to Black Paris

Toussaint Louverture
Ousmane Sow
2015 Bronze
© Entrée to Black Paris

This may have been the last major work created by Sow.

The sculpture is 2.80 meters tall, and it commands the attention of anyone entering the courtyard or viewing the courtyard from the street. It was inaugurated in May 2015.

Unfortunately, the doors to the courtyard are solid, so those passing by after the museum is closed are not able to view it.

Information about the work and the artist is posted in French and English to the right of the entrance to the courtyard.

Information plaque re: Toussaint Louverture and Ousmane Sow
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Friday morning, we set out for the train station, satisfied that we had accomplished our mission to learn about La Rochelle's history re: slavery and the slave trade.

Before entering the station, we snapped some photos of the recently inaugurated Passerelle Josephine Baker that Marie-Agnès mentioned during our tour. It connects two La Rochelle neighborhoods on either side of the railroad tracks.

Though there is no signage to indicate the location of the footbridge, it is impossible to miss.

Passerelle Josephine Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

Read Part 1 of this article HERE.

Read Part 2 of this article HERE.

*Read about Nuancier HERE (article in French).

Our Visit to La Rochelle - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Medieval towers at the Old Port of La Rochelle
© Entrée to Black Paris

Read Part 1 of this blog post here.

On Wednesday morning, we left our hotel in the northwest corner of La Rochelle's Old Town and walked the route indicated by our hotel's staff to the city's visitor's center.

We were impressed by the stone arches that lined the streets of the town and marveled at the scores of sailboats docked at the Vieux Port (Old Port).

Stone arches
© Entrée to Black Paris

The old port
© Entrée to Black Paris

Arriving at the visitors' center, we met a lovely woman named Marie-Agnès, who served as our guide. She began the tour by showing us a huge aerial photograph of La Rochelle on a wall at the center. She explained the layout of the city and pointed out the various ports that serve the city today. She told us that during our tour, we would see the Old Port, the one that was implicated in the slave trade.

With this geographical orientation in mind, we set out for our walk.

A couple of minutes after leaving the tourist office, we saw the first of several street signs that recall La Rochelle's involvement in slavery and the slave trade (see image below).

Rue de l'Armide street sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

The English translation of the information on this sign is as follows:

"In 1749, the ship Armide was outfitted for the slave trade by Pierre Gabriel Admyrauld. Armide is a Muslim sorceress, a character from Jerusalem Delivered by the Italian poet Tasso."

These commemorative signs were installed by the city, which has publicly recognized its involvement with slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade for almost 40 years.

During the tour, we visited two churches that drove home the importance of these activities to the city.

Eglise Saint Sauveur had two ex-voto installations of slave ships on the walls.

Ex-voto ship at Eglise Saint Sauveur
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cathédral Saint-Louis had a chapel devoted to sailors, complete with a stained-glass window depicting a ship and several paintings representing slave ships.

Chapelle des Marins - stained glass
© Entrée to Black Paris

Marie-Agnès took special care to describe the history of Le Saphir (The Sapphire), one of the ships portrayed here. Owner Elie Giraudeau named his slave ships after precious stones. In 1737, The Sapphire left La Rochelle for the coast of Guinea in West Africa, where European goods were traded for captives. The ship subsequently set sail for the island of Saint-Domingue (Haïti). There, the captives were sold for goods (predominantly partially processed sugar) that were brought back to France.

Ex-voto painting of Le Saphir
© Entrée to Black Paris

A street sign in the Old Town commemorates this vessel.

What we saw in these houses of worship clearly demonstrates how the denizens of La Rochelle sought God's blessing for slaving activities.

We visited two streets where sugar refineries operated and learned that producing refined (crystalized) sugar in Saint Domingue was forbidden. Molasses (the syrup formed at the beginning of the sugar-making process) was what was exported from Saint Domingue to France. La Rochelle's refinery owners took this syrup and further processed it to produce refined sugar, which they sold in France and throughout Europe to expand their wealth.

On rue de l'Escale, a narrow road partially paved by stones, a refiner's home stood next to his storage facility at Number 24.

Rue de l'Escale
© Entrée to Black Paris

Residence and adjacent storage facility
© Entrée to Black Paris

Another refinery existed across the street at Number 23.

Former sugar refinery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Marie-Agnès told us that the black paving stones in the street had been brought to La Rochelle from Senegal. They had been used for ballast for the returning ships.

Black paving stones from Senegal
© Entrée to Black Paris

From rue de l'Escale, we walked through Square Jacques Rasteau to rue Gabriel Admyrauld. Across the street from the square, we found the entrance to the rear courtyard of the Tribunal du Commerce.

Rear entrance to the Tribunal du Commerce
© Entrée to Black Paris

A carefully manicured garden flanks the path between the rear courtyard and the main courtyard, which is graced with bas relief and haut relief maritime-themed sculptures by Levasseur. Among these are depictions of two ship sterns with animals on deck that evoke the companies operating in Guinea and Senegal.

Main courtyard of the Tribunal du Commerce
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bas relief by Levasseur
© Entrée to Black Paris

Haut relief representing the Guinea Company
© Entrée to Black Paris

Slave ship owners planned expeditions and conducted transactions at the Chamber of Commerce. Chamber directors were appointed directly by the king. Activity began during the reign of Louis XV and continued under Louis XVI.

After our thought-provoking walk through Old Town La Rochelle, we were primed for our visit to the Musée du Nouveau Monde. Come back next week to read about it in Part 3 (the final part) of this article.

Our Visit to La Rochelle - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover Image: Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave by Woodly CAYMOTTE, dit FILIPO
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we learned that the May 10, 2024 Journée nationale de commémoration des mémoires de la traite, de l'esclavage et de leur abolition (National Day of Commemoration of the memory of the slave trade, slavery, and their abolition) would take place in La Rochelle instead of Paris, Tom and I decided to visit this port city to see for ourselves where France's first ever triangular trade voyage began.

French government video of the May 10, 2024 ceremony

Other than the 2009 ceremony in Bordeaux, Paris has hosted the national ceremony since its inception in 2006. Given the work that Nantes has done to come to terms with its involvement in slavery and the slave trade, we were a bit surprised that it had not been selected for the 2024 ceremony. Though we visited this city twelve years ago, we vividly recalled the rooms in the Museum of the History of Nantes that are devoted to the history of slavery and the slave trade, the (then new) Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery, and the illustrated panels that present this history on the route between the museum and the memorial.

As Tom researched La Rochelle to plan for our trip, we began to understand its significance with regard to slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition. After much reading and consultation with the city's visitor's bureau, we arranged for a private, guided visit of the Vielle Ville (Old Town) and the Musée du Nouveau Monde (Museum of the New World).

We also made plans to visit the Parc d'Orbigny, a 3.7 hectare (9.1 acre) stretch of greenery along the Atlantic coast that the city of La Rochelle dedicated to the memory of the slave trade and slavery on May 10, 2008.

Commemoration Day plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

We arrived mid-afternoon on a Tuesday and spent just over two full days exploring this aspect of the city's history.

After checking into our Old Town hotel, we braved rain and strong winds to find our way to the park to see the sculpture called Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave by Woodly Caymotte, aka Filipo. At the time, we didn't know that rue Réamur, one of the streets along the route between our hotel and the park, had been home to several slave traders - including Daniel Garesché, the owner of the largest slave ship in La Rochelle.

Garesché's former abode (No. 18, rue Réamur) is now an historically classified monument.

No 18, rue Réamur - former home of Daniel Garesché
© Entrée to Black Paris

No 18, rue Réamur - historic monument marker
© Entrée to Black Paris

So is No. 40, rue Réamur, one of the addresses of the city prefecture. This building was owned by Michel Poupet, a merchant whose enslaved servant, Roc, successfully petitioned the government for his freedom in court.

No 40, rue Réamur - former home of Michel Poupet
© Entrée to Black Paris

We found Clarisse as the sun was about to set. The sculpture had been unveiled by Jean-François Fountaine, Mayor of La Rochelle, during the May 10, 2024 commemorative ceremony.

Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave in the rain
© Entrée to Black Paris

Clarisse was a woman who was purchased in Léogâne, a town in Saint-Domingue (now Haïti), and brought to La Rochelle. She was "possibly and probably" a wet nurse, whose function was to breastfeed her owner's children.

In 1793, the General Council of La Rochelle declared her "entirely free" and entitled to the same rights as other French citizens.

Because the city's wealth was largely tied to the slave trade and slavery in Saint Domingue, it is significant that the artist who created this sculpture is Haitian.

Born in 1993, Filipo hails from Port au Prince. He is classically trained and creates works that reflect Haitian history.

Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave information plaque (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

By the time we found the sculpture, it was almost dark. We snapped a few pictures but resolved to return the following day after our tour of the Old Town.

Thankfully, the weather was more cooperative when we returned to the location on Wednesday. We were able to examine the sculpture closely and photograph it from many angles.

Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave - right lateral view
© Entrée to Black Paris

Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave - rear
© Entrée to Black Paris

Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave - left lateral view
© Entrée to Black Paris

Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave - detail of left lateral view
© Entrée to Black Paris

Clarisse, Nourrice Esclave - Clarisse's child
© Entrée to Black Paris

We were also able to find the signs that identify the adjacent pathway as "Allée Aimé Césaire" and honor the Martinican statesman and poet.

Allée Aimé Césaire
© Entrée to Black Paris

Allée Aimé Césaire sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

Aimé Césaire plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

Close up of Aimé Césaire plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

Satisfied that one of the goals of our trip had been accomplished, we returned to our hotel.

Come back next week for Part 2 of this blog post, where I will present our guided visit of La Rochelle's Old Town.

Another Accolade for Elliott Barnes

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Seau "Dellipse" (center) at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs
© Entrée to Black Paris

On November 14, 2024, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs opened an exhibition featuring master silversmith Charles Christofle (1805- 1863) and the empire he built through the creation of opulent silver-plated and gold-plated tableware.

Musée des Arts Décoratifs façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

Portrait of Charles Christofle
© Entrée to Black Paris

Displayed on two floors in the Lefuel Wing of the Louvre, works in this show range from the centerpiece created for Napoleon III and rescued from the ruins of the Tuileries Palace after the fire that destroyed it during the Paris Commune in 1871 to dozens of modern and contemporary works that support or evoke the luxury of fine dining.

Relics from centerpiece belonging to Napoleon III
© Entrée to Black Paris

Exhibition staircase
© Entrée to Black Paris

Serving utensils and cutlery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Candelabra, chandelier, and guéridon
© Entrée to Black Paris

One of the contemporary works in this show was conceived by Elliott Barnes, an architect cum interior designer who is enjoying tremendous success in the latter field.

Elliott Barnes
© Benoît Auguste

Barnes is the only African-American -- indeed, the only American -- whose design is being displayed. His Seau "Dellipse," a sterling silver "bucket" designed to hold a single bottle of champagne, is being shown on the first floor of the exhibition in the installation called "The Silversmith's Workshop."

The Silversmith's Workshop
© Entrée to Black Paris

Seau "Dellipse"
2023 Sterling silver
© Entrée to Black Paris

Barnes shared the following story regarding how he was invited to design a work for Christofle:

Seven years ago I met the owner of Christofle at one of their events. He told me that if I had an idea, they would make it.

I had recently finished the headquarters and tasting center for RUINART in Reims and was starting to design a reception and tasting center for Billecart Salmon in Mareuil sur Aÿ, so I thought a project around champagne would be fun. I began to exchange ideas with the brand's design team, and we decided to make a three-piece sterling silver champagne set.

My design idea began by combining the "C" from Christofle and the "C" from champagne to make an oval form.

Then, inspired by the twist of the bottle that is done after serving a glass of the wine, I decided to twist and extruded the oval shape to create a form that also references Richard Serra's work.

Barnes at work
© Adel Slimane Fecih

Sketching
© Adel Slimane Fecih

Only one item from the three-piece set is on display at the museum.

The other two pieces are the vasque à champagne (a bowl that holds three bottles of champagne) and the sabre à champagne (a saber for opening champagne bottles).

Vasque, seau, and sabre "Dellipse"
Image courtesy of Elliott Barnes

Each of the three items was produced by Christofle as a limited series in 2022. The seau and vasque are made of sterling silver, while the saber is made of forged steel (blade) and sterling silver (handle).

All can be seen and purchased at the Christofle flagship store at 9 rue Royale, Paris 75008.

Christofle is being shown through April 20, 2025.

Musée des Arts Décoratifs
107, rue de Rivoli
75001 Paris
Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 AM to 6 PM.
Open Thursday from 11 AM to 9 PM.
Closed Monday.
Tickets: 15€
Web address: madparis.fr

To read more about Elliott Barnes, click on the links below.

Black Paris Profiles II: Elliott Barnes

Elliott Barnes at the Musée Carnavalet

Elliott Barnes at AD Interiors 2017

Elliott Barnes Reaches New Pinnacles of Success

Celebrating Elliott Barnes

Elliott Barnes
© Adel Slimane Fecih

Barbara Chase-Riboud at the Louvre

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Cleopatra's Bed in the Salle des Caryatides
© Entrée to Black Paris

After having seen Barbara Chase-Riboud's Intimate Folds exhibition at London's Serpentine Gallery in December 2022, I was looking forward to seeing as much as possible of her multi-venued Everytime a Knot Is Undone, a God Is Released exhibition in Paris.

The day after I viewed the two sculptures from Chase-Riboud's Zanzibar series that are on display at the Musée National de l'Histoire de l'Immigration and read the accompanying poem, I was thrilled to see the three works her curatorial team selected for display at the Louvre.

Entering the museum through the glass pyramid at the Cour Napoleon, I was immediately greeted by her Gold Column (1973).

Gold Column
1973 Polished bronze and silk cords
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Made from polished bronze and silk cords, it stands like a beacon beneath the glass of the grand pyramid.

Gold Column (detail)
1973, polished bronze and silk cords
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

While there is information about the work affixed to the glass barriers in front of the sculpture, I was grateful to find much more when I descended the escalator and walked over to the huge pillar that sits in the middle of the grand reception area. There, I found three panels that present information about the exhibition, a brief biography about Chase-Riboud and information on the whereabouts of the works displayed, and her poem called "The Lamp at the End of the Louvre."

Exhibition information panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Location of works in the Louvre
© Entrée to Black Paris

"The Lamp at the End of the Louvre"
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Replicas of the two information panels are displayed with each of the three works. Only the poem changes.

I carefully studied the panel about the location of Cleopatra's Bed and Cleopatra's Cape because both are in areas of the museum that I seldomly visit. I had an appointment scheduled for after my visit and knew that given the size of the museum, a wrong turn or two could end up making me late.

Once I was satisfied that I knew where to go, I set off, feeling confident that I would be able to find these two sculptures quickly and easily.

Not.

While the panel clearly indicates the numbers of the rooms where the works are on display, for the most part, the signage in the museum does not include individual room numbers. (At least I couldn't find them.)

I had to ask staff people where to go, and after walking for what seemed to be a long period of time, I had to ask other staff people if I were heading in the right direction.

Thankfully, everyone was helpful, and I did not get lost.

Chase-Riboud's Cleopatra's Bed is displayed in the Salle des Caryatides. The signage outside the room provides information about Greek Art but does not mention the room by name.

Entrance to the Salle des Caryatides
© Entrée to Black Paris

I wove my way through the crowd, hoping that I wouldn't miss the work because I could not get a full view of the room. When I reached the far end, I looked right and saw the sculpture displayed on a platform in front of a window.

Cleopatra's Bed viewed from the Old Centaur Being Teased by Eros
© Entrée to Black Paris

This space was relatively calm compared to the chaos that I navigated at the entrance to the room, where everyone wanted to snap photos of the caryatides.

Still, it took several minutes for visitors to clear away long enough for me to take photos.

Cleopatra's Bed
1997 Multicolored cast bronze plaques over
steel armature and silk mattress
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

This piece has fascinated me ever since I saw it at the Institut Giacometti in October 2021.

During my Louvre visit, I was able to get quite close to it and marvel at its splendor.

Cleopatra's Bed (detail)
1997 Multicolored cast bronze plaques over
steel armature and silk mattress
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

The information panels for Cleopatra's Bed flank the work, with the English version nearest the foot of the bed and the French version nearest the head. The accompanying poem is entitled "Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra ." Verses XV and XVI are displayed in the photo below, in English.

"Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra"
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

I spent a little too much time here and realized that I'd need to pick up my pace if I were to be on time for my appointment.

So I set off again, hoping that Room 348 (Cleopatra's Bed) and Room 325 (Cleopatra's Cape) were not too far apart.

Again, because I am not accustomed to visiting this part of the museum, I'm sure that my perception of the distance between the two was exaggerated.

To get to Cleopatra's Cape, I needed to leave the Greek antiquities area and go to the Egyptian antiquities area.

Directions to Egyptian antiquities
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was surprised that I had to go up and down stairs to get there, even though it was on the same level as the Greek antiquities area.

I barely had time to snap a photo of the Great Sphinx of Tanis along the way.

Great Sphinx of Tanis
© Entrée to Black Paris

When I finally arrived at the entrance to the Egyptian antiquities, I was relieved.

Stele outside the entrance to Egyptian Antiquities
© Entrée to Black Paris

I immediately asked a staff person where I could find Cleopatra's Cape. The instructions were somewhat vague (go straight back and turn right), but I followed them to the best of my ability.

I turned right too soon and had to return to the main corridor before continuing past magnificent sculptures to get to my destination.

Egyptian antiquities
© Entrée to Black Paris

I finally reached a barrier that forced me to look right. I saw a sign high up on the wall that said "Sully 324" (the first and last room number I saw that day) and knew that I had almost arrived.

Sully Room 324
© Entrée to Black Paris

Standing in the passageway there, I saw it.

Cleopatra's Cape
1973 Bronze, copper wires, and hemp rope
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Cleopatra's Cape (detail)
1973 Bronze, copper wires, and hemp rope
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Verses VI and VII of the poem "Portrait of a Nude Woman as Cleopatra" were selected to accompany this work. I read them with interest, reflecting on the verses that were selected for display next to Cleopatra's Bed.

Cleopatra's Cape and "Portrait of a Nude Woman
as Cleopatra, Verses VI and VII"
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

By this time, I needed to leave the museum to go to my appointment. But I couldn't resist taking a photo of people admiring this work and reading the poem before I left.

Admiring Cleopatra's Cape
© Entrée to Black Paris

I retraced my steps through the Egyptian antiquities area and took what I hoped would be a shortcut through the Medieval Louvre section to get back to the main reception area.

There, I took one last look at Chase-Riboud's Gold Column before leaving the building.

Gold Column viewed from main reception hall
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Barbara Chase-Riboud at Paris' Immigration Museum

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Barbara Chase-Riboud's Zanzibar Gold in the Salon des Lacques
© Entrée to Black Paris

As ETBP reported a few weeks ago, Barbara Chase-Riboud is enjoying an honor never before bestowed upon a living artist - a simultaneous exhibition of her work in eight major Paris museums.

The Musée National de l'Histoire de l'Immigration (National Museum of the History of Immigration) at the Palais de la Porte Dorée is one of those museums.

Palais de la Porte Dorée
© Entrée to Black Paris

Two magnificent Chase-Riboud sculptures grace the upper and lower levels of the Salon des Laques (The Lacquer Room), which is located on the upper level past the entrance to the museum's permanent display.

Stairway up to permanent collection
© Entrée to Black Paris

Permanent collection
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entrance to the Salon des Lacques
© Entrée to Black Paris

This room is emblematic of the Art Deco style of interior design. The upper level is designed for sitting, reading, and conversing, while the lower level is seemingly reserved for observing the displays.

On both levels, the walls are graced by works by master lacquer artist, Jean Dunand.

Lacquer art by Jean Dunand
© Entrée to Black Paris

The furniture, made from Madagascar rosewood, was created for the Colonial Museum that supported the 1931 Colonial Exhibition through which France sought to glorify its empire. Meticulously restored in 2023, it is historically classified.

To the left of the room, in the center of the landing leading to the lower level, Chase-Riboud's regal Zanzibar Gold stands on a jet black platform.

Zanzibar Gold
1970 Barbara Chase-Riboud
Bronze and silk
© Entrée to Black Paris

Descending the stairs, you will find Zanzibar #3, Red Element standing in front of a wooden cabinet that separates it from Zanzibar Gold.

Zanzibar #3, Red Element
1974-1975 Barbara Chase-Riboud
Bronze with black patina, silk, wool, and synthetics
© Entrée to Black Paris

To the right of Zanzibar #3, a display cabinet contains three books authored by Chase-Riboud: her memoir, I Always Knew (2022); her latest historical novel, The Great Mrs. Elias (2022); and the book of poetry for which her exhibition is named, Everytime a Knot Is Undone, A God Is Released (2014).

Les Sénégalais au pilon by Jean Dunand
and display case
© Entrée to Black Paris

Publications by Barbara Chase-Riboud
© Entrée to Black Paris

Along the wall adjacent to this display case, you can read Chase-Riboud's poignant poem, "Why Did We Leave Zanzibar," in French and in English.

"Why Did We Leave Zanzibar?"
by Barbara Chase-Riboud
© Entrée to Black Paris

Farther into the room, large information sheets folded into eight sections present the eight museums in which Chase-Riboud's works are being shown and the names of the works displayed at each museum.

Information sheets
© Entrée to Black Paris

The display cases that flank Zanzibar Gold contain postcards from the 1931 Colonial Exhibition.

Zanzibar Gold and display of 1931 Colonial Exhibition postcards
© Entrée to Black Paris

In addition to Chase-Riboud's books, the cases in the lower level contain lacquered pottery, photos of Jean Dunand, and information about and photos of Seizo Sugawara, the Japanese laquer artisan who taught Dunand how to work with this medium.

For those who have not encountered Chase-Riboud's work before, the Salle des Lacques provides an excellent opportunity to experience her brilliance as a sculptor and a poet.

Our Kind of People at the Delacroix Museum

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Monique Y. Wells, Bayeté Ross Smith, and Alicia Smith
© Entrée to Black Paris

Our Kind of People is a fine art photography exhibition that is being shown at the Musée National Eugène-Delacroix as part of the PhotoSaintGermain festival in Paris.

It showcases the work of Bayeté Ross Smith, a multidisciplinary artist, photographer, visual journalist, and filmmaker whose creative practice focuses on concepts of identity and community.

Bayeté Ross Smith, 2022
© Christopher Michel

Ross Smith has created multiple photographic series over the years, and works from three of them are included in this show. The exhibition takes its name from an on-going series (2010 - present) of work through which the artist "examines how perception about someone’s identity, value, and character is affected by appearance – such as clothing, race/ ethnicity, gender, complexion and class signifiers – and how that then informs our daily interactions and social systems."

Serendipitously, Ross Smith's work invites visitors to the museum to ponder this concept at the same time they consider the works displayed in a temporary Delacroix exhibition called States of (Un)Dress: Delacroix and Clothing.

Because I was one of the first to arrive at the Our Kind of People opening that Wednesday evening, I had the opportunity to see the works displayed with little interference.

Selected works in museum apartment rooms
© Entrée to Black Paris

I "made my rounds" of the rooms in the main area of the museum (Delacroix's apartment) and was about to go out to the atelier when I encountered a Black woman who enthusiastically engaged me in conversation. She turned out to be the artist's mother!

Alicia Smith introduced herself and excitedly began to share stories of incidents that inspired Ross Smith to create some of the works in the exhibition.

Ross Smith appeared a few minutes later, deeply engaged in conversation with people I assumed to be journalists.

When there was a lull in their conversation, Ms. Smith introduced the two of us, and one of the men Ross Smith had been speaking with kindly took our picture.

Monique Y. Wells, Bayeté Ross Smith, and Alicia Smith
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ms. Smith then asked me whether I had looked at the catalog on display in the room. I had not.

Exhibition catalog
© Entrée to Black Paris

She left me alone to peruse the book, which gives details about the various photo series from which the works for Our Kind of People were selected.

In it, I found an image of a portrait of a young Ross Smith superimposed with the tracings of a target for shooting practice.

Exhibition catalog - Post-Racial Little Boy
(Image of a young Bayeté Ross Smith)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ross Smith had included his own image in his series entitled Taking AIM, through which he examines the question of who is perceived as a victim versus who is perceived as a threat and how that perception increases or decreases someone's chances of becoming involved in interpersonal violence.

Ross Smith used his photo in the series to emphasize how Black youth, particularly Black male youth, are treated as adults and become targets for racially-motivated violence from an early age.

Prior to getting our photo taken, Ms. Smith had told me this story and shared how shaken she had been when she saw that her son selected this image for the series. She mentioned that she did not know whether the image appeared in the catalog, so I called her over and showed it to her.

We then parted ways, and I visited the atelier section of the museum to see what works from Our Kind of People were displayed there.

Foyer of museum atelier
© Entrée to Black Paris

While I was there, Ross Smith and a videographer entered the foyer. Ross Smith gave a brief explanation of his photo series called Mirrors Face to Face while standing in front of one of the two works from the series that are displayed in this room.

Ross Smith being interviewed in museum atelier
© Entrée to Black Paris

Delacroix's atelier is much smaller than the main section of the museum, so I was quickly able to ascertain that the two Mirrors works in the foyer were the only ones from Our Kind of People in this part of the facility.

I went back to the main building and once again found Ross Smith giving an explanation of one of his photo series.

This time, he spoke about Taking AIM.

Ross Smith talks about Taking AIM
© Entrée to Black Paris

The total number of works in the Our Kind of People exhibition at the Delacroix Museum is nine. This show will be on display through February 3, 2025.

VISITOR INFORMATION
Ticket prices: €9, grants general museum admission (free for eligible visitors)
Free for PhotoSaintGermain map holders (strictly from 30 October to 18 November 2024)

Musée National Eugène-Delacroix
6 Rue de Furstemberg
75006 Paris
Metro: Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Line 4) and Mabillon (Line 10)

This show is part of a larger exhibition called Bayeté Ross Smith: Beyond Appearances, which has been mounted by the Centre de la Photographie de Mougins in the Côte d'Azur village of Mougins.

Beyond Appearances is the second part of an African-American trilogy of exhibitions hosted by the center in Mougins. It follows the exhibition Stephen Shames: Comrade Sisters / Women of the Black Panther Party* and will be followed in the summer of 2025 by Kwame Brathwaite: Black is Beautiful. It will run through February 9, 2025.

Centre de la Photographie de Mougins
43, rue de l'Eglise
06250 Mougins

*The exhibition catalog on display at the Delacroix Museum also contains information and images from Stephen Shames: Comrade Sisters / Women of the Black Panther Party.

African Gastronomy and Solidarity Day

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Monique at La Journée Gastronomique et Solidaire Africaine
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Saturday, September 26, the Maison des Associations et de Solidarité Paris (La MAS) in the 13th arrondissement hosted the fourth annual Journée Gastronomique et Solidaire Africaine (African Gastronomy and Solidarity Day) - twelve fantastic hours of feasting on dishes from across the African continent and beyond.

Maison des Associations et de Solidarité
© Entrée to Black Paris

Journée Gastronomique et Solidaire Africaine
© Entrée to Black Paris

As Tom and I walked up to the entrance, a young man eagerly pointed out an image taped to the wall and told us that we could get Ethiopian food inside.

Signage for Ethiopian food stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon crossing the threshold into the exhibition space, the first thing we noted was a stand to our left that was loaded with bottles of champagne. We discovered that it was run by Sedric Amisodar, a gentleman who always wanted to sell a champagne bearing his name. He purchases brut and rosé champagnes from a wholesaler and dresses the bottles with madras labels that evoke his Antillean origin.

Sedric Amisodar holding a bottle of rosé champagne
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sedric Amisodar champagne stand - signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sedric Amisodar rosé champagne
© Entrée to Black Paris

At the next stand to the left, a man joyfully mixed cocktails using a liqueur called Dabisso Ifè. Made in Benin, it is one of four products manufactured by Dahomey's Spirits.

Mixing a cocktail
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon investigating this beverage, I learned that it is a contemporary version of a traditional distillation of palm wine called sodabi. Two of Dahomey's Spirits' liqueurs have won awards for Best Spirit at the Concours International de Lyon.

Genesiss - Silver award winner at Lyon in 2023
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom and I were famished when we arrived at the festival, so we decided to come back to these first two stands after a walk through of the venue to find what we might like to eat. There was no shortage of choices!

The rest of the room was lined with stands for food vendors, including Noutikaz (Reunion Island) and Mes Emotions Culinaires (French Caribbean).

Noutikaz
© Entrée to Black Paris

Noutikaz - Ile de la Réunion banner
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bokit by Mes Emotions Culinaires
© Entrée to Black Paris

A much larger adjacent room with additional vendors had already filled with visitors, and we had difficulty approaching the stands to see what was being offered.

Crowd at La Journée Gastronomique et Solidaire Africaine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Following the scent of smoked meat, we found ourselves in front of Poulet Ndete at the far end of the room.

Poulet Ndete
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mireille Ndomba, owner of this DRC establishment, was kind enough to pose for us next to her banner.

Mireille Ndomba of Poulet Ndete
© Entrée to Black Paris

Due to the copious portions Madame Ndomba was serving, Tom and I elected to split a single order of smoked chicken and plantains. We collected our food and then walked around the hall for several minutes trying to find a place to sit.

We ended up at one of two tables in the room we first entered and sat directly across from Sedric Amisodar's stand.

Because we were so hungry, we almost didn't remember to take a photo of our meal before digging in.

Poulet Ndete - smoked chicken and plantains
© Entrée to Black Paris

It was DELISH!

By the time we finished, the crowd had thinned somewhat, and it was not as difficult to navigate the rooms of the hall.

The Ethiopian stand mentioned by the man who greeted us at the La MAS entrance was nearby, so I walked over and ordered a cup of coffee for Tom.

Ethiopian coffee service
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pouring the coffee
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cup of Ethiopian coffee
© Entrée to Black Paris

I then set out to investigate the stands and find some dessert while Tom enjoyed his brew.

We had caught a glimpse of cupcakes earlier, so I found my way back to the stand that was selling them.

Cupcakes by Pensées d'Afrique
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pensées d'Afrique was selling three varieties of cupcakes - hibiscus, mango/passion fruit, and caramel with African spices. I bought one of the caramel cupcakes and took it back to the table so Tom and I could split it.

Caramel cupcake with African spices by Pensées d'Afrique
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we dug into it, we found that the center was filled with a creamy substance that was fragrant with spices. This was a pleasantly surprising twist!

Once we finished the cupcake, I took one more walk around the hall, snapping photos and making some purchases at the Recettes d'Ailleurs stand.

Miondo, plantains, and fried chicken
© Entrée to Black Paris

Brochettes and saffron rice
© Entrée to Black Paris

Coco Nutella flakes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Kirina - nonalcoholic beverages
© Entrée to Black Paris

Orange Money
© Entrée to Black Paris

Juices and other beverages at Poulet Ndete
© Entrée to Black Paris

Beignets by Les Recettes d'Ailleurs
© Entrée to Black Paris

Gourmet foodstuffs at Les Recettes d'Ailleurs
© Entrée to Black Paris

Happily exhausted, we then went home.

Barthélémy Toguo at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Offrandes in the Galerie de verre
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entrée to Black Paris has published articles about Barthélémy Toguo in the past,* and we talk extensively about him at the beginning of our Spirit of Africa walking tour. He is an inexhaustible source of work that explores questions of migration, environment, and human rights.

It seems not only fitting, but also natural, for the Musée de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) to select this world-renowned creative to be artist-in-residence for its year-long (September 21, 2024 - September 7, 2025) examination of the theme "Le monde pour horizon" ("The world for horizon").

Through Toguo's art, BnF wanted the visiting public to experience an artistic, contemporary, and culturally decentralized counterpoint to the works traditionally displayed throughout the museum as well as to a selection of more than 300 rarely shown works from its collections that are being displayed in the Salle Mazarin over the course of the year. Ceramic works, sculptures, works on paper, and installations by Toguo can be found throughout the museum.

You first encounter Toguo as you mount the grand staircase, where his installation entitled A Book Is My Hope hangs overhead. Painted cardboard "guardians" survey numerous books suspended by wire as a metaphorical defense against the destruction of books and manuscripts by fundamentalists.

Grand staircase
© Entrée to Black Paris

A Book Is My Hope (2024)
© Entrée to Black Paris

A Book Is My Hope (2024)
La Mauvaise Education des Noirs - Carter G. Woodson
© Entrée to Black Paris

A Book Is My Hope (2024)
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
© Entrée to Black Paris

A Book Is My Hope (2024)
Nations Nègres et Culture - Cheikh Anta Diop
© Entrée to Black Paris

Toguo's Bardes guard the treasures of the Salle des Colonnes, the Cabinet précieux, and the Salle de Luynes. Ceramic works of varying sizes are strategically placed in these rooms as well as in the Salle Barthélémy and the Salon Louis XV.

Barde (2024) - Salle des Colonnes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Barde (2024) - Cabinet précieux
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fragile Body 2 (2017) - Cabinet précieux
© Entrée to Black Paris

Balade aquatique III (2017) - Salle de Luynes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fragile Body 9 and Fragile Body 10 (2017) - Salle Barthélémy
© Entrée to Black Paris

In the Salle Barthélémy (named after Abbé J. J. Barthélémy [1716-1795]), fourteen (14) bronze medallions honor male leaders from Africa and the African diaspora.

Leaders Africains - Franz Fanon and Nelson Mandela (2024) - Salle Barthélémy
© Entrée to Black Paris

Leaders Africains - Malcolm X (2024) - Salle Barthélémy
© Entrée to Black Paris

And in the Salon Louis XV, in addition to four ceramic works, an enormous collection of manuscripts by Toguo entitled Eclosions mémorielles lies on a table near the passage where visitors view the contents of the room. The texts in this work present the thoughts of intellectuals about Africa's relationship with the world; sketches, watercolors, and collages compliment their words.

Eclosions mémorielles (2024) - Salon Louis XV
© Entrée to Black Paris

Vaincre le virus ! VI (2016) - Salon Louix XV
© Entrée to Black Paris

Retracing your steps through these rooms and venturing past the grand staircase toward the Rotonde, you find yourself in a glass corridor that provides a view of the interior courtyard. On the walls of the passageway, Toguo has installed vinyl handprints that originate from acrylic paintings. For him, they represent solidarity.

Offrandes (2024) in the Galerie de verre
© Entrée to Black Paris

Offrandes (2024) and view of courtyard - Galerie de verre
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Rotonde currently houses a fascinating temporary exhibition of rarely displayed items from India. This is the only room where no works by Toguo are currently on view.

Back in the main building, turn right before regaining the grand stairwell to enter the Salle Mazarin.

Salle Mazarin
© Entrée to Black Paris

In this magnificent space, you will a display of bas-relief Zingana wooden sculptures called Bilongue in front of an alcove in the wall on the left, just a few yards past the entryway.

The people represented in these wood portraits are from the Bilongue quarter of Douala, Cameroon.

Bilongue - bas-relief (2020)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bilongue - bas-relief (2020) - Portrait of a woman
© Entrée to Black Paris

Much farther along the left wall, a second display of the same name shows portraits of local inhabitants in ink and watercolor on paper. Each has a post card from colonial times superimposed on the face.

Bilongue - works on paper (2020)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bilongue - works on paper (2020) - Portrait of a youth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Between these two sets of works, again on the left wall, is an installation called Urban Requiem.

Urban Requiem (2015)
© Entrée to Black Paris

This work evokes the stamps used by administrators to approve or reject documents submitted by people seeking asylum or other categories of residence. The slogans speak to issues surrounding immigration, exile, and other struggles experienced by minority populations.

Urban Requiem (2015) - detail
© Entrée to Black Paris

Some of these stamps have been used to create prints that the museum acquired for its collection.

Fonctionnaire gentil. Carte de séjour (2007)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Additional works by Toguo in this room include the Head Above Water, Rwanda (2011) postcard series.

Beginning in 2001, Toguo invited people living through difficult economic or political situations around the world to share something about their situation on a postcard addressed to him. He has collected cards from Kosovo, Lagos, Johannesburg, Cuba, Tunisia, Hiroshima, Auschwitz and Birkenau, Mexico, London, Cairo and The Hamptons in addition to those found in the Rwanda series.

Head Above Water, Rwanda (2011) - detail
© Entrée to Black Paris

Between Toguo's powerful works and the extraordinary pieces from BnF's collection, you could spend hours in this room alone!

When you leave the Salle Mazarin and turn right to go back to the grand staircase to exit the museum, you will find one last glorious juxtaposition of the classic and the contemporary in the view pictured below.

Voltaire assis (1791) and A Book Is My Hope (2024)
© Entrée to Black Paris

During the course of the exhibition year, works will be rotated on and off display. The museum has already announced that in January 2025, a Toguo sculpture entitled Caring for Memory (2023) will be installed in the garden in front of the museum.

BnF garden
© Entrée to Black Paris

I highly recommend seeing this exhibition. The BnF is an architectural gem, its collections are magnificent, and Toguo's counterpoint to the works displayed throughout the museum is nothing short of brilliant.

Musée de la BnF
Site Richelieu
5, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
Metro: Palais Royal (Lines 1 and 7), Bourse (Line 3)
Entry: 10€

*Previous ETBP articles about Barthélémy Toguo:
Expo: The Lost Dogs' Orchestra - Barthélémy Toguo (2010)
Barthélémy Toguo's Strange Fruit in Paris (2017)
Barthélémy Toguo - Two Shows in Paris (2021)

Josephine Baker Portrait Unveiled at U.S. Ambassador's Residence

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Josephine Baker portrait unveiled
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Wednesday, October 9, a select group of individuals braved drenching rain to honor an invitation by U.S. Ambassador Denise Campbell Bauer to attend an historic event.

Guests were enthusiastically greeted by U.S. Embassy Cultural Heritage Manager Candace Nancel, and the evening began with hot hors d'œuvres and conversation in the space that had been christened the Josephine Baker ballroom only 18 months before.

Plaque for Josephine Baker Ballroom
© USAmbFrance
Fair use claim

Minister Counselor of Public Affairs Lawrence Randolph took the podium and officially opened the event, referencing the naming of the ballroom as part of his brief remarks. He introduced Ambassador Bauer, who welcomed the crowd and spoke for another few minutes to set the stage for the speakers who would truly be the focus of the evening.

Ambassador Denise Campbell Bauer
© Entrée to Black Paris

Next to take the podium was Loren R. Douglass, CEO & Founder of MKD Partners International. He told the story of how Ambassador Bauer hosted a reception for Wynton Marsalis at the residence several weeks after the dedication of the ballroom, and how he and other invited guests remarked that there was no portrait of Baker in the room.

That conversation, which took place in June 2023, kicked off the series of activities that led to the unveiling of a stunning contemporary portrait of Baker at the residence.

Loren R. Douglass
© Entrée to Black Paris

Douglass acknowledged the presence of members of Baker's Rainbow Tribe, thanked Ambassador Bauer for hosting the unveiling, and lauded Baker for her artistry, her heroism, and her "relentless pursuit of justice, freedom, and equality for all."

Marianne, Brian, and Akio Bouillon-Baker amidst others
© Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine Baker, an oil on canvas measuring 65 x 55 inches, will hang in the ballroom permanently. It was created in 2024 by Jas Knight, a multi-talented artist whom the Long Gallery in Harlem, NY commissioned for the work.

Artist Jas Knight and the veiled portrait
© Entrée to Black Paris

When Douglass finished his remarks, he and Knight gently tugged the royal blue fabric that covered the painting to reveal it in all its glory.

Josephine unveiled
© Entrée to Black Paris

Knight then addressed the audience briefly. He talked about how he originally intended to portray Baker in uniform, but then decided that a more quintessential look was more appropriate. He marveled at how the colors he chose for the final version of the portrait complement the color scheme of the ballroom, even though he had not seen the room before beginning the project.

Jas Knight speaks about the portrait
© Entrée to Black Paris

Finally, writer, poet, entrepreneur, and investor John White recited a beautiful verse that he wrote for the event.

He entitled it simply "Josephine."

Click on the image below to watch White recite the poem and to read the verse in its entirety.

John White recites "Josephine"
© Entrée to Black Paris

After the reading, photos were the order of the evening.

Photographing the artist, speakers, and Baker family
© Entrée to Black Paris

Everyone wanted to have their picture taken in front of the portrait for posterity.

Daphne Holly (left) and Patrick Banks (right) posing with artist Jas Knight
Photo courtesy of Patrick Banks

It was a delightful evening that further entrenched the legacy of Josephine Baker in the U.S. and in France.

Josephine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine information plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

LaurenceAirline at Little Africa Village

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: LaurenceAirline at Little Africa Village
© Entrée to Black Paris

Earlier this week, I led a group of graduate students and professors on Entrée to Black Paris' Spirit of Africa tour.

I traditionally end this walk at the Little Africa Village concept store, where I invite owner Jacqueline Ngo Mpii, strategic advisor/partner Patrick Banks, or whomever is minding the shop at the time to give a brief history of the place and allow group members an opportunity to ask questions and browse/shop.

For the longest time, the rear of the store had an inviting space, almost like a home living room, where visitors could sit and commune.

Little Africa Village sitting room
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was surprised to find that this area had been transformed into a display for a fashion brand called LaurenceAirline.

LaurenceAirline corner at Little Africa Village

© Entrée to Black Paris

The installation had taken place only a couple of weeks before, in conjunction with Paris Fashion Week.

Jeune Afrique featured LaurenceAirline in a French-language article in August 2023, announcing that founder and designer Laurence Chauvin-Buthaud had opened its flagship boutique-gallery at 40, rue Notre Dame de Nazareth in Paris' third arrondissement.

LaurenceAirline promotes itself as "a creative ecosystem based in Grand-Bassam, open to the world." It is a "social and eco-responsible clothing label with graphic and contemporary collections ... inspired by multiculturalism and valuing craftsmanship ... made with love and care in Côte d'Ivoire."

Chauvin-Buthaud is of French and Cameroonian origin. Born in the Ivory Coast, she creates her fashion designs with a desire to promote West African culture and make it accessible across the globe. Every garment her company produces is constructed in its entirety by its team of master tailors at the LaurenceAirline Atelier Couture in the Ivory Coast.

LaurenceAirline was founded in 2010 with a focus on men's wear. It has always operated between Abidjan and Paris, but it is currently focused on strengthening the newly established space in Grand-Bassam, the historic capital of Ivory Coast. The company has expanded its offerings to include women's wear and unisex garments and is deliberate about utilizing organic, up-cycled and handcrafted quality fabrics for its designs.

The entire collection is being showcased at Little Africa Village:

6 bis, rue des Gardes
75018 Paris
Metro: Barbès-Rochochouart (Lines 2 and 4)
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11 AM - 7 PM

Images of LaurenceAirline collection at Little Africa Village
© Entrée to Black Paris

To learn more about LaurenceAirline, click HERE.

LaurenceAirline
Paris - Abidjan - Everywhere
© Entrée to Black Paris

Black Figures on French Postage Stamps

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Sidney Bechet postage stamp
Image from Wikitimbres.fr

In thinking about the postage stamp and sculpture (both inaugurated in 2022) that honor Solitude, the woman who fought against the reinstatement of slavery on the island of Guadeloupe in 1802, I began to wonder how the French post office selects people to feature on stamps.

Solitude stamp

I learned that in France, anyone can propose a postage stamp subject.

All you need to do is send a philatelic issue proposal to Philaposte, the department of the French post office that deals exclusively with philately and centralizes all proposals.

The theme presented must be of national importance and can even be relevant internationally.

Several French postage stamps feature African or Afro-descendant people. The year the stamp is issued is indicated on the image.

Here are images of the ones I found online.

FRENCH

Gaston Monnerville stamp

Louis Delgrès stamp

Aimé Césaire stamp

Félix Eboué stamp

Camille Sosthène Mortenol stamp

Alexandre Dumas stamps

AFRICAN

Léopold Sédar Senghor stamp

Nelson Mandela stamp

AMERICAN (U.S.)

Miles Davis stamp

Sidney Bechet stamp

Louis Armstrong stamp

Josephine Baker stamp

If you have the time and inclination to search for additional stamps, visit WikiTimbres.fr.

Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Detail of Frontline Prophet promotional graphic
© Entrée to Black Paris

As part of the exquisite James Baldwin Centennial Festival hosted by La Maison Baldwin in Paris, the Combes Student Life Center at the American University of Paris (AUP) is hosting an exhibition called Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin by Sabrina Nelson.

Sabrina Nelson information page
© Entrée to Black Paris

The idea for this Augmented Reality (AR)-enhanced solo show was born when Nelson attended "A Language to Dwell in," the Baldwin conference that AUP hosted in 2016. As a result of the experience, she vowed to recreate Baldwin's image from memory over the course of a year.

Nelson produced 91 sketches of Baldwin during that year. She described them as "a way to baptize myself in the essence of Baldwin, as his words and expressions connected deeply with how I felt the world was treating its dwellers who are Black and Brown."

Baldwin sketches by Sabrina Nelson
© Entrée to Black Paris

She extended her project to include mixed media works, her own writings, and AR videos hosted on the Black Terminus app.

Artwork displaying artist's writing
© Entrée to Black Paris

Invitation to view works in Augmented Reality
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition, which was curated by Ashara Ekundayo and Oma Misha, includes a video in which hands turn the pages of the multiple sketchbooks that Nelson created over seven years. It has been shown in multiple cities across the U.S., including NYC, New Orleans, Oakland, and Chicago.

Sketchbook display, Baldwin portrait, and exhibition information book
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sketches shown in video presentation
© Entrée to Black Paris

The AUP exhibition includes only part of the entire collection of work created for Frontline Prophet. The display extends from the gallery space adjacent to the Amex Cafe in the Combes building all the way to the Celeste Schenck Atrium in the Quai d'Orsay Learning Commons.

Passage between Combes and Orsay buildings
© Entrée to Black Paris

Between the Combes and Orsay buildings, three display cases house books and Baldwin sketches.

Content of display cases
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon entering the Schenck Atrium, visitors will find the large format work inspired by a photo of James Baldwin and Beauford Delaney walking down avenue de l'Opéra.

Representation of Baldwin and Beauford in Schenck Atrium
© Entrée to Black Paris

Representation of Baldwin and Beauford in Schenck Atrium (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

James Baldwin and Beauford Delaney, Paris, circa 1960.
Photographer anonymous
© Estate of Beauford Delaney
by permission of Derek L. Spratley, Esquire,
Court Appointed Administrator

Frontline Prophet will be on display at AUP through September 30, 2024.

American University of Paris
6, rue du Colonel Combes
75007 Paris
Metro: RER C Pont de l'Alma
ID must be presented to enter.

Barbara Chase-Riboud Exhibition Unfolds in Eight Paris Museums

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Portrait of Barbara Chase-Riboud (detail)
© Virginia Harold
Image courtesy of Pulitzer Arts Foundation

Quand un nœud est dénoué, un dieu est libéré (Everytime A Knot is Undone, A God is Released) is the latest solo exhibition of Barbara Chase-Riboud's work.

Chase-Riboud is being simultaneously showcased at eight - that's right, EIGHT - major museums in Paris over the next several months.

This is the first time that a living artist has been celebrated on such a grandiose scale here.

The exhibition is named after Chase-Riboud's 2014 collection of poetry. It presents a series of monumental sculptures that flaunt Chase-Riboud's signature combination of metal and silk/wool.

Everytime A Knot is Undone, A God is Released (2014) - book cover

The Musée d'Orsay has kicked things off with a showing of five aluminum and silk works in its Salon de l'Horloge, opposite one of the majestic clocks that grace the museum's façade. The sculptures are intended to "interrogate our concept of time, sacred geometry and femininity" in Chase-Riboud's work.

This segment of Quand un nœud est dénoué opened on Tuesday, September 17 and will close on Sunday, December 15, 2024.

Barbara Chase-Riboud
Portrait © Virginia Harold
Courtesy of Pulitzer Art Foundation

In chronological order, the other elements of the show will be revealed as follows:

Palais de la Porte Dorée
October 1, 2024 - January 12, 2025

Two of Chase-Riboud’s early sculptures - Zanzibar Gold et Zanzibar (Brown Element) - will be displayed in juxtaposition with the lacquer panels of Jean Dunand in the Salon des Lacques.

Musée du Louvre
October 9, 2024 - January 6, 2025

Gold Column, a work of monumentality and fragility, will be displayed under the glass pyramid. In the galleries, two works from the Cleopatra's Bed will be shown in the Salle des Caryatides in the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities section, while Cleopatra's Cape will be shown in Egyptian Antiquities section of the museum.

Cleopatra's Bed (1997) at the Serpentine Gallery, London
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cité de la musique - Philharmonie de Paris
October 12, 2024 - January 13, 2025

One of three sculptures dedicated to Josephine Baker from Chase-Riboud's La Musica series will be presented at the entrance to the Philharmonie de Paris.

Centre Pompidou - Musée National d’Art Moderne
October 15, 2024 – January 6, 2025

An installation of a selection of monumental works from several different series such as Malcolm X will offer an overview of the diversity of Chase-Riboud's œuvre.

Malcolm X #2 (1969) at the Serpentine Gallery, London
© Entrée to Black Paris

Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
October 15, 2024 - January 13, 2025

At the entrance to the Collections, a monumental sculpture that reflects Chase-Riboud's material and formal knowledge of African artistic practices will reveal the affinities between the artist's work, the permanent collections, and the architecture of the museum.

Musée National des arts asiatiques - Guimet
October 16, 2024 - January 6, 2025

Mao’s Organ will be presented alongside Chinese seals from Chase-Riboud's personal collection and photographs taken by Marc Riboud during this trip. This piece reflects the profound impact that her 1965 trip to Communist China had on her artistic practice.

Palais de Tokyo
October 17, 2024 - January 5, 2025

Chase-Riboud's Standing Black Women of Venice series pays homage to female poets that she admires. These sculptures will be presented alongside a series of works embroidered on paper with white thread. The museum describes them as "near-illegible texts [that] offer a delicate evocation of her literary œuvre, which will also be present in the exhibition through a listening room where her writing will be read by multiple voices.

Standing Black Woman of Venice (1969-2020) at the
Institut Giacometti, Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris

I Am Not Sorry I Love You (2020) at the
Institut Giacometti, Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris

Listen to the September 11, 2024 Radio France interview (in French and English) with exhibition co-curators Erin Jenoa Gilbert and Donatien Grau by clicking HERE.

James Baldwin Centennial Festival Gala

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Portrait of James Baldwin by Stéphane Martin
© Entrée to Black Paris

The gala for the James Baldwin Centennial Festival was the halfway point of the week-long series of events that began on Monday, September 9 and are slated to end on Friday, September 13.

It took place at Titi Palacio, a spacious contemporary facility with an enclosed outdoor terrace, brightly colored lampshades and banners, lots of greenery, and an extremely long bar on the second floor at 17, boulevard Morland in the 4th arrondissement.

Titi Palacio interior
© Entrée to Black Paris

The evening began with hors d'oeuvres and champagne on the terrace. MC Brian Scott Bagley called attendees together to hear La Maison Baldwin's executive director, Tara Phillips, open the evening by greeting guests and presenting the work the organization is planning for the future.

Phillips spoke of the artwork that was being offered for sale as part of its fundraising campaign and told attendees that a free copy of Baldwin's book Little Man Little Man would be made available to everyone at the end of the evening.

Tara Phillips
© Entrée to Black Paris

Attendees were then invited to go inside for more hors d'oeuvres and mingling as well as to view the artwork that is being sold for the benefit of the organization.

Photographs of James Baldwin for fundraising
Images © Entrée to Black Paris

The pièce de résistance of these works is a portrait of Baldwin executed by Stéphane Martin.

Portrait of James Baldwin by Stéphane Martin
© Entrée to Black Paris

The U.S. Embassy's Minister Counselor of Public Policy, Lawrence M. Randolph, was instrumental in organizing the festival's welcome reception, which took place at the U.S. Ambassador's residence on Monday, September 9. Phillips asked him to address event attendees before the music began.

Minister Counselor Lawrence Randolph
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entertainment was provided by saxophonist Dr. Ozzie Smith, Jr., pianist Michael Dravigny, and vocalist Linda Lee Hopkins.

Saxophonist Dr. Ozzie Smith, Jr., vocalist Linda Lee Hopkins, and pianist Michael Dravigny
© Entrée to Black Paris

Hopkins sang several classic R&B tunes, including Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On" and Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." At one point during the evening, she was joined by MC Brian Scott Bagley for a rousing rendition of Edith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose."

Brian Scott Bagley and Linda Lee Hopkins
© Entrée to Black Paris

The crowd got on its feet and danced to Hopkins' interpretation of "Sweet Home Chicago."

When the musical interlude was over, MC Bagley invited guests to enjoy dessert and more champagne before leaving the premises.

Brian Scott Bagley
© Entrée to Black Paris

Toward the end of the event, I had the great pleasure of meeting James Baldwin's nephew, Trevor Baldwin.

Monique Y. Wells and Trevor Baldwin
© Entrée to Black Paris

We talked about the ongoing work the family is undertaking to preserve James Baldwin's legacy and possible synergies with the work I do to preserve Beauford Delaney's legacy.

It was a joyous evening!

A Paris Park Named after Aretha

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: "Prairie" at Parc Aretha Franklin
© Entrée to Black Paris

Long-time Paris resident and friend Joseph Langley recently posted a message on Facebook saying that he discovered a new park in Paris that was named after Aretha Franklin.

Intrigued, I sprang into action to research the park and plan a visit.

The Mairie (town hall) of the 20th arrondissement is touting Parc Aretha Franklin as the biodynamic anchor for a complete revitalization of the new Python-Duvernois quarter. This will include construction of new housing and rehabilitation of current social housing, extension of the Louis Lumière community center, rehabilitation of existing day care, health, and sports centers, and creation of new commercial spaces.

Three social housing buildings slated for rehabilitation
(viewed from Parc Aretha Franklin)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Louis Lumière Community Center
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last Friday, Tom and I made our way to the eastern edge of the lower half of the 20th arrondissement to see the park for ourselves.

Though it was opened less than a month ago, the vegetation was quite lush.

Vegetation at Parc Aretha Franklin
© Entrée to Black Paris

Flora adjacent to water basin
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lawn and trees
© Entrée to Black Paris

Still, there were plenty of signs informing visitors that the lawns were not ready for use.

Lawn growing - this zone is temporarily not accessible
© Entrée to Black Paris

Parc Aretha Franklin is being opened in three phases.

Phase I - the area we visited - was inaugurated on July 18, 2024. It consists of a 900 square meter water basin,

Water basin and surrounding flora
© Entrée to Black Paris

Water basin
© Entrée to Black Paris

Water lilies
© Entrée to Black Paris

a basketball court/soccer enclosure,

Water basin and basketball court/soccer enclosure
© Entrée to Black Paris

Basketball court/soccer enclosure
© Entrée to Black Paris

Basketball hoop and backboard
© Entrée to Black Paris

a large playground for children,

Playground
© Entrée to Black Paris

Giant giraffe and sliding board
© Entrée to Black Paris

ping pong and board game tables,

Ping pong tables
© Entrée to Black Paris

Board game tables
© Entrée to Black Paris

an exercise trail complete with training equipment,

Exercise trail with training equipment
© Entrée to Black Paris

Exercise trail with woman training
© Entrée to Black Paris

Woman training on Stairmaster
© Entrée to Black Paris

a long stretch of "prairie,"

Prairie adjacent to rue Serpollet entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

and flower beds.

Flower bed and bench
© Entrée to Black Paris

Flower bed
© Entrée to Black Paris

There are numerous upright chairs, reclining chairs, and benches along pathways and on lawns to accommodate people who wish to relax and socialize.

Picnic table
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lounge chairs
© Entrée to Black Paris

"Bench block"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Thanks to motion-sensitive lighting, Parc Aretha Franklin is accessible 24 hours a day. The playground and basketball court areas are not illuminated after 10 PM.

By the time work is finished, the park will be roughly three times the size it is now.

Phase II of construction continues behind a white fence that faces the social housing buildings shown above.

Phase II construction area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Construction of buildings for commercial use has begun behind a wire fence at the eastern border of the park.

Construction workers preparing a barbecue lunch
© Entrée to Black Paris

I have not been able to find out whether any namesakes other than Franklin were considered for the park. At present, no photos of her are posted on the signage.

Eric Pliez, Mayor of the 20th arrondissement, announced that the entire park will cover 2.7 hectares and be planted with 220 trees.

During his pronouncement, Pliez rhetorically asked, "What better name for the park than the legendary Aretha Franklin"? He referred to her song "Respect" as a "global emancipator" and said that the 20th arrondissement is proud to have a park that bears her name because of her civil rights activism in the U.S. during the 1960s. He specifically cited Franklin's offer to pay Angela Davis' bail and active participation in the Free Angela movement.

He ended his announcement by saying the following (English translation):

"To name a park 'Aretha Franklin' today is to honor a woman whose heritage cannot be summarized in a few words, but also, it is to firmly remind [us] that racism has no place either in Paris or in France."

To watch Pliez deliver his presentation of the park (in French), click HERE.

Parc Aretha Franklin sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

A Plaque for James Baldwin in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Graphic for James Baldwin Paris plaque campaign
Image courtesy of Musée Josephine Baker et les Afro-Déscendants

Those of you who have experienced one or more Entrée to Black Paris walks know that our tour routes frequently include places that honor African Americans with plaques and/or street signs.

Richard Wright plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

Place Josephine Baker street sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

Beauford Delaney plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

With the James Baldwin Centennial having occurred last Friday (August 2), the recent opening of the Médiathèque James Baldwin in the 19th arrondissement (July 19), and La Maison Baldwin's upcoming Centennial Celebration in Paris (September 9-13), it is only fitting that we share information about a new initiative to honor Baldwin with a plaque in the City of Light.

Brian Scott Bagley of Musée Josephine Baker et les Afro-Descendants launched The Black Plaques Project on the Baldwin Centennial, with the intent to "celebrate and preserve the history of the Afro-diaspora in Paris."

He writes:

"Despite his profound impact, Paris lacks a single plaque honoring this great writer who called this city home ...

"It is our goal, with your support, to commemorate James Baldwin during his centennial year with a dedicated plaque in Paris."

Bagley was the driver behind the installation of the Josephine Baker plaque at Le Caroussel bar in the 9th arrondissement in June 2019.

Unveiling of the Josephine Baker plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

Brian Scott Bagley and friend
admire the Josephine Baker plaque

Josephine Baker plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entrée to Black Paris has no doubt that he will succeed at this endeavor as well.

To sign the petition in support of the James Baldwin plaque, click HERE.

Afro-American Day at Africa Station

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Moderator and panelists for "The African American Presence in Paris"
© Entrée to Black Paris

The first full weekend of Africa Station activities during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games included a Journée Afro-Américaine (Afro-American Day).

The "animations culturelles" consisted of three panel discussions on topics relevant to African Americans at home and in France.

Panel Discussion 1 was entitled "The African American Presence in Paris." It was sponsored by the James Hemings Society and The Literary Cafe.

Signage for "The African American Presence in Paris"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Executive producer and moderator Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati facilitated presentations on the over 200 years of Black American presence in Paris that is inextricably woven into French and U.S. history and culture. Lloyd-Sgambati is the founder/CEO of The Literary Media and Publishing Consultants and The African American Children's Book Project.

The topics covered were the following:

Literature - Tara Phillips, Executive Director of La Maison Baldwin

Visual Arts - Dr. Monique Y. Wells, Co-owner of Entrée to Black Paris and Founder & CEO of the Wells International Foundation

Music - Ursuline Kairson, Jazz singer, actress, lyricist

Film - Tori Reid, Producer and podcast host

Cuisine - Gary Trevisani, Chef, culinary educator and executive

Interpreter and panelists for "The African American Presence in Paris"
© Entrée to Black Paris

For all panels throughout the day, consecutive interpretation was provided by Tosin Adedimeji.

Tosin Adedimeji
© Entrée to Black Paris

Chef Trevisani kicked off the discussion with a presentation of enslaved Chef James Hemings, who came to Paris with Thomas Jefferson in 1785 and was trained in the finest French culinary tradition at Château de Chantilly. He talked about the tremendous influence Heming's professional prowess has had on U.S. cuisine from the 18th century through today.

Trevisani spoke about how Hemings' legacy was unknown to him when he served as professor and then Vice President at the Restaurant School (now Walnut Hill College) in Philadelphia and how he regrets not having been able to teach it to his students.

Chef Gary Trevisani
© Entrée to Black Paris

I presented the history of African Americans in visual arts from the late 19th century through today, beginning with Henry Ossawa Tanner and ending with Barbara Chase-Riboud. I evoked the history of the Black American women sculptors who blazed the trail for Chase-Riboud during their time in Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - Meta Vaux Warwick Fuller, Augusta Savage, and Nancy Elizabeth Prophet.

I talked about Loïs Mailou Jones and how her year of study in Paris revealed the dichotomy between U.S. and French perceptions of art created by Black people.

And as a segway to the presentation by Tara Phillips, I spoke about Beauford Delaney and the important relationship he had with James Baldwin.

Monique Y. Wells
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tara Phillips then took the mike and spoke about the legacy of African-American writers in Paris with a focus on James Baldwin. She talked about the importance that Baldwin's Paris years had regarding his writing practice and shared that he lived in other foreign countries as well.

She also talked about the 100th anniversary of Baldwin's birth on August 2, 2024 and announced the upcoming James Baldwin Centennial Festival that will take place in Paris from September 9-13, 2024.

Tara Phillips
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jazz performer Ursuline Kairson presented the history of the introduction of jazz to France by African-American soldiers during WWI. She emphasized that these men not only played music, but also fought valiantly on the battlefield and were rewarded for their service.

Then, to the audience's delight, she sang two songs - the iconic "J'ai Deux Amours" by Josephine Baker and her own "Out of the Blue."

Ursuline Kairson sings
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tori Reid was the newest Paris resident on the panel, having been in the City of Light for less than two years. She talked about her perceptions of the French and about how she is finding her place here.

She then spoke about her new documentary project, Expats in Paris, and said she hoped the audience would pose questions to the panelists so their stories could be highlighted in the spirit of the work she is undertaking with her new series.

Tori Reid
© Entrée to Black Paris

The audience accepted her invitation and posed a few questions prior to moderator Lloyd-Sgambati closing out the session.

Audience
© Entrée to Black Paris

In the break between panels, the African American Presence panelists met the group that would take the stage for Panel Discussion 2. We took a photo together before they continued their preparation for the lively discussion to come.

One of the panelists for Panel Discussion 3, South Fulton Mayor Khalid Kamau, also joined us for this photo.

Panelist group photo
© Entrée to Black Paris

3 The Art Way was the topic of Panel Discussion 2.

3 The Art Way signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

This family artist collective from Newark, NJ, comprised of matriarch Yvonne Onque and her two sons, Samad and Suliman, creates original gallery art, illustrations, comic books, and wearable art that reflects the African-American experience. The family is steeped in artistic tradition, from visual arts through music and dance.

Sponsored by Newark Happening - the Greater Newark Convention and Visitor Bureau, the discussion was led by Tiffany Chiffani Salas of Chiffani Brands Unlimited.

The group came to Paris on the heels of their participation in the Miami Art Basel art show. Salas dubbed the Africa Station event "From Newark to Paris, with Love."

3 The Art Way signage outside conference center booth
© Entrée to Black Paris

A dedicated cinematography crew was on hand to record the event for posterity.

Kay the Kreator
© Entrée to Black Paris

To start the discussion, Salas asked each family member to respond to two questions:

1) What does art mean to you?

2) Is your art "Black art"?

L to R: Tiffany Chiffani Salas, Samad Onque, Yvonne Onque, and Suliman Onque
© Entrée to Black Paris

Each panelist responded passionately to these questions. All three said that they consider their creations "Black art."

Samad Onque
© Entrée to Black Paris

Yvonne Onque
© Entrée to Black Paris

Suliman Onque
© Entrée to Black Paris

After another couple of rounds of questions, Salas quizzed the audience about the panelists' responses. Those who answered the questions correctly won an autographed poster of the event and an Onque-designed iron-on patch for clothing.

To conclude the discussion, Salas stood up to show the outfit she wore for the event. It was designed by Jerry Gant, a Newark artist who met an untimely end due to liver cancer.

Tiffany Chiffani Salas models Jerry Gant design
© Entrée to Black Paris

Suliman Onque also stood up to model the wearable art piece he selected as his outfit for the day.

Suliman Onque models wearable art
© Entrée to Black Paris

The audience was then invited visit the indoor booth next to the conference stage and the outdoor "open house" booth next to the country stands. Both displayed art and additional merchandise that was available for purchase.

Art at indoor booth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Photographing art at indoor booth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Quiz winners were invited to collect their autographed posters inside and their iron-on patches outside.

Yvonne Onque autographing poster prizes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Outdoor "open house" booth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Iron-on patches
© Entrée to Black Paris

While collecting my patch prize at the outdoor booth, I met Nuria Dixon. She was selling t-shirts that promote her short film entitled "Ethan Art-Venture." It is a story about about a young autistic illustrator who, on his 9th birthday, is given a gift that allows him access to a powerful, imaginative, inner realm: a completely animated world.

The protagonist's voice is that of Dixon's son, Ethan. Tiffany Salas provided the set design for the film.

Nuria Dixon at 3 The Art Way outdoor booth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dixon told me that the film was scheduled to be screened at Africa Station the following day as part of "From Newark to Paris, with Love." Unfortunately, I was unable to return to the venue to view it.

Back inside, all the women who attended the art panel discussion were asked to gather for a group photo. We happily obliged!

Photographing the ladies
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ladies' photo
© Entrée to Black Paris

The final conference was to bring together Mayor Mohamed Gnabaly of L'Ile Saint-Denis, Mayor Khalid (Kobi) Kamau of South Fulton, Georgia, and Frank Kwebena Owusu, Deputy CEO of the Creative Arts Agency in Ghana. The topic to be discussed was the social impact of sports, culture, and innovation in Africa.

Signage for "When Worlds Collide"
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was pleased to make Mayor Kamau's acquaintance earlier in the day, along with that of conference organizer, Olivier Annet N'Guessan.

L to R: Monique Y. Wells, Olivier Annet N'Guessan, Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati, Mayor Khalid Kamau
© Entrée to Black Paris

But I was not able to meet Frank Kwebena Owusu or attend the panel discussion.

Africa Station is open from 2 PM until 10 PM everyday during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic games.

To learn more about it, click HERE.

Africa Station Is Open

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Women emerging from Senegal stand at Africa Station
© Entrée to Black Paris

On March 28, I published an article about plans to create a Paris Olympics "fan zone" called Africa Station.

The zone, which is located in Stade Robert-César at 59, quai de la Marine on Ile Saint-Denis, officially opened on July 20.

I visited the venue the following day.

I took loads of photos and am sharing the best of them below.

Entrance to Africa Station
© Entrée to Black Paris

The site opens at 2 PM and closes at 10 PM daily (or 11 PM when concerts are held). I arrived at around 2:30 PM and was surprised to find that several of the country stands were closed.

In chatting with a couple of people, I learned that the bulk of visitors are expected to arrive in the late afternoon and evening each day.

I was also told that many more people are expected to frequent Africa Station once the Games open on Friday, July 26.

Algeria
© Entrée to Black Paris

Concert stage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ethiopia and Kenya
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ivory Coast
© Entrée to Black Paris

Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mali, Ghana
© Entrée to Black Paris

Nigeria
© Entrée to Black Paris

Senegal
© Entrée to Black Paris

Radio France Internationale (RFI - radio and video streaming) has set up its operation next to Senegal's stand. It will broadcast several shows from Africa Station during the course of the Games.

RFI stand (left) and projection screen
© Entrée to Black Paris

RFI schedule
© Entrée to Black Paris

I met Celio Mirande at the Ivory Coast stand. His Conficulture card games provide quizzes on African and Afro-Caribbean history. He posed for me holding his only English-language card deck - Kings and Queens of Africa.

RFI stand and projection screen
© Entrée to Black Paris

Celio Mirande
© Entrée to Black Paris

Kings and Queens of Africa
© Entrée to Black Paris

An open air restaurant area with food trucks and stands can be found adjacent to the country stands. On the way there, visitors pass a giant mosquito and a photo exhibition about eliminating malaria in Africa.

Direction post
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mosquito and Health Athletes photo exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Health Athletes - James Patrick photo of malaria testing in Zambia
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dining area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because I arrived so early in the day, I did not find vendors who were ready to serve full meals.

Afrik'n Fusion food truck
© Entrée to Black Paris

Savane & Mousson Afro-Asian fusion food truck
© Entrée to Black Paris

At NBrick, a North African food truck, I was able to order a cup of soft-serve yogurt ice cream with strawberry syrup as a topping.

Nbrick food truck
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was amused to find a customer pedaling a machine that blended the smoothie she ordered.

Blending a smoothie at NBrick
© Entrée to Black Paris

Continuing on my tour, I decided to venture into Club 2024. This space, which is adjacent to Africa Station, is where Olympic competitions will be broadcast for local residents at no charge.

The first thing I saw when I crossed the "threshold" into Club 2024 was a stand where women will braid your hair.

Hair braiding stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

As I walked along the path of rubber mats that leads to the projection screen, I saw the water games area and areas where visitors can engage in their own sporting activities.

Club 2024 - water games
© Entrée to Black Paris

Club 2024 - archery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Much of the field is occupied by lawn chairs that face the broadcasting screen.

Club 2024 - lawn chairs and projection screen
© Entrée to Black Paris

Vendors are set up on the periphery of the field in the area where the hair braiding stand is found.

I met Cédric Chokouaha there. He and his brother, Arnaud, are the creators of Yohel Toys, a brand of magnetized wood puzzles that teach the history and culture of Africa and Martinique.

Yohel Toys
© Entrée to Black Paris

Arnaud and Cédric Chokouaha
© Entrée to Black Paris

Their products are beautiful and are available in several languages.

I ventured back into Africa Station, walking past the VIP area that will welcome African medalists, dignitaries, and celebrities who visit the fan zone.

Africa Station VIP area
© Entrée to Black Paris

In retracing my steps through the restaurant area, I stopped to look at a stand that offers gourmet foodstuffs and cosmetics. Several brands are being sold there.

Gourmet boutique
© Entrée to Black Paris

The food items are sold by a new online gourmet grocer called Africery. I sampled from all the trays you see on the table in the photograph above - a chocolate cake/cookie made from Inakobé, a gluten-free, vegan flour substitute composed of cocoa, plantain, coconut, cinnamon, and star anise; toffee; dried mangos; and "ginger snaps" made with mint.

I also sampled the cocoa beans dusted with powdered sugar that you see in the dark bowl near the back of the table.

Everything was delicious!

The owners of Africery and Inakobé were not present when I visited the stand, but two of the women who set up the displays and presented the products allowed me to photograph them.

Saleswomen at gourmet food stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

Adjacent to this table is another table with displays of products by Rafete Curls, an all-natural, environmentally friendly hair care brand whose motto is "Embrace your curls and your identity."

Founder Awa Lamotte proudly presented her products to me.

Rafete Curls Green Paradise
© Entrée to Black Paris

Awa Lamotte - Rafete Curls founder
© Entrée to Black Paris

From the restaurant area, I made my way back to the country stands and took a final look around. A meeting was taking place at the Senegal stand.

Meeting at Senegal stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

After several minutes, beautifully dressed women emerged from the tent.

Women emerging from meeting at Senegal stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because Senegal is hosting the 4th Summer Youth Olympic Games, many activities will take place at Africa Station to bridge the 2024 Olympic Games with the competition that will be hosted in Dakar in 2026.

GETTING TO AFRICA STATION

If you're thinking of visiting Africa Station, be aware that getting there IS NOT EASY.

All venues in Paris and the surrounding areas that are associated with the Games are subject to physical and human barriers to entry. Residents in these areas and people who have official business with the Games have been issued a QR code that allows them to gain access in a private vehicle. Others who approach in motor vehicles will be denied access.

As a pedestrian, you are generally able to enter these areas but are likely to encounter barriers that prevent you from using certain crosswalks, forcing you to walk "out of your way" to get to your destination.

Africa Station is no exception.

The entrance to Quai de la Marine, the street leading to the main entrance at Stade Robert-César, is blocked at its intersection with rue Méchin by a team of national police officers. If you do not have a designated QR code, you will not be able to enter via taxi or Uber.

You can walk to the stadium from this barrier in 15-20 minutes.

There is a free shuttle train that will transport you between the barrier and the stadium, but the stop (called "Mairie") is on a side street (Rue du 8 mai 1945) that is a block past the police barrier. The train runs every 30 minutes between 1 PM and 9 PM.

Le Petit Train - shuttle to Stade Robert-César
© Entrée to Black Paris

Intersection of rue du 8 mai 1945 and quai de la Marine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Shuttle stop (marked in red)
© Entrée to Black Paris

If you want to attend a specific event at Africa Station or watch a particular competition at Club 2024*, be sure to allow plenty of time to get there.

If you're in central Paris and plan to use public transportation, allow AT LEAST ONE HOUR of transit time. Find the best route at RATP.fr.

*Note that Club 2024 has its own (well marked) entrance on quai de la Marine.

La Table d'Heshima - A Charitable Catering Organization

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: La Table d'Heshima signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

While making our way to Le Coupe Gorge for lunch the other day, Tom and I saw a man peering out of a ground-floor window at the building on Avenue Victoria that was formerly occupied by Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris.

Take-out counter of La Table d'Heshima
© Entrée to Black Paris

From the signage above the window and on the sidewalk, we discovered that he was standing at the take-out counter of a charitable catering company called La Table d'Heshima.

Sandwich sign for La Table d'Heshima
© Entrée to Black Paris

After enjoying lunch and running an errand, we went back to La Table d'Heshima to learn more about it.

The man we saw in the window was Beau-Jacques Ilondo, the communications intern for the organization. He called a colleague from the depths of the room and asked her to tell us about the organization.

We were delighted to learn that the woman was none other than Andjelani Kasseyet, president and co-founder of the company!

Madame Kasseyet explained that heshima means "respect" in Swahili. She said that La Table d'Heshima has been in existence since 2013 and that its mission is two-fold:

1) To support the education of AIDS orphans in the Democratic Republic of Congo, prioritizing young girls who are often automatically deprived of schooling.

2) To promote the social and professional integration of women immigrants in Ile-de-France.

The organization offers a full catering service that can be booked with 72 hours' notice.

From their location at Les Arches Citoyennes, 3 avenue Victoria, they sell take-out breakfast from 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM and world cuisine for lunch.

On the day we happened by, they were selling salmon-zucchini lasagna and vegetarian lasagna as main dishes and fruit salad as dessert.

La Table d'Heshima menu for the week of July 8, 2024
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because we had just eaten, Tom and I only purchased bissap and ginger juice to take home. We enjoyed both beverages later that day.

Les Arches Citoyennes is a social enterprise project, which is bringing together businesses that embrace social utility and solidarity alongside economic performance. Madame Kasseyet estimates that the artists, artisans, and associations that currently rent space in the building will be able to stay there until the end of 2024.

Andjelani Kasseyet and Beau-Jacques Ilondo
© Entrée to Black Paris

After this time, renovation of the building will begin with the intent to install a permanent, environmentally-friendly complex with the same mission. It will be called Hospitalités Citoyennes.

I plan to return to the building, which has an entrance to a courtyard on quai des Gevres, to check out the other organizations that are renting space there.

I will also return to La Table d'Heshima to sample their menu.

La Table d'Heshima signage - Avenue Victoria
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Table d'Heshima
Email: latabledheshima@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeshimentVotre
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tableheshima/
To donate, click HERE.

Getting Out the Vote

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: BBQ dinner at Democrats Abroad Independence Day celebration
© Entrée to Black Paris

It has long been said that "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

Though this idiom refers to women vying for men's affection by feeding them well (and setting aside the gender stereotypes at the root of this phrase), the same can be said of politicians who wish to woo voters at election time.

Democrats Abroad decided to celebrate this year's U.S. Independence Day with an outdoor barbecue, not only to commemorate the ratification of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, but also to encourage attendees to register to vote.

Democrats Abroad invitation

The event was held at Café A, which is part of the Couvent des Récollets. It is across the street from the Gare de l'Est, making it quite easy to find.

Tom and I showed up at about 3 PM.

Café A entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Democrats Abroad guest check-in and voter registration table
© Entrée to Black Paris

Seattle native Randy Garrett was in command of the grills that day. He and his pit crew turned out pork ribs, chicken, salmon, and hot dogs along with corn on the cob throughout the day.

Pitmaster Randy Garrett grilling salmon steaks
© Entrée to Black Paris

Placing chicken on the grill
© Entrée to Black Paris

Serving ribs
© Entrée to Black Paris

Randy Garrett serving corn on the cob
© Entrée to Black Paris

Randy Garrett and the pit crew
© Entrée to Black Paris

Guests were asked to select their sides (potato salad, cole slaw, and mixed veggies) before passing in front of the grill.

Selecting sides
© Entrée to Black Paris

You had to go through the line a second time to get dessert.

Carrot cake
© Entrée to Black Paris

Apple tart
© Entrée to Black Paris

Beer, wine, and soft drinks were available at the bar.

Serving drinks at the bar
© Entrée to Black Paris

Garrett's wife, Nicole, arrived shortly after Tom and I did. She happily agreed to pose for a photo.

Randy and Nicole
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom and I sampled everything except the hot dogs and salmon. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Dinner
© Entrée to Black Paris

We loved the carrot cake as well. Tom was so impressed by it that he got a second piece and searched out the man who baked it!

Slice of carrot cake
© Entrée to Black Paris

José - carrot cake baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

The venue became more crowded as the afternoon progressed. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day!

Garrett took a break from the grills during a lull and enjoyed conversing with guests.

Diners enjoying their meals
© Entrée to Black Paris

Randy Garrett conversing with diner
© Entrée to Black Paris

As the afternoon wore on, more and more people that Tom and I know showed up. I was thrilled to reunite with Kiratiara Freelon, an executive recruiter and freelance journalist based in Rio, who is in town to cover the Summer Olympic Games.

Monique and Kiratiana Freelon
© Entrée to Black Paris

After a few hours of food and conversation, Tom and I departed for home.

While we are both already registered to vote, the purpose of the event was not lost on us.

If you live overseas and have not yet registered to vote, visit the VOTE FROM ABROAD Website and sign up!

Soul Food Takes Over

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Volunteers Milton and Fihodé at the Soul Food information desk
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Sunday June 30, the French nonprofit organization Soul Food took over Arboré, the Royal Madeleine Hotel's restaurant, to offer a afternoon and (early) evening of fantastic food, soul-stirring music, and bubbling conviviality.

Arboré Restaurant at Hôtel Royal Madeleine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Soul Food is a nonprofit that helps young migrants and refugees adjust to life in Paris. It uses art and culture as tools to feed the soul of its members (hence the name of the organization).

Because Soul Food's founders recognize food as powerful art form and a key component of culture, they incorporate it in many of the activities they organize. They have even incorporated food into their professional development program by including a culinary track that provides members with an opportunity to cultivate food preparation skills that will ease their road to gainful employment.

For several years, Arboré has supported Soul Food's professional development program. The menu provided for the June 30 event was partly inspired by young Soul Food members and their West African heritages, and partly by the French and Indian influences of Arboré's Chef Ashwin Marius Le Prince. Their offerings were innovate and flavorful, and they regaled all who partook of the festivities that day.

Soul Food brochure and menu
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entry was free. Guests enjoyed a meal in the Passage Puteaux adjacent to the restaurant or simply dropped in for a drink from Talaé, the hotel's cocktail bar, and listened to music.

Passage Puteaux
© Entrée to Black Paris

Talaé Cocktail Bar at Hôtel Royal Madeleine
© Entrée to Black Paris

I arrived at around 2 PM and had the opportunity to observe everything before the live music began. Passage Puteaux was already quite full.

Diners in Passage Puteaux
© Entrée to Black Paris

I met volunteers Milton and Fihodé at the information desk. Artwork, coloring books, and Soul Food's annual report were on the table in front of them, and Soul Food apparel hung on a rack to the side.

Soul Food artwork
© Entrée to Black Paris

Soul Food coloring book, annual report, and apparel
© Entrée to Black Paris

A young woman named Ima served as DJ while the wait staff scurried to place orders on tables.

DJ Ima
© Entrée to Black Paris

Almost immediately, I saw Chef Ashwin and introduced myself to him. He was quite friendly, and his excitement about the event was tangible.

Chef Ashwin Marius Le Prince and Monique Y. Wells
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the menu were (from the far left going clockwise in the image below) Lentil dahl with coconut milk, yogurt, mint, and fried shallots, Shredded beef mafé on naan with green harissa and roasted peanuts, Okra tempura with tamarind gel, Cod fritters with sauce chien and lime yogurt, and Crispy chicken tenders with yassa relish.

Five main dishes
© Entrée to Black Paris

The food was beautifully presented and tasted just as good!

The first music group took the stage at around 3 PM. To open their set, Karim Kabore and Zakariae Heddouchi delivered fantastic renditions of Buena Vista Social Club's "Chan Chan" and "El Cuarto de Tula."

L to R: Karim Kabore and Zakariae Heddouchi
© Entrée to Black Paris

The music was so compelling that Chef Ashwin emerged from the kitchen to watch the two men perform.

Chef Ashwin clapping to "El Quarto de Tula"
© Entrée to Black Paris

When the musicians took a break, he went into the passage to engage with diners.

Chef Ashwin (center) talking with a diner
© Entrée to Black Paris

By this time, my take out order was ready. I took one last look down the passage and then left to make my way home.

Watch some of Soul Food's favorite moments from the event HERE.

Click HERE to learn more about the organization's philosophy about food and the wonderful work they do.

Timeless Treasures at Galerie Intemporel

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Artwork by Lester Cadalso Rodríguez 2002
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entrée to Black Paris is receiving more and more requests for visits to Galerie Intemporel, the private, Black-owned fine art gallery that we told you about in a December 2023 announcement.

Owner Laurence Choko is proud to have developed strong, ongoing relationships with the artists she represents, almost all of whom are African or of African descent. She has carefully cultivated these relationships over the years and always operates with each artist's best interests in mind.

Today I'm sharing images taken during a recent visit to Intemporel (which means "timeless" in English). The clients were a Sarah and Neria Spence, a mother and daughter visiting from the U.S. Neria is getting ready to embark on her undergraduate education and will major in art history, and Sarah thought she could benefit from an encounter that would prepare her for the relative dearth of exposure to Black art to which she would be exposed during her studies.

Choko told heartwarming stories about the artists as she presented their paintings, works on paper, and photos. The creatives whose work she showed included painter/sculptor/musician Henri Guédon (Martinique), painter/biologist Akai Ako (Ivory Coast), photographers Cirenaica Moreira and René Peña (Cuba), and painter/sculptor/photographer/videographer/scenographer Soly Cissé (Senegal).

Laurence Choko introduces herself and her gallery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Admiring a Henri Guédon work
© Entrée to Black Paris

Laurence Choko indicates wall of photos by Cirenaica Moreira
© Entrée to Black Paris

Listening to artist stories
© Entrée to Black Paris

Contemplating a work
© Entrée to Black Paris

As with any gallery, most of what is in the collection is not on the walls. Choko happily extended the visit to a room where several works are stored and showed sarah and Neria many additional exquisite pieces.

Showing a serigraph by Santiago Rodríguez Olazabal
© Entrée to Black Paris

Showing Soly Cissé's Lost World series
© Entrée to Black Paris

Looking at Soly Cissé's Lost World series
© Entrée to Black Paris

Showing a Pepe Lazcano work
© Entrée to Black Paris

Looking at part of Ibrahim Miranda's La metamorfosis de la Isla series
© Entrée to Black Paris

More of Ibrahim Miranda's La metamorfosis de la Isla series
© Entrée to Black Paris

At the end of the visit, everyone discussed the importance of acknowledging the depth and breadth of artistic practice that exists in Black communities across the globe and the challenges Black artists still face in having their work recognized and appreciated by the Eurocentric professional art world. The session provided a framework for the art history studies that Neria will undertake beginning this fall.

Happy to have made a professional connection regarding Black art
© Entrée to Black Paris

To reserve a private visit at Galerie Intemporel, contact paris@entreetoblackparis.com.

New Signage Honors Josephine Baker in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

New signage at Place Josephine Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

Place Josephine Baker is a stop on a couple of Entrée to Black Paris' "off-the-beaten-tourist-track" walking tours in the 14th arrondissement, and I was pleased to take two scholars there the other day.

To my surprise, I found that two sides of the three-sided street sign that designates the "place" have recently been strikingly altered.

All three sides of the sign (which echoes the triangular shape of the "place") used to look like this:

Place Josephine Baker street sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

Now, the sides that face boulevard Edgar Quinet and rue Poinsot bear beautiful black & white photos of the iconic star.

Sign facing boulevard Edgar Quinet
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sign facing rue Poinsot
© Entrée to Black Paris

The third side of the sign remains in the original format.

Sign facing Le Paradis du Fruit restaurant
© Entrée to Black Paris

While the new signage is beautiful, I find that the lettering does not contrast sufficiently with the photos to make it easy to read.

I am also unsettled by the change in signage because important information about Baker - the facts that she served as a sublieutenant in the French Air Force on the side of the Free French Forces and was regarded as a philanthropist - is no longer visible from the street.

One needs to be on foot and deliberately circumnavigate the sign to see the original language.

The current set-up of the place, with the tables and chairs of the Paradis de Fruit restaurant now encroaching on the free space around the sign, makes this difficult.

Place Josephine Baker in 2020
© Entrée to Black Paris

Those who do not know that the sign has three sides are unlikely to even think about walking around it, especially if they are not planning to dine at the restaurant.

Place Josephine Baker in 2024
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon close inspection of the new signage, one can observe that the images appears to be superimposed on the original sign as opposed to replacing it. This implies that it can be removed.

At least one other street sign in the same vicinity of the 14th arrondissement has been similarly altered - that of rue Campagne Première. The language on the new sign at the corner of boulevard du Montparnasse mentions American artist Man Ray and French singer/artist Kiki de Montparnasse. Man Ray's apartment and photography studio were located on this street; Kiki (née Alice Prin) was his muse.

Rue Campagne Première street sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

Giving Back - The ETBP Cultural Awareness Program

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Gordon Parks Academy student photographs model
© Entrée to Black Paris

On June 25, I will present a continuing education Webinar for the Travel Institute entitled "Giving Back - The Entrée to Black Paris Cultural Awareness Program." Attendees will be encouraged to consider how they can attract clients while giving back to society by partnering with a nonprofit organization and earn two Continuing Education Units for joining the call.

I first wrote about ETBP Cultural Awareness in October 2023. At that time, our collaboration with the Wells International Foundation (WIF) had been running for three years.

Today, I'm providing an update on the program's activities.

Our work with Going Global with Barbara (GGwB) continues to bear fruit. Entrée to Black Paris supported the company's International Youth Leadership Program by providing the women-centric version our Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden walk to the November 2023 cohort of 9 female African-American high school students and our Black Paris after World War II walk to the April 2024 cohort of 7 male African-American middle and high school students.

GGwB is organizing a chaperone trip to Paris in September 2024 and two student excursions to Paris in November 2024. ETBP Cultural Awareness will support all of them.

The April 2024 all-male cohort was a first for GGwB, and recruiting the participants for the excursion was difficult.

Going Global with Barbara April 2024 cohort - students and chaperones
Image courtesy of Going Global with Barbara

Thanks to our 25 years of experience working with study abroad groups, we were able to corroborate GGwB President Barbara Eubanks' observation that it is tough to get Black male youth to enroll in study abroad programs. As a result, WIF and GGwB decided to co-host a series of free, online panel discussions called "Increasing the Participation of Black Male Youth in International Travel and Study Abroad Programs" to gather information about why the reticence exists and develop a network of allies who are dedicated to reversing this situation.

The first session, which was held on March 27, 2024, focused on the Black male high school student. Over 200 people registered for the call, and engagement during the Q&A segment of the event was lively. Comments made during that segment inspired the topics for subsequent panel discussions.

Click HERE to meet our event moderators and panelists as well as to access the recording from this event.

Our second session was held on June 5, 2024. It focused on the Black male college student. Again, discussion was lively and informative. The recording for this event will be made available in the coming days.

Our third session will focus on the "non-college-bound" Black male student. It is scheduled for September 18, 2024. To register for this session, click HERE.

The most recent ETBP Cultural Awareness project served middle school students from Gordon Parks Academy (GPA) in Wichita, KS. Nine students from the school were accompanied by parents, educators, and chaperones as they walked in the footsteps of legendary photographer, filmmaker, and classical music composer Gordon Parks.

San Jose State University Professor Michael Cheers, a respected protégé of Parks and a long-time advocate for Parks’ legacy, conceived the excursion. He trained the hand-selected students to hone their street and fashion photography skills as part of a book-writing and video documentary project entitled Why I Needed Paris.

We provided a customized version of our Grandest of Avenues tour for this group, including a new stop and multiple new images that evoked Parks' 2-year stint as a photojournalist for Life Magazine in 1950-1952.

Gordon Parks Academy students on Grandest of Avenues walking tour
© Entrée to Black Paris

Part of the students' assignment was to photograph two professional models alongside French youth from the 18th arrondissement. Professor Cheers dubbed this event "The Great Photography Shoot Out." We collaborated with the French nonprofit organization Image In to make this vision a reality.

Gordon Parks Academy student photographs model
© Entrée to Black Paris

Gordon Parks Academy students photograph model
© Entrée to Black Paris

Aniya Hamilton is temporarily stepping back from curating content for our ADCI Paris social media platforms because she has been selected to serve as a project officer for the Programming of the Experience for International Dignitaries during the Paris 2024 Olympics.

WIF Volunteer Aniya Hamilton
Image courtesy of Aniya Hamilton

Congratulations, Aniya!

If you know of youth, youth organizations, and/or educational institutions that would benefit from learning about ETBP Cultural Awareness, please share this blog post with them or write to Entrée to Black Paris to make an introduction!

James Baldwin Media Library to Open in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: James Baldwin taken Hyde Park, London
Photo by Allen Warren
CC-BY-SA-3.0

The first media library to serve Paris' 19th arrondissement bears the name of James Baldwin.

The City of Paris Website says the following about its choice to honor Baldwin (my English-language interpretation):

Giving a name to a public establishment in the making pays homage to a significant figure in our common imagination, inscribes the person's heritage of values in the landscape, and defines the ambition of the venue.

By assigning the name of James Baldwin to the first media library in the 19th arrondissement, which will open its doors in 2024 in the former Jean Quarré high school at Place des Fêtes, the Town Hall of the 19th arrondissement and the City of Paris wanted to pay tribute to this essential figure of universal emancipation and equal rights.

This is a bold choice, as is the project.

Image source: Ville de Paris Website

The Médiathèque James Baldwin will co-habitate with the Maison des Refugiés (Refugee House) in an ecologically-sustainable rehabilitated space at 10 bis, rue Henri Ribière. It replaces the Place de Fêtes library and has a triple function:

1) Concretely advance equity among Paris' arrondissements (the 19th was the last of the large districts not to benefit from a media library).

2) Practically demonstrate the city's conviction that culture promotes individual emancipation, social bonds and the reduction of social and territorial inequalities.

3) Embrace the Jean Quarré site's recent history of welcoming refugees and move the quarter towards a new stage of integration.

As was the Place des Fêtes library, the James Baldwin media library will be one of five Paris libraries that functions as a pôle sourd (a center for the deaf), where staff are trained to welcome the public in French sign language (FSL), and offer accessible activities for the deaf and hard of hearing.

The opening of the media library was projected for Spring 2024, and it is happening more or less on time. Recent photos and video on the library's FB page show teams moving in, stocking shelves, and preparing to welcome the public.

The Maison des Réfugiés will not be not a residence. Rather, it will be a place where refugees can learn French and train for a profession so as to maximize their ability to achieve autonomy in their new home. The integration project previously operated at 50, boulevard Jourdan the 14th arrondissement. On April 10, it hosted an afternoon and evening of free concerts to recognize the closure of the site in anticipation of moving into its new headquarters this year.

In addition to the media library and the refugee house, a co-working space, a café, and a multi-purpose room will operate on the site that was formerly occupied by the vocational high school Jean Quarré.

The City of Paris and the 19th arrondissement seem not to be aware that the opening of the media library is happening only a few months before the Baldwin Centennial.

Art and Food Pairing™: A La Banane Ivoirienne

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Façade at A la Banane Ivoirienne
© Entrée to Black Paris

After a stimulating visit at the opening reception for Studio Art-Z on rue Keller, I met my husband, Tom, for dinner at A La Banane Ivoirienne.

The approximately ten minute walk from the gallery to the restaurant took me through a neighborhood that is completely "off the beaten track." It was refreshing to walk along streets that were peaceful and completely devoid of tourists!

A la Banane Ivoirienne has been in operation for over 32 years. Even if the restaurant were to remove the sign out front, the banana tree motif that dominates the façade and the African-themed carvings on the door make it impossible for those searching for the establishment to mistake it for anything else.

Walking through the entryway, the walls of which are covered with cloth bearing images of an elderly man smoking a pipe and an elephant, Tom and I stepped into a small dining room with walls painted the color of mango.

Woven green wall sconces are perhaps meant to evoke banana leaves.

Entryway wall hangings
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ground floor dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Wooden tables are decorated with more African-themed carvings, and chairs with wicker seats are covered with bright African-themed cushions. Small sections of the walls are covered with kente cloth.

Chair cushions
© Entrée to Black Paris

Corner with kente cloth
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sconce, wood carving, and kente cloth
© Entrée to Black Paris

A curved staircase leads to a dining room on the lower level. (We ate in the dining room on the ground floor.)

Stairs to lower level
© Entrée to Black Paris

I ordered a Détonateur -- a "punch" made from koutoukou (a liqueur derived from palm wine), cane sugar, and coconut syrup -- and sipped it while Tom and I looked long and hard at the menu.

We reminded ourselves that portions at African restaurants are generally too large for us to finish and made up our minds to order only a main course and a dessert.

We asked the waiter several questions before selecting our dishes.

A la Banane Ivoirienne menu
© Entrée to Black Paris

I wanted to know what the Poulet "Belle Ivoirienne," whose description translates to English as "double chicken chef's special," was. The waiter explained that it is an entire chicken cut in half and served with rice or aloko (plantains)!

Based on this information, I forwent ordering Poulet "Belle Ivoirienne" and selected Zomamazo instead. This was chicken with a maffé (peanut) sauce served with spicy red beans, rice, aloko, and attiéké (a grainy preparation similar to couscous but made with manioc). While I found the sauce to be less peanutty than I like, the chicken, beans, and plantains were scrumptious!

Zomazazo
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom selected Garba Supérieur, which featured a generous portion of braised capitaine (croaker) fish served with aloko, a tomato-based sauce, and a sliced tomato and lettuce leaf for garnish. He finished every morsel on his plate.

Garba Supérieur
© Entrée to Black Paris

To accompany the meal, I ordered my favorite African soft drink, bissap. I was not disappointed - the beverage had the perfect flavor, sweetness, and consistency.

In keeping with the theme of the restaurant, Tom ordered a banana beer. He was surprised to find that it was made in Belgium and not on the African continent. He enjoyed it, even though it had no frothy head when first poured.

Bissap
© Entrée to Black Paris

Chapeau - banana beer from Belgium
© Entrée to Black Paris

We both enjoyed our main dish and turned our attention to dessert.

I ordered banane en boubou, a banana roasted in its skin. It was supposed to come with candied ginger, but the dish the waiter placed before me did not have ginger on it. When I inquired about this, the owner of the restaurant came to our table and told me that the ginger had fallen off the banana and onto the floor of the oven during the cooking process. He did not offer to replace it, which surprised me, but because the hour was late, I let that pass.

The banana and the syrup drizzled on the plate were a light finish for my meal.

Banane en boubou
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom ordered Koutou Glace, which is a serving of mango ice cream with koutoukou. He requested that the mango ice cream be replaced with coconut ice cream, and the waiter happily obliged him. Tom thoroughly enjoyed this dessert.

Coconut ice cream with koutoukou
© Entrée to Black Paris

Despite the couple of less-than-optimal elements that we experienced during our meal, we'd try A la Banane Ivoirienne again if we found ourselves in the neighborhood.

A La Banane Ivoirienne
10, rue de la Forge Royale
75011 Paris
Tel.: 01.43.70.49.90
Métro station: Ledru-Rollin (Line 8)

Art and Food Pairing™: African Photography at Studio Art-Z

Monique Y. Wells — Tue, 07 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Façade at Studio Art-Z
© Entrée to Black Paris

I wrote an article about Galerie Art-Z back in 2017, when the space it currently occupies at 27, rue Keller in the 11th arrondissement was operated by Dorothy Polley of Dorothy's Gallery:

Galerie Art-Z - Contemporary African Art at Dorothy's Gallery

When Polley moved to Saint Malo, Art-Z director Olivier Sultan assumed control of the gallery space in a continuation of the 25 years of work he has undertaken to promote contemporary African artists.

From the heart of a lively district about 10 minutes' walk from Bastille, he has not ceased to organize exhibitions for just under 60 of these artists whose creations range from paintings to sculptures to photographs.

Last week, Sultan opened an expansion of the gallery in a building just one door down from Number 27. Studio Art-Z is now open at 29, rue Keller with an inaugural exhibition entitled Regardez-Moi ! - Le studio photo dans l'Afrique des années 1960-70 (Look at Me! Studio Photos in Africa from 1960-70).

Regardez Moi ! sandwich board
© Entrée to Black Paris

Five artists are featured in this show, which is being exhibited at both addresses.

The works of Sanlé Sory (Burkina Faso) are the first ones visitors will encounter as they enter Number 29. They line the entire wall on the left side and half of the back wall of the room.

Left wall at 29, rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

Self-portrait of Sanlé Sory
© Entrée to Black Paris

Along the right side of the back wall and the rear of the right wall of the room, works by Mory Bamba (Mali) are displayed.

Works by Mory Bamba
© Entrée to Black Paris

A brick pillar graces the center of the room at Number 27. Sultan has erected a partition behind it to create exhibition space for additional photographic works.

Brick pillar at 29, rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

At a table on the left side of the partition, multiple small single edition photos by master photographer Malick Sidibé (Mali) are displayed. The partition wall on this side of the room bears works by Oumar Ly (Senegal).

Works by Malick Sidibé and Oumar Ly
© Entrée to Black Paris

Works by the other master photographer of Africa, Seydou Keïta (Mali), can be found on the opposite side of the partition. Visitors will find multiple books and programs that provide perspective on the photography industry in Africa on a table beneath Keïta's works.

Works by Seydou Keïta
© Entrée to Black Paris

The front right side of the room contains a large desk with shelving behind it. Art-Z has made numerous publications and fliers available for sale there.

Desk at 29, rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

Photo of Malick Sidibé and Olivier Sultan
© Entrée to Black Paris

After getting your fill of the photographs at Number 29, mosey down to Number 27 to see the rest of the exhibition.

Sanlé Sory's Jumelles yoruba outside 27, rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

There are multiple rooms at this address, and the walls of each of them are filled with B&W photos.

Front room at 27, rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

Second room at 27, rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sculptures punctuate the exhibition space.

Witness Bonjisi's My Wife
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sculpture in back room at 27, rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

A wonderful photo studio is set up in the back room. During the opening on May 4, period music played in this space throughout the evening, and visitors enjoyed wine and snacks there.

Photo studio at 27 rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pontiac Prontor II at photo studio
© Entrée to Black Paris

AM-FM radio at photo studio
© Entrée to Black Paris

Regardez-Moi ! will be shown through June 29, 2024.

For more information, contact Olivier Sultan at oliviersultan75@gmail.com or 06 63 24 42 22.

GALERIE ART-Z
27 & 29 rue Keller
75011 Paris
Métro : Bastille (Lines 1, 5, and 8), Bréguet Sabin (Line 5), Ledru Rollin (Line 8), and Voltaire (Line 9)

Façades at 27 and 29, rue Keller
© Entrée to Black Paris

FOOD PAIRING:

When I left the exhibition opening, I walked another 10 minutes to A La Banane Ivoirienne to have dinner.

Come back next week to read the review of this dining establishment!

Le Carnet de Ruby

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 +0200

by Tom Reeves

On May 10, 2022, two elementary school girls stood before an assembly of dignitaries who had come to the Luxembourg Garden in Paris to commemorate the abolition of slavery in France. The ceremony has been held on the 10^th of May every year since 2007.

Chirine (left) and Anaïs (right) of the Ferdinand Buisson Elementary School in Sotteville-lès-Rouen
Screenshot from Public Senat video

Chirine and Anaïs were students at the Ecole Ferdinand Buisson located in a town called Sotteville-lès-Rouen, about a two-hour drive to the northwest of Paris. They represented their school, which had participated in and won a national competition in 2020 entitled La Flamme d’Égalité (The Flame of Equality).

About 50 students from three classes at the school participated in the realization of the project, which was called Le Carnet de Ruby.

Students participating in the film project
Screenshot from Le Carnet de Ruby video

La Flamme d’Égalité is sponsored annually by the following institutions:

Ministry of National Education and Youth
Ministry of Citizenship
Ministry of the Overseas
Ministry of Agriculture
Interministerial Delegation for the Struggle against Racism, Antisemitism, and Anti-LGBT Hate
Foundation for the Memory of Slavery.

The competition, held every year since 2014, challenges students to create an artistic project that exemplifies an assignment associated with the theme of the abolition of slavery. At the national level, a jury selects an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school that has best incorporated the assigned theme into an original project. For the year 2020, the theme “Devenir Libre” (Become Free) was assigned, and students vied to create imaginative projects that illustrated it.

The students at the Ecole Ferdinand Buisson were inspired to create a colorful hand-drawn notebook and present it as a short, animated film in which Anaïs portrays Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to integrate William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana in 1960.

In the film, "Ruby" tells viewers that for her birthday, her grandmother gave her a notebook (un carnet) filled with images of Black women like her. She says she'd like to learn their stories.

"Ruby" examines her birthday notebook
Screenshot from "Le Carnet de Ruby"

The notebook illustrated the lives of six women, five of whom were Americans:

Nounou des Marrons, an 18^th-century leader of runaway slaves in Jamaica
Harriet Tubman, a 19^th-century leader of the Underground Railroad
Josephine Baker, a 20^th-century performer, WWII Resistance member, and civil rights activist
Rosa Parks, a 20^th-century civil rights activist
Katherine Johnson, a 20^th-century mathematician who worked in the NASA space program
Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017.

As well as creating the notebook that illustrated the lives of these women, the students learned how to present the women’s stories in animated form, using multiple hand drawings, stop-action photography, and voice-over commentary. Their film won the appreciation of the jury for the best project at the elementary school level for the year 2020.

Two years later, in 2022, Anaïs and Chirine presented the award-winning project at the national ceremony that was held in the Luxembourg Garden. They spoke briefly, limiting their discourse to the life of Josephine Baker, who, they said, escaped segregation in the United States and flourished as a performer in France.

Josephine Baker as portrayed in Le Carnet de Ruby
Screenshot from Le Carnet de Ruby video

In the garden, behind the girls, 400 student invitees from various schools around the country sat under a large tent to witness the ceremony. After the presentation, a student choir sang the French national anthem while the president of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and the president of the French senate, Gérard Larcher, stood at attention.

To read additional ETBP articles about La Flamme de l'Égalité, click on the links below:

The Flame of Equality

La Flamme d'Égalité (The Flame of Equality)

Chilly Winds Don’t Blow

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: I Think It's Gonna Rain Today (detail) by Khalif Tahir Thompson
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lily Heise of Je T'aime, Me Neither tagged me on her Facebook post about the vernissage for Khalif Tahir Thompson's solo exhibition entitled Chilly Winds Don't Blow at the Zidoun-Bossuyt gallery a few weeks ago, and I made a mental note to see the show well before its closing date in mid-May.

I recently did just that, and I was not disappointed!

Zidoun & Bossuyt façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

I discovered the gallery and the artist when I crossed Z&B's threshold at 51, rue de Seine in the 6th arrondissement.

Thompson's mixed media paintings fill the walls on both floors of the gallery.

Director Sabrina Bakis told me that all the works displayed represent people Thompson knows.

All are strikingly colorful.

Information panel and Chilly Winds Don't Blow
© Entrée to Black Paris

Church 82
2022 Mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

Two Genevas
2024 Mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

Each work contains independently displayed or overlapping letters and/or numbers, which Bakis told me are interwoven with intricate layers of symbolic associations. These elements hint at the multifaceted nature of an individual’s identity.

Z&B references the letters and numbers with balloons of characters on the ceiling and walls.

Balloons on ceiling of ground floor
© Entrée to Black Paris

"E" balloon and Yellow Chords (2023, mixed media) on first floor
© Entrée to Black Paris

My favorite painting in the exhibition is hung on the first floor between two windows overlooking rue de Seine. It is called I Think It's Gonna Rain Today.

I Think It's Gonna Rain Today
(2023) Mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

I Think It's Gonna Rain Today (detail)
(2023) Mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

I visited the entire exhibition before returning to the front room of the gallery to study the information presented about Thompson. This young man anticipates receiving his Master's degree in Painting/Engraving from Yale University in May 2024. His work hangs in prestigious U.S. museums such as Pérez Art Museum in Miami, FL and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in Houston, TX.

Thompson fully embraces production through mixed media, using graphite to sketch his compositions, oils to bring his people to life, and materials such as denim, papyrus, leather, newspaper, and beads to define the settings in which he poses them.

Chilly Winds Don't Blow is the first solo exhibition mounted for Thompson in France. It will be on display through May 11, 2024.

Zidoun & Bossuyt
51, rue de Seine
75006 Paris
Telephone: 01.87.44.78.81
Internet: https://zidoun-bossuyt.com
Metro: Odéon (Line 10)

The Story behind Chez Joséphine and Guitry x 3

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Bob Tomlinson as theater director in On Passe dans Huit Jours by Sacha Guitry
Image courtesy of Bob Tomlinson

Last December, I published an article about the Montmartre Cemetery in which I mentioned Sacha Guitry as Josephine Baker's French diction coach.

After reading the article, my friend and colleague Bob Tomlinson contacted me to share an image of the cover of a program which says "Chez Joséphine présente LE GROUPE THEATRAL dans Guitry x 3 - Trois Pièces en un Acte de Sacha Guitry - avec la participation de l'inimitable Joséphine Baker."

He told me he directed the plays, all of which were written by Guitry.

Because the text is in French and because I knew he had been involved in theater in Paris, I assumed that the production had been staged here.

Guitry x 3, program cover
Image courtesy of Bob Tomlinson

When I interviewed him about the plays months later, I learned that he actually directed them during his tenure as a professor of 18th-century French literature at Emory University.

The three one-act plays that Tomlinson brought to the stage via Le Groupe Théatral - an independant theater ensemble - were Une Lettre Bien Tapée (1939), On Passe dans Huit Jours (1922), and Une Paire de Gifles (1939).

Sacha Guitry in 1938
Harcourt
Image in public domain

Tomlinson directed the plays in 1990 in an intimate theatrical space that he dubbed "Chez Josephine" and created an onstage presence of Baker, played by an actress, that wove throughout the production. He designed much of the scenery for the sets himself.

In the hallway, works created by students called Josephine et le Nu were displayed.

The program provides biographical information about Guitry and Baker with accompanying illustrations.

Program, portrait of Sacha Guitry

Program, illustration of Josephine Baker

The only text in English provides a brief description of each play. Readers learn that the second play, On Passe dans Huit Jours (We Open in Eight Days), is a backstage drama in which

"a vain author is not pleased with Josephine Baker's acting in his new musical comedy Une Femme du Monde. Having driven her to a violent temper tantrum, he discovers the passion which he had found lacking in her performance.

"The director of the theatre, more concerned with his publicity notices than with temperamental authors and stars, calmly continues his work."

Joy Taylor played Josephine Baker, John Kliesch played the author, and Tomlinson played the theater director.

Below are photos from Tomlinson's scrapbook that depict the event.

Photos and article about Guitry x 3

Joy Taylor as Josephine Baker

John Kleisch, Bob Tomlinson (in background) and Joy Taylor in On Passe dans Huit Jours

Bob Tomlinson as the theater director in On Passe dans Huit Jours

Tomlinson, Taylor, and Kleisch in dance scene introducing Une Paire de Gifles

Cab Calloway (upper left) and Bob Tomlinson

The Emory Wheel, Emory University's student newspaper, gave Guitry x 3 a favorable review and indicated that students should look forward to whatever Le Groupe Théatral decided to produce the following year.

Celebrating Diversity Through Art: Reflections on Ode To Blackness…Everywhere

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Photographing Akil Carter's Caribbean Household series
© Entrée to Black Paris

by Regina White

Regina White is the Wells International Foundation's 2024 Winter-Spring Intern.

Regina devoted 26 years to serving in the Air Force before embarking on the pursuit of a degree in Gender, Sexuality, and Society at the American University of Paris (AUP) as a complement to a previously attained MBA in Human Resources. A global resident, she has broadened her perspectives through experiences gained by living and working in diverse regions of the world.

In a world where diversity, equity, and inclusion are ongoing struggles, the role of art becomes increasingly vital in fostering understanding and appreciation for different cultures and perspectives. Art exhibitions serve as spaces where individuals from all walks of life can come together to celebrate creativity and expression, offering a platform for marginalized voices to be heard and valued.

As I stepped into the familiar halls of the American University of Paris (AUP) Combes building, I anticipated another routine day on campus. Yet, as I rounded the corner beside the expansive windows overlooking the library, something caught my eye – a breathtaking portrait.

Captured within the frame was a young girl, her hair intricately styled into six wide plaits adorned with delicate pitch-black Afro-puffs that formed a regal headdress at the nape of her neck. Her stark white blouse provided a striking contrast, accentuating the beauty of her woven tresses against the pristine fabric.

Photo from Akil Carter's Caribbean Household series
Image courtesy of Regina White

In that moment, I was overcome with emotion, realizing that this portrait was not just a standalone piece of art, but a part of a larger exhibit titled Ode To Blackness…Everywhere, curated by AUP alumna and founder of Pop-Out Art Collective, Aalyiah Heath. It dawned on me that this exhibition was more than just a display of artwork; it was a celebration of voices like mine – voices rarely heard and seldom celebrated in such grandeur.

Speaking briefly with Aalyiah, I sensed her passion and pride for the work she had brought together. It became evident that for her, this exhibit was about more than just the physical artwork; it was about the stories behind them, the narratives of the artists reflecting their own cultures and backgrounds. It was a revelation to witness so many diverse voices shining brightly within the space.

Caribbean Household series
Akil Carter
© Entrée to Black Paris

A ceux dont les noms sont oubliés
Nana Sani
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Left: Cultured (Black) Pearls - paintings by Soul Food X Madiakam
Right: Black Narratives - photography by Awo Marlene Ahodetor
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Untitled 24
Donatella Jackson
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Hair We Go series
Rebecca Rowe
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Presence (part of series)
Farade Nicolas
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Deep within me, an intense desire bubbled up, urging me to express my heartfelt gratitude to Akil Carter, the talented artist behind the mesmerizing portrait. His knack for encapsulating the essence of childhood memories in a single frame was truly awe-inspiring.

I yearned to convey to Akil how his artistry whisked me away to a Sunday before Easter in 1983 – a moment suffused with the fragrance of "Blue Magic" hair grease lingering on my mother's hand as she meticulously straightened my thick Afro with a hot pressing comb; echoes of laughter and the soulful tunes of Rick James filling the air and enveloping me in the warmth of family gatherings. His photograph served as a portal to the past, resurrecting cherished moments with unparalleled clarity.

Akil’s portrait not only captured the beauty of the young girl's hair but also embodied the communal aspect of hair within the black community, and I was fortunate enough to be able to express to him the profound impact his work had on me. It was more than just a photograph; it was a poignant reminder of the beauty and resilience inherent in black culture, a testament to the power of art to transcend time and space.

In reflecting on his work, Akil shared,

The reason I chose hair is because it has always been something that has been a point of emphasis in my life in a lot of different rooms that I have been in, as well as in a lot of different ways positive and negative at different stages of my life. I have also observed and participated in the ways in which hair is communal and wanted to try to capture that in the work.

His words resonated deeply with me, as I recognized the significance of my hair as more than just a physical attribute but as a symbol of identity, community, and resilience within the black experience.

Ode To Blackness…Everywhere exemplifies the transformative power of inclusive art exhibitions in fostering understanding, appreciation, and celebration of diverse voices and experiences. Through the visionary curation of Aalyiah Heath and the remarkable talent of artists like Akil Carter, we are reminded of the importance of representation and the profound impact that art can have in shaping our perceptions and understanding of the world around us.

Read the American University of Paris article about the opening for Ode to Blackness...Everywhere HERE.

Beyond Anthropology

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Portrait of Katherine Dunham (detail) by André Quellier
© Entrée to Black Paris

Though Déborder l'anthropologie (Beyond Anthropology) was not mounted specifically for Black History Month or Women's History Month, the content of this exhibition could not have been better suited for both.

Entrance to Déborder l'anthropologie
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Curator Sarah Frioux-Salgas, Head of Collections Documentation and Archives at the Media Library of the musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac, has created a marvelous tribute to three African-American women—Katherine Dunham, Zora Neale Hurston, and Eslanda Goode Robeson—whose professional activities were rooted in the discipline of anthropology.

In my opinion, to have them featured in such a powerful (if small) exhibition outside the U.S. is extraordinary.

Zora Neale Hurston is the first of the three women to be presented.

Zora Neale Hurston smoking a cigarette
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

For me, the most remarkable part of her section of the exhibition was the series of five short silent videos that she recorded of people in Florida and Alabama in 1928 and 1929. The total viewing time for these films is 6 minutes and 48 seconds.

The extracts are entitled "Kossola" (aka Cudjo Lewis, the last known survivor of the U.S. slave ship Clotilda); "Polk County (depicting men tapping pine trees for sap to make turpentine)," "Young Girl Smiling," "Dancing Children," and "Baptism in Florida."

Kossola (aka Cudjo Lewis)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Young Girl Smiling
© Entrée to Black Paris

In addition to the films, the exhibition presents numerous photos, quotes from Hurston's books Mules and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God, and information about her short stories and plays.

Mules and Men - book cover
© Entrée to Black Paris

Eslanda Goode Robeson is next in line in the exhibition.

Eslanda Goode Robeson at Communist Party meeting in NYC (1948)
Photo from NY Daily News
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Information panels present the story of her move to London with her husband Paul, their activism in the Communist Party there and in the U.S., and her extended 1936 tour of South Africa, Zanzibar, Kenya, and Uganda with their son, Pauli.

Numerous photos from the travel diary African Journey, which describes this trip, are presented on a wall in this area of the exhibition.

Book cover, title page, and
reproductions of photos from African Journey
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

When I moved to the next area of this section of the exhibition, I was pleasantly surprised to find an enlarged reproduction of the African Journey photo that intrigued me the most on the wall.

Enlarged reproduction of photo from African Journey
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Another panel with accompanying photo of Goode Robeson at the Africa Women's Day event held in London (1961) presents the numerous articles that Goode Robeson wrote in opposition to colonial domination and support of Black feminism.

Articles written by Eslanda Goode Robeson
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Finally, Katherine Dunham is featured.

Portrait of Katherine Dunham by Raymond Voinquel
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The introductory information panel in this section describes her as "a pioneer of modern dance, innovative choreographer, and civil rights activist who contributed to creating a transnational history of Black cultures." The scholarship-funded ethnographic research she conducted in the Caribbean in 1935-1936 informed the performances that inspired her critical acclaim.

Videos of dance-focused gatherings and ceremonies recorded in Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, and Haïti during this period are shown in the exhibition. The total viewing time is 5 minutes and 30 seconds.

Trinidad - Traditional Dance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Considerable attention is given to Dunham's success in the City of Light. Multiple ink and felt-tip marker sketches and pastels of Dunham and her Paris performances created by André Quellier are on display.

Sketch of L'Ag'ya performance (1950)
by André Quellier
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sketch of Rite of Passage - Death allegory (1950)
by André Quellier
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pastel portraits of Katherine Dunham (left - 1950; right - 1951)
and pastel illustrations of L'Ag'ya performance (1950)
by André Quellier
© Entrée to Black Paris

A video of Shango et L'Ag'ya, choreographed performances inspired by the traditional Martinican dances of the same names, is available for viewing adjacent to these images (viewing time is 2 minutes and 20 seconds).

Shango et L'Ag'ya
© Entrée to Black Paris

Visitors are informed that Dunham's ballet Southland, which denounces lynching in the U.S., was performed at the Théâtre National du Chaillot on January 9, 1953. A few small photos from this performance are displayed.

The section on Dunham ends with information and photos of her intervention at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal in April 1966.

Déborder l'anthropologie (Beyond Anthropology) will be on display through May 12, 2024. Access is free with a general admission ticket to the museum.

To purchase tickets, click HERE.

Paris Olympic Games 2024 - Africa Station

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Africa Station logo

A tiny Paris suburb with a Black mayor is about to make Olympic history.

For the Paris 2024 games, Île-Saint-Denis will be transformed into Africa Station, a one-of-a-kind "fan zone" dedicated to the celebration of African culture and sport.

It is taking advantage of the international fervor over the Games, its designation as one of three cities that make up the Olympic Village, and its proximity to the Olympic Stadium (Stade de France) in the neighboring city of Saint-Denis to revamp its infrastructure, revitalize its neighborhoods, and provide support for its youth.

Mohamed Gnabaly, the 39-year-old mayor of this small town (which has a population of only 8,600 inhabitants, but 95 different nationalities) was quoted by Africa Presse as saying that he wanted to "use the Games to transform our city” and “restore pride to our people, to all our residents.”

Mohamed Gnabaly
Mayor of Île-Saint-Denis
Photo from LinkedIn profile

The recently renovated Stade Robert-César will house Africa Village, which will be a "one-stop-shop" for viewing the Games, meeting victorious African Olympic athletes, dining on African cuisine, attending concerts and exhibitions, and more. Île-Saint-Denis is partnering with Maison de l'Afrique to present various cultural activities that will offer "complete immersion into African flavors and crafts" not only to local residents, but also to others from the rest of the department of Seine-Saint-Denis, the City of Paris, and beyond.

Special emphasis is being placed on welcoming Île-Saint-Denis youth to the fan zone so they can feel included in the festivities and meet the athletes who are competing in the Games.

With the exception of some major concerts, admission to events will be free of charge.

The initiative, which has the support of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) and the French Minister for Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, aims to create a bridge between communities and celebrate diversity.

It is also serving to create a link between Seine-Saint-Denis and the city of Dakar, which be the first African city to host the Olympic Games when it welcomes the 4th edition of the Summer Youth Olympics in 2026. Maison Dakar 2026 will set up shop at Africa Station to promote the games.

Importantly, the organizers view Africa Station as a means of providing employment opportunities to local, marginalized youth.

Among the special events being planned is an Afro-American Weekend that will take place during the first weekend of the Games (July 27-28, 2024).

It will consist of music concerts, exhibitions, film screenings, talks, workshops and masterclasses.

Guests from USA will include designers, DJs, dancers, producers, celebrities, influencers, and artists. Among those listed in a promotional document released by the organizers are:

- KRS 1
- Wu Tang members
- The Awesome 2
- Drink Champs show + Noreaga
- Gerald Barclay
- Willie Esco (Jaclar)
- Lo Life
- Damon Dash

The following are the dates to remember:

Saturday July 20, 2024: Africa Station opening ceremony
Friday July 26: Broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics
From Thursday to Sunday over the period of the Games: numerous concert evenings highlighting the diversity of the African continent
Sunday August 11, 2024: Broadcast of the closing ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games and closure of Africa Station
Saturday September 7, 2024: Paralympic Games evening with concert

Africa Station is part of the wider framework of 239 fan zones planned in France for the Games. It will be open from 2 PM until 10 PM daily, and until midnight on evenings when concerts take place.

To get to Africa Station (Stade Robert-Cédar) from Paris:

RER D or H to St-Denis station, then take Tram T1 towards the city center and board the shuttle that will drop you off at the stadium.
RER C to Epinay sur Seine station, then take Bus 237 to Collège Sisley station and walk about 10 minutes to the stadium.

Studying Josephine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Photo shown during Raphaëlle Delauney's presentation
© Entrée to Black Paris

On March 15, 2024, the Petit Palais hosted a Journée d'Etude (a Day of Study) on Josephine Baker.

Entrance for conference speakers and attendees
© Entrée to Black Paris

This free colloquium was supported by FRAME - the French American Museum Exchange - which hosted an educational travel trip to Missouri that supported research on Baker as well. The colloquium coincided with the Petit Palais' current exhibition, Le Paris de la Modernité, 1905-1925 (Paris Modern, 1905-1925), in which a section is devoted to Baker.

I was only able to attend the morning sessions of the event, which covered Baker's life in St. Louis and her early years in Paris.

The afternoon sessions focused on Baker's life as viewed by her son, Brian Bouillon Baker; her activities during the Second World War, and her induction into the Pantheon.

Annick Lemoine, Director of the Petit Palais, opened the colloquium and welcomed the speakers and attendees.

Annick Lemoine
© Entrée to Black Paris

This was followed by a statement by Juliette Singer, curator for the exhibition, who moderated the morning sessions.

Juliette Singer
© Entrée to Black Paris

The first invited speakers were Professor Denise Ward-Brown, College and Graduate School of Art at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, and Associate Professor Joanna Dee Das, Performing Arts department at Washington University in St. Louis. These two women tag-teamed to present a fascinating account of the origins of jazz dance and Baker's mother's dance prowess as a precedent for her daughter's success.

Joanna Dee Das (seated) and Denise Ward-Brown (standing)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Title slide of Washington University professors' talk
© Entrée to Black Paris

They also talked about their collaborative documentary film project, Josephine's World, through which they are acknowledging and reclaiming through dance the land on which Baker and an entire African-American community in St. Louis lived and worked.

Next on the agenda was Brian Scott-Bagley, Parisian showman, choreographer, tour operator, and Founder of the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendents de Paris. He regaled the audience with stories that illustrate how his personal and professional life is inextricably intertwined with that of Baker and her Rainbow Tribe.

Brian Scott-Bagley
© Entrée to Black Paris

The three speakers then took questions from the audience.

First panel of the day
© Entrée to Black Paris

The mid-morning break provided an opportunity to visit the museum's gift shop. There, observant browsers found a hand-patinated resin sculpture of Baker by Sébastian Tamari.

Joséphine Baker by Sébastian Tamari
© Entrée to Black Paris

The second half of the morning consisted of a round table discussion about Baker's arrival in Paris in 1925 and the two performances that made her famous around the world - La Danse Sauvage from La Revue Nègre and La Danse des Bananes from La Folie du Jour.

Nathalie Sergent, Director of Publishing and Multimedia at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, set the stage by presenting the history of the theater and the evolution of the types of entertainment presented there prior to Baker's début in La Revue Nègre.

Nathalie Sergent
© Entrée to Black Paris

She displayed advertisements and playbills of various shows as well as images of the program for La Revue Nègre.

Théâtre des Champs-Elysées ads and playbill
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Revue Nègre program
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pascale Obolo, independent film-maker, researcher, curator, activist, and Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the contemporary art magazine Afrkadaa, talked about "the thorny question of the banana skirt."

Pascale Obolo
© Entrée to Black Paris

She focused heavily on two contemporary performances that were inspired by Baker's banana dance at the Folies Bergère in 1926 - Beyoncé's performance at the 2006 Fashion Rocks event and Lazaro Cuerno Costa's performance at Jean-Paul Gauthier's 2018 Fashion Freak Show.

Beyoncé at Fashion Rocks (2006)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lazaro Cuerno Costa at Fashion Freak Show (2018)
© Entrée to Black Paris

The last speaker of the morning was performer, choreographer, and educator Raphaëlle Delaunay. She recounted a story about wearing a banana skirt as a child and not being at all aware of the symbolism and significance behind Baker's first performance in the original costume.

Raphaëlle Delaunay
© Entrée to Black Paris

She deconstructed the movements that Baker made during the banana dance, describing them geometrically and even rising from her chair to give brief demonstrations of what she was saying.

After Delaunay finished her presentation, moderator Juliette Singer re-opened the floor for questions.

Second panel of the day
© Entrée to Black Paris

During a lively discussion about Baker's role in the choreography of the banana dance, Singer announced that Baker's son, Brian Bouillon-Baker, had entered the auditorium. He descended the stairs and took the microphone to add his comments and to ask if anyone who might not return to the colloquium that afternoon wanted to ask him anything before the lunch break.

Brian Bouillon-Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

The session lasted much longer than anticipated, and it was worth staying for every minute!

The Black Influence on "Modern Paris"

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Josephine Baker Veiled (detail) by Jean Dunand
© Entrée to Black Paris

As stated in a previous Entrée to Black Paris blog post, the Petit Palais is wrapping up a three-part exhibition series with a show called Modern Paris (1905-1925).

Tom and I went to see the exhibition last week and felt it was definitely worth the visit.

Exhibition banner
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entries are timed, and the museum advises that you reserve your tickets in advance.

We entered at 12:15 PM on Sunday, March 10. While Tom had to leave early, I didn't exit the museum until almost 4 PM!

The exhibition covers twenty years of vibrant activity in the visual arts, fashion, industry, and decorative arts.

First room of exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Visitors are immediately made aware of the "Black influence" during this period through the presentation of two works by Marie Vassilieff and a female statuette from Côte d'Ivoire.

Sketch for a Poster for a Ball at the Academy Vassilieff
Marie Vassilieff
c.1913-1914 Charcoal on Paper
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Female figure Baoulé, Blo bla or Arié una
19th century; Côte d'Ivoire
Wood, plant fibers, glass pearls
© Entrée to Black Paris

Amadeo Modigliani used Gouro masks from Côte d'Ivoire as inspiration to create a magnificent stone sculpture called Head of a Woman.

Head of a Woman
Amadeo Modigliani
1911-1912 Stone
© Entrée to Black Paris

An installation shows Ivoirian masks on the reproduction of a wall in Picasso's bedroom at the apartment he shared with Olga Khokhlova on rue la Boétie in the 8th arrondissement.

The exhibition does not neglect the First World War. It presents the cessation and gradual reemergence of artistic activity during the conflict.

As an example, visitors learn that the first exhibition of African sculptures as art as opposed to ethnic or archaeological objects was held in November 1916.

African sculptures
© Entrée to Black Paris

You will find a sensitive artistic representation of African soldiers who fought for the French during the war.

The Sudanese
Meta Muter
c.1917 Oil on canvas
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Tarsila do Amaral, a female Brazilian painter who spent considerable time in Paris beginning in 1920, painted her iconic A Negra here in 1923.

A Negra
Tarsila do Amaral
1923, Oil on canvas
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Of course, no exhibition that presents the first quarter century of life in Paris would be complete without examining Josephine Baker's influence on the cultural scene.

In Section 10 of the show, Josephine is presented as "The Revelation." An information panel, paintings, drawings, photos, a brief video, and a doll provide a glimpse into the enormous impact she had on French society, beginning at the tender age of nineteen.

Josephine Baker veiled
Jean Dunand
1927; Blond, black, and silver lacquer
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine Baker
Jean Cocteau
1925; China ink on paper
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

Doll dedicated by Josephine Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Petit Palais has organized a free, full-day colloquium on Josephine on Friday, March 15. To register, click HERE.

Black French Sportswomen in the 2024 Summer Olympics

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover Image: Olympic rings in the Place du Trocadéro in Paris
Anne Lea, photographer
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Tomorrow the world celebrates International Women's Day 2024.

On International Women's Day 2023, the Olympic Committee announced that the 2024 Summer Olympic games would achieve gender parity in terms of the number of participating athletes.

The City of Paris is undertaking the renaming of multiple sports facilities after women, and the Olympic Committee has chosen to represent a woman in the logo for the upcoming games.

Several Black women will represent France at the games this summer.

Among them are:

Mélanie de Jesus Dos Santos - gymnastics (she is training with Simone Biles in Houston)

Mélanie de Jesus Dos Santos
Photographer: Two Wings
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Clarisse Agbegnenou - judo

Clarisse Agbegnenou
Photographer: Awkward Chester
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Renelle Lamotte - track (800m)

Renelle Lamotte
Photographer: АлексИзз
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Cyréna Samba-Mayeta - track (100m hurdles)

Cyréna Samba-Mayeta
Photographer: Sandro Halank
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Yolaine Yengo - rugby

Yolaine Yengo
Image from Yengo's X page
Fair use claim

Entrée to Black Paris published an article about Black French sportswomen on the Olympic judo team in 2016:

We Wear Our History in Our Darkness - The Black Woman's Body in France, Past and Present

and an article about Black women in rugby in 2017:

Black Women in French Rugby

ETBP is looking forward to learning the results of the 2024 Olympic games and wishes all the competing athletes well!

Four Black Women Featured at the Musée du quai Branly

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Banner for Beyond Anthropology
Source: Musée du quai Branly Website

Did you know that Zora Neale Hurston, Esmelda Goode Robeson, and Katherine Dunham were anthropologists?

These women are being featured in an exhibition called Beyond Anthropology at the Musée du quai Branly.

Cover of Beyond Anthropology Visitor's Guide

Curator Sarah Frioux-Salgas, head of collections documentation and archives at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Media Library, has put together this exhibition to examine how Hurston, Robeson, and Dunham pursued anthropology academically and turned that study into fuel for their artistic and political activities. It has been mounted in the Atelier Martine Aublet, the same space where the excellent exhibition about Paul Robeson was displayed in 2018.

Frioux-Salgas presents field archives of photography and film resulting from the three women's anthropology work and looks at how they interpreted and used these outside the field of anthropology to combat racism and colonialism as well as promote and defend the rights of women.

The Atelier Martine Aublet is a small space - it measures only 170 square meters (~1830 square feet) - so visitors should expect a compact presentation of the archival materials.

But given the subject matter, I anticipate that visitors will find Beyond Anthropology to be extremely powerful.

The work of a fourth Black woman is simultaneously being featured at the museum.

Cover of ilimb, the Essence of Tears Visitor's Guide

Franco-Gabonese artist Myriam Mihindou has been invited to present an original installation celebrating Punu culture through the museum’s collections of musical instruments and sound archives. She has created an exhibition that allows visitors to see, hear and feel her relationship with her native culture, as she pays tribute to Punu mourners who guide the deceased to the afterlife and the living through their mourning.

According to the artist, the exhibition is "a narrative about tears."

ilimb, the Essence of Tears is being shown in the Marc Ladriet de Lacharrière Gallery.

Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
37, quai Branly
75007 Paris
Entry fee: 14€ (full price); 11€ (reduced rate)
Opening hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday through Sunday: 10:30 AM - 7:00 PM
Thursday: 10:30 AM - 10:00 PM
Monday: closed

"Modern Paris" at the Petit Palais

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Scipion l'Africain by Marie Vassilieff, 1916 (detail)
Huile sur toile, 100 x 120 cm. Collection particulière, Paris. Courtesy
Galerie Françoise Livinec. Photo © Cornelis van Voorthuisen

After Romantic Paris (1815-1848) and Paris 1900, the Spectacle City, the Petit Palais is wrapping up a three-part exhibition series with Modern Paris (1905-1925).

The show is divided into eleven sections that cover topics ranging from the First World War to fashion designer Paul Poiret to the opening of the Champs Elysées Theater.

Artworks, clothing, model planes and cars, and jewelry are on display.

Not surprisingly, the phenomenon of Josephine Baker's arrival in France and the effect of her performance in La Revue Nègre on French society are addressed (Section 10).

Joséphine Baker, 1925
Kees Van Dongen
China ink and watercolor on paper
71.1 x 48.3 cm
Dépôt au musée Singer Laren, Meerhout
© ADAGP, Paris 2023
Photo © AKG images

The museum has organized two events that compliment the exhibition while coinciding brilliantly with Black History Month:

Rencontre avec Le Paris Noir et Histoires Crépues is a one-hour conference during which Kévi Donat of Le Paris Noir and Seumboy of Histoires Crépus will explore the paradoxes of the celebration of Black culture and the imposition of colonial rule in Africa.

It will take place in the Petit Palais auditorium on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 4 PM.

Doors open at 3:30 PM. Admission is free.

If Rue Blomet Could Talk is a one-hour concert that celebrates the work of Black composers and artists.

Baritone and pianist Khalid McGhee, who is currently an artist-in-residence at the United States Foundation at the Cité Universitaire de Paris, will bring to life the works of John Rosamon Johnson ("Lift Every Voice and Sing"), Clarence Cameron ("White Levee Dance"), Scott Joplin ("Eugenia," "Pineapple Rag," and "Scott Joplin's New Rag"), Samuel Coleridge Taylor (Four African Dances), and Harry T. Burleigh (multiple Negro spirituals, including "Steal Away" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot").

Khalid McGhee
Photo courtesy of Khalid McGhee

McGhee will be accompanied by Jonathan Mutel on the violin.

This event will be held in the Petit Palais auditorium on Sunday, February 25 at 4:00 PM.

Doors open at 3:30 PM. Admission is free.

Modern Paris will be on display through April 14, 2024. For information in English and to purchase tickets, click HERE.

Boutique Hotel Displays Fine Art Photography by African Artists

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Crown the Queen (2019) by Marc Posso (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

For the next several weeks, when you walk into the foyer of Hôtel Jules et Jim in Paris' 3rd arrondissement, you'll be greeted by B&W photographs reminiscent of the work of great African photographers such as Malick Sidibé.

Avant la Soirée (2021 - left) and Un bisou vraiment (2021 - right)
Mark Posso, photographer
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

These photos were created by Marc Posso, a contemporary Gabonese artist who aims to "deconstruct the prejudices and stereotypes associated with African culture" with his work.

Four of his photos grace the walls of the hotel, and a fifth can be viewed by peering downward into the wine cave in the bar at the rear of the hotel's courtyard.

Photo de dos (2021) in wine cave
Mark Posso, photographer
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

A second photographer's work completes this intimate exhibition.

Nana Yaw Oduro hails from Ghana. He is described as being "the stage director of his own emotions during the performance of a photo shoot."

All the Things My Father Does (2019)
Nana Yaw Oduro, photographer
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Where To ? (2022 - left) and Behind My Back (2019 - right)
Nana Yaw Oduro, photographer
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

All the Things My Father Does (2019)
Nana Yaw Oduro, photographer
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition is entitled Journey of Emotional Resonance. It was curated by Marques Hardin of Artgence, a company that provides art broker and curation services.

Marques Hardin
© Entrée to Black Paris

The hotel has labeled the common spaces in which this art is displayed Galerie Jules et Jim. On its Website, it indicates that it is partnering with Artgence to provide "a unique opportunity for art lovers to experience how art can be hung in their personal and professional spaces."

The idea is to have hotel guests "live with" the art so they can "take their time and decide whether to add pieces to their collection."

The gallery is accessible to the public from 9 AM to 10 PM daily.

Emerging and established artists who would like their work shown in the 15-meter space that extends from the hotel's entrance toward the courtyard and bar area can contact Artgence at info@artgence.co to explore this opportunity.

Hôtel Jules et Jim
1 Rue des Gravilliers
75003 Paris
Telephone: 01.44.54.13.13
Metro: Arts et Métiers (Lines 3 and 11)

Hôtel Jules et Jim
© Entrée to Black Paris

Elliott Barnes at the Mobilier National

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Elliott Barnes sitting on Endless Summer II
© Entrée to Black Paris

In last week's blog post, I announced that a work by architect/interior designer Elliott Barnes had been selected for entry into the design collection of France's Mobilier National.

On February 1, 2024, I attended the inaugural event organized to celebrate the nation's latest acquisitions.

Le Mobilier National is located on rue Berbier du Mets in the 13th arrondissement. It is found almost directly behind the Gobelins Manufactory.

Rear of Les Gobelins Manufactory
© Entrée to Black Paris

Rue Berbier du Mets street sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

An historically classified site, it is a rather sober looking building with a modest art deco-like interior.

Le Mobilier National
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Mobilier National courtyard
© Entrée to Black Paris

Event attendees had to climb two flights of stairs to reach the storeroom where the new designs were displayed.

Stairs at le Mobilier National
© Entrée to Black Paris

Barnes' Endless Summer II was mounted on a low platform near the entrance to the room. It was flanked by a pedestal on one side and a side table on the other, both of which were also new acquisitions for the collection.

Endless Summer II display
© Entrée to Black Paris

When I arrived, Barnes was engaged in conversation with Marques Hardin, a consultant in the professional art world. Barnes introduced the two of us and immediately, a new avenue of exploration opened for the Entrée to Black Paris blog!

Marques Hardin photographs Endless Summer II
© Entrée to Black Paris

While Hardin and I chatted, visitors continually approached Barnes and engaged him in conversation.

Elliott Barnes engaged in conversation
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we were able to talk further, I mentioned to Barnes that I thought I had seen Endless Summer II before. He explained that he showed a similar piece during the AD Intérieurs 2017 show at La Monnaie de Paris.

AD Intérieurs 2017
© Entrée to Black Paris

The bench for AD Intérieurs 2017 was made from vegetal leather. The limited edition (1/8 + 2 AP) created for the Mobilier national is made with synderme, a substance created from leather remnants mixed with paper fibers and latex or another synthetic resin. Both editions in leather and synderme bend the material into undulating waves. The form is held in place with metal rods.

To enter into the Mobilier National collection, a work must be unique or part of a limited series of no more than eight items. Because Endless Summer II is part of a limited series, it meets the criteria for acceptance into the collection.

Endless Summer II
© Entrée to Black Paris

Endless Summer II - bench top
© Entrée to Black Paris

Endless Summer II - bench "leg" and info card
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Friday, February 2, Le Monde published a full page article on Barnes. The photo that was used for the information card for Endless Summer II can be seen in its entirety in the article.

Elliott Barnes in Le Monde
Image courtesy of Elliott Barnes

From this point on, any official French organization or ambassador can select Endless Summer II for use as decor in an office, residence, or other enclosed space.

CONGRATULATIONS, Elliott Barnes!

Elliott Barnes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Celebrating Elliott Barnes

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Monique Y. Wells and Elliott Barnes at AD Intérieurs 2017
© Discover Paris!

Today, a work by Elliott Barnes enters the collection of France's Mobilier National.

Supporting artistic professions and creation since the 17th century, the Mobilier National is a major player in the contemporary creation and promotion of French decorative arts.

This institution is one of the founding members of the Campus of Excellence for arts and design professions launched at Paris' Gobelins factory in 2020.

Attached to the Ministry of Culture, its mission is to ensure the conservation of its unique collections and to perpetuate and transmit expertise in the creation and restoration of tens of thousands of pieces of furniture and objects intended for the furnishing and decoration of public buildings in France and abroad.

Mobilier National is hosting a ceremony to celebrate its new acquisitions today.

I will report on the event in next week's blog.

In the interim, I hope you'll enjoy reading the articles that Entrée to Black Paris has published about Barnes over the years:

Black Paris Profiles II: Elliott Barnes

Elliott Barnes at the Musée Carnavalet

Elliott Barnes at AD Interiors 2017

Elliott Barnes Reaches New Pinnacles of Success

A Trip Down Memory Lane - January Posts at ETBP

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Roseline Armange at the Luxembourg Garden
Image courtesy of Dr. Roseline Armange

I'm out of the office this week.

Rather that "press pause" on the blog, I've decided to share links to selected Entrée to Black Paris posts that I've published in January over the past five years.

I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane!

Josephine Baker
1939 Studio Harcourt
Public domain

Portraits of Josephine (January 19, 2023)

Mariane Ibrahim gallery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Two New Art Galleries in the 8th Arrondissement (January 13, 2022)

Chez Honey
1949 Oil on masonite
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

Herb Gentry and Chez Honey (January 28, 2021)

Lucy Jane at the Luxembourg Garden
Image courtesy of Dr. Roseline Armange

In Memory of the Past Present and Future (January 9, 2020)

Elliott Barnes and Monique Y. Wells
© Entrée to Black Paris

Elliott Barnes Reaches New Pinnacles of Success (January 31, 2019)

The Black French National Anthem

Monique Y. Wells — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Omo Bello singing La Marseillaise Noire
Screenshot from YouTube video

I recently learned that there is a Black version of "La Marseillaise," France's national anthem.

In fact, there are TWO such versions of the song!

The first was written by Alphonse de Lamartine in 1839.

The second was written by Camille Naudin in 1867.

Naudin's version is the better known of the two.

Detail of book cover for
La Marseillaise Noire et autres poèmes de la Nouvelle-Orléans

Camille Naudin (the name is thought to be a pseudoynm) was an Afro-Créole who lived in New Orleans, LA at the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction. He and many other Afro-Créole writers penned passionate calls for emancipation and equal rights in traditional and free verse.

Naudin's poem was first published in La Tribune de la Nouvelle Orléans on June 17, 1867. It was inspired by a song from the play Toussaint L’Ouverture written by the abovementioned Alphonse de Lamartine.

de Lamartine was not only a poet, but also a politician. He was the president of the Société Française pour l’Abolition de l’Esclavage (French Society for the Abolition of Slavery).

As head of the provisional government in 1848, he signed the decree written by Victor Schœlcher that definitely abolished slavery in the French colonies.

Omo Bello sang "La Marseillase Noire" in an operatic style during the 2019 commemoration of France's history of slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition at the Luxembourg Garden.

Omo Bello singing "La Marseillaise Noire" in 2019

Malgache singer, author, and composer Edgard Ravahatra performed a breezier version of the song over 13 years ago.

Edgard Ravahatra singing La Marseillaise Noire

For an English translation of Naudin's poem, click HERE.

ALKIMIA - A New Exhibition by La Galerie Africaine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Sculptures alongside paintings by Bill Kouelany
© Entrée to Black Paris

ALKIMIA is a special exhibition mounted by Aude Minart, proprietor of the itinerant art gallery called La Galerie Africaine.

ALKIMIA flier

In this show, Minart presents her favorite traditional objects - works that she selected during over 20 years of travels that took her mainly to West Africa.

Traditional objects 1
© Entrée to Black Paris

Traditional objects - 2
© Entrée to Black Paris

Traditional objects 3
© Entrée to Black Paris

For the first time, she is presenting marble sculptures created by Sylvain Yerbanga. Hailing from France and Burkina Faso, he works in Carrara marble and onyx or Marquina marble.

La confidence des inconnus (left) and La solitude (right) by Sylvain Yarbanga
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sculptures by Sylvain Yarbanga
© Entrée to Black Paris

And as usual, she is presenting sculptures by master bronzesmiths from Burkina Faso.

Master bronzesmith works
© Entrée to Black Paris

Only four paintings are on display at ALKIMIA. Minart considers them to be timeless works by Bill Kouelany and Jonas Boboma, both of whom are artists from Congo-Brazzaville.

Femme
Jonas Boboma
2001 Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Gisant
Bill Kouelany
© Entrée to Black Paris

Vagabondages I
Bill Kouelany
1995 Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Vagabondages II
Bill Kouelany
1995 Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

ALKIMIA will be on display until January 28, 2024. Entry is free.

Aude Minart invites you to:

Cocktails on Tuesday, January 9, 16, and 23 from 6 PM until 9 PM
Tea time on Sunday, January 14 and 21
Hot wine on Thursday, January 18 and 25 from 6 PM until 9 PM

ALKIMIA
19, rue du Pont Louis Philippe
75004 Paris
Metro: Pont Marie (Line 7); Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1 and 11)

Nina's Neighborhood

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0100

Nina Simone in concert at Morlaix (Bretagne), France
1982 Roland Godefroy
CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed

A little over six years ago, Wells International Foundation Intern Hanna Gressler wrote an article called "Nina Simone's Paris" that presented the scant information she was able to find about Simone's life when she lived in Paris in the early 1980s.

Gressler was not able to determine the exact address where Simone lived. She thought that the Villa Montsouris, which was named in the Simone biography entitled Nina Simone, une vie, was a building, and she indicated that it might no longer exist.

I happened to visit Parc Montsouris and surrounding area last week and came across two places that I thought might be where Simone lived.

The first location is on the corner of rue Paul Fort and rue de la Tombe Issoire.

Villa Royale Montsouris
© Entrée to Black Paris

I said to myself, "Here's a building called Villa Royale Montsouris, only a block away from Parc Montsouris. Maybe the author of the Simone biography was not aware of the word "Royale" being part of the name."

So I went over to the building and looked inside.

I discovered that Villa Royale Montsouris is a boutique hotel owned by the Machefert Group. When I Googled the hotel, I learned that it has been operating at this address since since 2017.

Because the Machefert Group has several hotels whose names begin with "Villa," I became less hopeful that it had adopted the name from the previous owner of the building.

To date, I have not been able to find out who the previous owner was.

The second location is more likely to be the place where Simone lived. It is not a building, but rather, a dead-end street called Villa du Parc de Montsouris. It is directly across the street from the park.

The entrance to the villa is closed off by a gate.

Unable to access the street, I took photos from the sidewalk.

Villa du Parc de Montsouris - gate
© Entrée to Black Paris

Villa du Parc de Montsouris - signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Villa du Parc de Montsouris - right side
© Entrée to Black Paris

Villa du Parc de Montsouris - left side
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Web pages at the following links present images of the impasse that were taken several years ago:

Paris Bise Art

Art and Glam

Of course, Parc Montsouris is the big attraction of the neighborhood.

Parc Montsouris - view from avenue René-Coty entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Parc Montsouris - lake
© Entrée to Black Paris

South of the park is the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris. The stately Fondation Deutsch de la Meurthe is only a couple of blocks away from Villa du Parc de Montsouris.

Fondation Deutsch de la Meurthe
© Entrée to Black Paris

A couple of blocks north of the Villa along the western edge of the park is the utterly charming square Montsouris (which is actually a private street).

Square Montsouris at avenue Reille
© Entrée to Black Paris

Square Montsouris
© Entrée to Black Paris

Nearby is the impressive Reservoir de Montsouris (formerly called Reservoir de la Vanne, then Reservoir de Montrouge), one of five reservoirs of potable water in Paris.

Reservoir de Montsouris viewed from avenue Reille
© Entrée to Black Paris

Reservoir de Montsouris viewed from rue de la Tombe Issoire
© Entrée to Black Paris

The reservoir is bordered on one side by avenue Reille, the street on which Jimmy "Lover Man" Davis lived from the late 1950s until the late 1990s. I have not been able to find any evidence that Simone met the man who wrote the song that she recorded years after Billie Holiday made it famous, or knew that they were practically neighbors!

It's hard to know what this neighborhood was like in the early 80s. But if it was anything like it is now, Simone lived in an idyllic place!

Dare Freedom - France's Path to the Abolition of Slavery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Slide portraying General Jean-Jacques Dessalines of Saint-Domingue (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Pantheon is hosting a remarkable exhibition about the people who shaped France's convoluted road to the abolition of slavery.

It is inviting the public to visit the crypt to see Oser la liberté (Dare Freedom) to learn about the country's history of slavery and abolition and to see the final resting places and inscriptions commemorating many of the men and women who devoted their energy to combating slavery and racial prejudice during their lifetimes.

Oser la liberté information panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition was curated by cultural engineer and archivist Florence Alexis in collaboration with Haïtian writer and University of Paris docent Jean Marie Théodat. I was privileged to attend a superb guided visit to the exhibition delivered by both experts on December 9, 2023.

Florence Alexis
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jean Marie Théodat
© Entrée to Black Paris

If you plan to visit (which I strongly recommend), there are a few things you should know before you arrive.

Exhibition layout

Oser la liberté is found in the crypt of the Pantheon. To access it, you will need to descend a spiral stairway at the left rear of the main floor, walk up the center aisle once you are below ground, mount a few steps in a round space about halfway down the aisle, and turn left.

Spiral stairway leading to crypt
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition is divided into four time periods: I - before 1789, II - between 1739 and 1802, III - between 1802 and 1848, and IV - after 1848.

Before entering the rectangular space beneath the south transept of the building, which houses the majority of the exhibition, you will find yourself in a spacious, semicircular area.

On your right, you will see two large displays from Section I of the exhibition.

On your left, you will see Section IV in its entirety.

Section I - Model of slave ship l'Aurore
© Entrée to Black Paris

Section I - Arrest of Taïno queen Anacaona
© Entrée to Black Paris

Section IV - Information panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

When you enter the passage between these two areas, you should proceed straight down the middle aisle to see Section I, then move to the left aisle for Section II, and finally go to the right aisle to see Section III.

Original publications and documents, reproductions of paintings, and rare collectibles are on display in these aisles.

All sections of the exhibition boast a silent slide show that presents the history of the time period and the personas who shaped that history.

Additionally, Section IV includes a table where a brief text and a video presentation evoke slavery as it exists today.

Exhibition atmosphere

There is no heating in the crypt, so be prepared for the temperature to be chilly to cold.

Though the colors selected for the exhibition are rich and vibrant, the light is quite dim.

The Pantheon is a mausoleum above all, so an appropriate demeanor is expected at all times.

Language

All information is presented in French and English, including time lines and a few recordings of excerpts from speeches or writings that are broadcast in individual aisles from time to time.

All principal information panels and several slides in each slide show present a sentence in Creole.

Section II - Slide depicting Dutty Boukman with Creole-language caption
© Entrée to Black Paris

Content

Section I of the exhibition is entitled "La traite atlantique, une première mondialisation" ("The Slave Trade - A first globalisation").

Section I - information panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Among the items on display on this aisle are the original, handwritten manuscript of the Code Noir (Black Code) that regulated the treatment of enslaved people in France's colonies and a reproduction of a painting that demonstrated how Blacks were frequently presented as symbols of wealth while being represented on the same level as animals.

Handwritten manuscript of the Code Noir
© Entrée to Black Paris

One represents the Black, but one obscures his humanity...
Sylvie Chalaye
© Entrée to Black Paris

The exhibition emphasizes that from the beginning of the imposition of slavery by European colonizers, Black people escaped their bondage and formed alliances with or integrated with Native Americans to create marron (runaway) communities.

Slide depicting Francisco de Arobe - son of an African fugitive
who became king of the Esmerelda coast of Equador
in the 16th century
© Entrée to Black Paris

Section II, "De marronnages en abolitions" ("From marronage to abolition"), presents topics including the writings of French Enlightenment writers Voltaire and Diderot, both of whom decried slavery, the struggle that free people of color in the colonies underwent to obtain equal rights while enslaving people themselves (including Toussaint Louverture), and the contributions that Black people such as Jean-Baptiste Bellay and Jeanne Odo made to the first abolition of slavery in 1794.

Section II - information panel, portraits, and documents
© Entrée to Black Paris

Voltaire - "This is the price you pay to eat sugar in Europe."
© Entrée to Black Paris

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Bellay and original 1st abolition decree
© Entrée to Black Paris

First 1st abolition decree - 4 February 1794
© Entrée to Black Paris

In Section III, "D'une abolition à l'autre" ("From one abolition to the next"), the exhibition explores events occurring between the reinstatement of slavery in France's colonies in 1802 and the final abolition in 1848. Slavery is reinstated in Guadeloupe despite the efforts of Louis Delgrès and his troops, Toussaint Louverture is arrested and deported to France in 1802 and dies there in 1803, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines engages the French army in combat and defeats the French in 1803...

Section III - information panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Arrest of Toussaint Louverture - painting by Serge-Moléan Blaise
© Entrée to Black Paris

Slide depicting General Jean-Jacques Dessalines
© Entrée to Black Paris

A full explanation of France's imposition of the ransom that cost Haïti its financial independence is presented in this section.

Section IV is called "Contre l'oubli, commémorer et combattre" ("Against oblivion, commemorate and fight back").

This consists primarily of a slide show of B&W photo portraits of twenty-four people who have persevered in the absence of or continued the fight for racial equality since the second abolition of slavery in 1848.

I was pleased to see a number of women (in addition to Josephine Baker and Christiane Taubira) among them.

Slide depicting Paulette Nardal
© Entrée to Black Paris

Slide depicting Suzanne Roussi
© Entrée to Black Paris

Slide depicting Eugénie Eboué-Tell and Gerty Archimède
© Entrée to Black Paris

A table next to the information panel presents eye-opening details about modern-day slavery, including a CNN video of a surreptitiously filmed auction of migrants in Libya in 2017.

Modern slavery map
© Entrée to Black Paris

Leaving the exhibition

The Pantheon has provided a pamphlet that indicates the locations of nineteen crypts of / plaques honoring the people who resisted slavery and racial prejudice, including Josephine Baker (Number 7).

These are easily visited upon leaving the exhibition.

Map of crypt
© Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine Baker cenotaph
© Entrée to Black Paris

When you mount the stairs to return to the main floor of the Pantheon, you will find the gift shop to your left upon leaving the stairwell. You will find a coffee-table-style catalog of the exhibition (French language only) there.

It costs 35 euros.

Oser la liberté - book cover
© Entrée to Black Paris

On your way out of the building, be sure to take time to (re)visit the contemporary art installation entitled We Could Be Heroes by Raphaël Barontini. Barontini worked closely with Alexis and the Fondation pour la memoire de l'esclavage to create the pieces displayed in the north and south transepts and the west nave of the monument.

Your visit to Oser la liberté will undoubtedly enhance your appreciation of this installation.

We Could Be Heroes - works in the north transept
© Entrée to Black Paris

We Could Be Heroes - works flanking the north side of the west nave
© Entrée to Black Paris

Watch Florence Alexis' TV5 Monde November 2, 2023 interview about Oser la liberté (in French) by clicking on the image below.

Screenshot from TV5 Monde interview
Fair use claim

Oser la liberté opened on November 9, 2023 and will be on display through February 11, 2024.

We Could Be Heroes will close on February 11, 2024 as well.

Toussaint Louverture in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Portrait of Toussaint Louverture at Oser la liberté
© Entrée to Black Paris

The year 2023 marks the 220th anniversary of the death of Toussaint Louverture, leader of the revolution at Saint-Domingue that led to the island's independence from France under the name Haïti.

This fact didn't register with me until I visited the Jardin Toussaint Louverture last week.

Jardin Toussaint Louverture
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jardin Toussaint Louverture signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom and I went to the garden in search of Toni Morrison's Bench by the Road, a sculpture that was originally installed on the nearby rue Louis Delgrès in the 20th arrondissement in 2010. Having been damaged by a trashcan fire, the bench was removed, repaired, and relocated to the garden in time for the May 10, 2023 commemoration of slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition.

Monique and the Bench by the Road
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bench by the Road plaque
© Entrée to Black Paris

This neighborhood park, the address of which is 47, rue des Cendriers, was formerly known as the Square des Amandiers. It was christened Jardin Toussaint Louverture during a ceremony held on May 10, 2021.

The garden has a second entrance on Place Carmen, adjacent to the Georges Bizet Conservatory.

Georges Bizet Conservatory
© Entrée to Black Paris

Garden viewed from Place Carmen
© Entrée to Black Paris

It is a pleasant outdoor space, with ping pong tables, an exercise area, a fountain, and a playground for children.

Jardin Toussaint Louverture - view from exercise area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jardin Toussaint Louverture - exercise area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jardin Toussaint Louverture - play area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Our trek to and from the garden gave me plenty of time to reflect on Louverture's indelible impact on French history and the many ways in which he is honored in Paris.

In addition to the garden, a one-block street in the 11th arrondissement (rue Rampon) was renamed after Louverture in 2013. It can be found at the intersection of boulevard Richard Lenoir and boulevard Jules Ferry on one end and rue de la Folie-Méricourt on the other. (A recent visit revealed that the street sign for rue Rampon remains in place, and no sign has been posted with Louverture's name!)

Detail of map of the 11th arrondissement
Source: Adresse.data.gouv.fr - Le site national de l'adresse

The street artist Christian Guémy rendered a likeness of Louverture for his Les Illustres series of portraits of people honored in the Pantheon. The Louverture portrait is located at the corner of rue Clovis and rue Descartes in the 5th arrondissement.

C215 portrait of Toussaint Louverture
© Entrée to Black Paris

Then there is the permanent recognition of Louverture in the Pantheon itself. A plaque was installed in the crypt in his honor in 1998.

Pantheon inscription honoring Toussaint Louverture
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Pantheon welcomed approximately 200 people to an event organized by La Fondation pour la memoire de l'esclavage (Foundation for the Memory of Slavery) and the Ile de France region to commemorate Louverture on April 7, 2023 - the 220th anniversary of his death. Louverture perished in a prison in Fort-de-Joux in the Doubs region of France after having been lured to a meeting with a French general in Haïti that resulted in his arrest and deportation to France in July 1802.

Both exhibitions that are currently on display in the Pantheon honor Louverture. Artist Raphael Barontini portrayed the general in a massive work entitled Le Triomphe de Toussaint as part of his exhibition entitled We Could Be Heroes.

Le Triomphe de Toussaint by Raphaël Barontini
© Entrée to Black Paris

Portrait of Toussaint Louverture at Oser la liberté
© Entrée to Black Paris

A Visit to Montmartre Cemetery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Tomb of Alexandre Dumas (fils)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Having recently delved into the life story of Alexandre Dumas (fils), Tom and I set out for Montmartre Cemetery on a damp, chilly, and gray day to find the tomb of this well-known writer.

While there, we resolved to visit the tombs of two contemporary African American performers - Carole Denise Fredericks and Arthur Briggs - as well.

Montmartre Cemetery (aka the North Cemetery) is the third largest necropolis in Paris. Founded in 1825, it lies on 10.48 hectares (25.9 acres) of hilly terrain in the 18th arrondissement and is overlain in part by the Caulaincourt Bridge. It is accessible via avenue Rachel, which intersects boulevard de Clichy down the street to the west of the Moulin Rouge.

Cimetière Montmartre - entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Almost immediately upon entering the cemetery, we encountered the tomb of the family of Sacha Guitry, the actor who served as French diction coach for Josephine Baker.

Guitry family tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

We immediately turned left onto Avenue Saint-Charles to go to Division 15, where we found the grave of Alphonsine Plessis. One of Dumas (fils)' mistresses, she is credited for being the inspiration for the protagonist in Dumas' Dame of the Camelias.

Alphonsine Plessis tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was surprised to find that Plessis' tomb lies next to the final resting place of Jean-Claude Brialy, the actor and film producer who was deeply involved in Josephine Baker's career toward the end of her life.

Jean-Claude Brialy tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

Retracing our steps to the Avenue Principale, we walked to the roundabout, called Carrefour de la Croix, to find our way to Dumas' grave. A bust of Emile Zola overlooks this circular road, from which two main roads extend.

Carrefour de la Croix
© Entrée to Black Paris

Emile Zola tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

We chose to walk west on Avenue de la Croix and turn right on Avenue de Montmorency to find our way to Division 22, where Dumas was laid to rest in 1895. Few people know that his great-grandmother was an enslaved woman in Saint-Domingue (Haïti) and that his writing was just as well respected as that of his larger-than-life father.

The remains of Dumas fils' second wife, Henriette Escalier, also lie in this tomb.

Alexandre Dumas (fils) tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

From Division 22, we stopped for a moment at the top of a steep flight of stairs to take in the view before descending to Avenue Cordier and heading toward Avenue des Carrières to find the grave of Carole D. Fredericks.

View from Division 22
© Entrée to Black Paris

Along the way, we saw one of the most unusual tombs I've ever seen. It was entirely covered in colorful mosaic tiles that formed images and pronounced poetry. It belongs to a man named Joseph Ezri.

Joseph Ezri tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

Joseph Ezri tomb - epitaph
© Entrée to Black Paris

Carole Fredericks' grave is next to the road, so there was no need to tread on a narrow path paved with soggy fallen leaves as we did when we approached Plessis' and Dumas' graves. We found a lovely red rose atop the beautiful stone.

Carole D. Fredericks tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

After paying our respects, we continued down Avenue des Carrières and turned left to walk along the border of Division 9 and look for Arthur Briggs' grave. We passed the grave of Jacques Offenbach, composer of La Créole, the operetta in which Josephine Baker performed in French for the first time.

Jacques Offenbach tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

We finally found Briggs' grave near the intersection of Chemin Saint-Nicolas and Chemin Lepage.

Division 9 intersection
© Entrée to Black Paris

Arthur Briggs tomb
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon reading the tombstone, we learned that Briggs' wife, Jacqueline, died in 2014 and was laid to rest with him.

Close-up of Briggs tombstone
© Entrée to Black Paris

This was our final "stop" in the Cimetière du Nord. From the Briggs family tomb, we found our way back to Avenue Saint-Charles, took one final look at the Plessis and Brialy tombs, and left the cemetery.

Five Quotes about Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Barbara Chase-Riboud in Myth of a Colorblind France
Screenshot from video documentary

I recently had the opportunity to revisit the video documentary entitled Myth of a Colorblind France as part of a project that I assigned to a Wells International Foundation volunteer.

Barbara Chase-Riboud appears in three segments in this film.

In the first segment, she gave a stirring description of Paris:

"... I think it is the appeal of Paris for anyone who has eyes or ears or a heart. It's the most beautiful city in the world. It's the most comfortable city in the world. If you also fall in love in Paris ... there's no reason not to love it."

Barbara Chase-Riboud
© Entrée to Black Paris (2022)

This caused me to reflect on other quotes by notable African Americans about the city. Find them below.

Beauford Delaney
Photo by Carl Van Vechten (1953)
Image in the public domain

Time became different--not just an hour by the clock but a mysterious aliveness from the tips of your toes to the top of your head, touching everything and everyone. This began to be Paris for me...

~Beauford Delaney

Toni Morrison
Photo by John Mathew Smith (1998)
CC-BY-SA 2.0

I like the arrogance of Paris, how it loves itself.

~Toni Morrison

Ta-Nehisi Coates
Photo by Eduardo Montes-Bradley (2015)
CC-BY-SA 4.0

The first time I came here, I guess I felt sort of stupid for falling in love right away. It was like I have become the writer stereotype. Sometimes I feel like a total cliché for the affection I feel.

~Ta-Nehisi Coates

Hazel Scott
Image in public domain (c. 1940s-50s)

My Paris is a pot full of red beans and rice and an apartment full of old friends and glasses tinkling and the rich, happy sound of people laughing from the heart.

~Hazel Scott

Richard Wright in Neuilly

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Richard Wright by Gordon Parks
Photo in the public domain

The Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine played an important role in the life of Richard Wright and his family when they moved to France in 1946.

The family stayed in a swank apartment at 166, avenue de Neuilly (now avenue de Charles de Gaulle) from August 1947 until May 1948.

166, avenue Charles de Gaulle, Neuilly-sur-Seine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Entrance to 166, avenue Charles de Gaulle
© Entrée to Black Paris

In Richard Wright - The Life and Times by Hazel Rowley, Rowley says the Wrights "did not like this sedate, wealthy district on the outskirts of the city, but the apartment was elegant and spacious..."

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir visited the family there, and de Beauvoir described the apartment as being in a "sad wealthy district."

But the true significance of Neuilly for the Wrights lay in the American Hospital of Paris.

Founded in 1906, this private, non-profit institution is the only civilian hospital outside the U.S. that is accredited by the Joint Commission, an organization that sets the highest standards for health care around the world.

Post card of the American Hospital - 1960
License Ouverte

Hazel Rowley mentioned the hospital multiple times in her biography, mostly in reference to medical or surgical interventions:

In August 1946, Wright's wife, Ellen, had an appendectomy.
In April 1948, Wright had his tonsils removed.
In late September/early October 1953, Wright underwent a hernia operation.
In January 1948, Ellen gave birth to the couple's daughter, Rachel.
In August 1959, Wright was diagnosed with amoebic dysentery, a disease that would plague him for the rest of his life.

The hospital practiced racial discrimination against African Americans prior to Wright's protest about this fact in 1951. As an example, in an article published by Crisis magazine in its June-July 1951 issue, he states that "The American Hospital, in 25 years of existence, has never hired an American Negro." Rowley said that "Some months later, after the press coverage initiated by Wright, the hospital would rethink its policy."

Today, the American Hospital has greatly expanded and changed its pedestrian entrance from 63, avenue Victor Hugo (shown in the post card above) to 55, boulevard du Château. It remains a roughly 20-minute walk from the apartment that the Wrights occupied in 1947-48.

La Flamme d'Egalité (The Flame of Equality)

Monique Y. Wells — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Christiane Taubira, author of the Loi Taubira
© Entrée to Black Paris

Following up on the article that we published on May 4, 2023 about "The Flame of Equality," a nation-wide competition held at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels every year in France, we recently interviewed Benoit Falaize, President of the Competition, and Léna Jacquin, Competition Manager. They provided us with detailed information about the French government's efforts to teach and involve students in learning about the history of slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition in the French primary and secondary schools.

The following is our updated report about this remarkable program.

In 2006, President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac signed a decree stating that May 10^th of each year would be an official day to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the French colonies. To mark this occasion, a polychrome bronze sculpture representing an upright chain whose top link is broken was installed on the 10^th of May 2007 on the eastern side of Luxembourg Garden near the Royer-Collard gate. The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Jacques Chirac, whose term as President was about to expire, and newly-elected President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy, whose term would soon begin.

Called Le cri, l’écrit, the sculpture is a giant three-link chain, stretching 12 feet to the sky. Its top link is broken, and its bottom link is half-buried in the ground. Designed by French artist Fabrice Hyber, it was cast in sand at the Foundry of Coubertin in the town of Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse. Since the inauguration of the sculpture in 2007, it has been serving as a focal point around which the President of the Republic, members of the government, and invited guests assemble for a ceremony to commemorate the abolition of slavery. Notably, at the ceremony in 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed that the history of slavery was part of “our history.”

Le Cri, L'Ecrit
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last year, for the first time, three groups of students who won a national competition called La Flamme d’Egalité (The Flame of Equality) presented extracts of their award-winning projects to the assembled dignitaries. The competition in which they participated has been organized annually since 2014 to fulfill a law (Loi n° 2001-434) that declared that slavery and the slave trade were crimes against humanity.

The law, which is named after its author, Christiane Taubira, was ratified unanimously by the French senate on May 21, 2001. Article 2 of the law requires that the French educational system “give the slave trade and slavery the proper place they deserve.” It has been interpreted to mean that the history of slavery and the slave trade should be taught in the French school system.

The Flamme d’Egalité competition was founded under the initiative of the Comité National pour la Mémoire et l'Histoire de l'Esclavage (National Committee for the Memory and the History of Slavery). Elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools throughout France and all its overseas departments can elect to participate. Students who express an interest in the subject are invited to compete in the contest by creating an artistic project in their classrooms around a specific, pre-selected theme related to slavery, the slave trade, and their abolitions. In 2019-2020, for example, the theme for the competition was “Devenir Libre” (Become Free).

Call for submissions 2019-2020

Students are encouraged to think creatively and to come up with some form of artistic presentation that best expresses their interpretation of the theme. No restriction is imposed on the form that their project should take, and in the past students have created poems, skits, readings, songs, dances, videos, paintings, and other artistic presentations for submission to the competition.

There are two levels of competition: academic and national. An academic jury in each region judges the entries from that region on eight different criteria, including whether the project is well structured, whether the students in each group have participated fully in the project, and whether the exactitude of historical references has been maintained.

Following the first-level competitions, the projects judged the best by the academic juries are forwarded to a national jury for evaluation. At that level, only three winners are selected: one from an elementary school, one from a middle school, and one from a high school. These winners are invited to attend the May 10 ceremony in Paris, where they are awarded certificates of achievement. Compensatory prizes are also awarded.

The first ceremony for the competition was held in 2015.

Last year, for the first time, rather than merely attending an award ceremony, the laureate students presented excerpts from their winning projects to the assembled audience of dignitaries, which included ministers, senators, deputies, journalists, writers, and intellectuals. Particularly edifying was a short skit presented by two girls from L’Ecole Elémentaire Ferdinand Buisson de Sotteville-lès-Rouen, an elementary school in the Normandy region of France.

In the skit, the girls read an extract of an animated video that recounted the life of Josephine Baker in France as a star, as member of the French Resistance, and as mother of twelve adopted children, which she called “The Rainbow Tribe.” A video (in French) of the entire commemoration ceremony can be viewed below:

The girls appear at 1:26:43.

The presentations delivered by the laureate students on May 10, 2022 are a testament to the extraordinary effort that the French government has been making since 2014 to fulfill its national mandate to teach the history of slavery and the slave trade in its schools.

Chef Michael Poole Returns to Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Chef Michael D. Poole at a Paris bistrot
© Entrée to Black Paris

Whenever the Salon du Chocolat is on in Paris, you can expect to find Chef Michael Poole here as well.

We've been writing about Chef Poole for ten years now (!) and continue to enjoy meeting up with him during his annual pilgrimage to the salon.

A few weeks prior to his arrival, Poole won yet another award at the Northwest Chocolate Festival - Best Chocolate Award in the confections category for 2023.

Northwest Chocolate Festival award
Image courtesy of Chef Michael D. Poole

He came to Paris after having traveled to Antigua to train the all-Black crew at Blue Waters Resort and Spa in the art of airbrushing chocolates.

Airbrushed chocolates by Blue Waters Resort and Spa crew
Image courtesy of Chef Michael D. Poole

We met Chef Poole at a neighborhood café/bistrot, hoping to receive a sample of his most recent creations. He did not disappoint us!

Chef Michael Poole shows us our package of chocolates
© Entrée to Black Paris

He gave us a sample of the following chocolates: Lemon Meringue ganache, Lina's Limoncello-infused White Chocolate ganache, Dark Chocolate ganache with Sea Salt Caramel, Cabernet-infused Dark Chocolate ganache (with a hint of blackberry), and Dark Chocolate ganache.

Though I definitely prefer dark chocolate to white chocolate, my favorites from this group were the Lemon Meringue and Lina's Limoncello-infused white chocolates!

Chef Poole explained that he has recently begun to work with wine producers to create chocolates that go beyond complementing their wines to actually incorporating wines as flavorings for the ganache fillings.

Syrah-infused dark chocolates
Image courtesy of Chef Michael D. Poole

Lina's Limoncello-infused white chocolates
Image courtesy of Chef Michael D. Poole

At this year's Salon du Chocolat, Chef Poole was inspired by the chocolate boots that were displayed there.

He wasted no time purchasing the appropriate molds in Paris and making his first batch of edible boots when he returned to Seattle.

White chocolate ankle boot
Image courtesy of Chef Michael D. Poole

Chef Poole is a wizard at posting reels of his chocolate workshops and travel experiences on Facebook.

Find him here: https://www.facebook.com/HotChocolats

Visit his Website HERE.

Read our exclusive two-part interview with Chef Poole at the links below:

Chef Michael Poole - Firefighter and Cordon Bleu Grad

Chef Michael Poole - Artisanal "Hot Chocolat"

Sneak Preview of Les Légitimus - Une Famille Française

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Samuel Légitimus addressing the audience
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the evening of Tuesday, November 7, the Bo Travail ! film production company and France Télévisions welcomed the general public to the Centre Culturel Nouvelle Athènes for an advance look at the new documentary entitled Les Légitimus - Une Famille Française (The Legitimuses - A French Family).

Invitation flier

Members of the Légitimus family and the production team greeted guests and attended to last minute details as Le Lustre, the center's 200-seat auditorium, quickly filled to capacity.

Le Lustre auditorium - signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Lustre auditorium - full house
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pascal Légitimus filming the audience
© Entrée to Black Paris

Légitimus family, France TV, and Bo Travail ! personnel on stage
© Entrée to Black Paris

After the Légitimus family and members of the production team delivered a few words of introduction, the house lights dimmed and the audience settled in to watch the 52-minute documentary.

Samuel Légitimus
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pascal Légitimus in opening scenes of documentary
© Entrée to Black Paris

Title frame of film
© Entrée to Black Paris

The film opens with footage of Pascal Légitimus wandering in Place Edouard VII in Paris' 9th arrondissement and begins a review of the Légitimus family history with anecdotes about the actor/comedian/director/producer.

It then plunges into the past to explore the story of Hégésippe Légitimus, the patriarch of the iconic family whose legacy serves as a bridge between the French Antilles and France.

Image in the public domain

Journalist, co-founder of Guadeloupe's socialist political party, mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, and assemblyman representing the island in France's parliament, Hégésippe was referred to as the "Jaures Noir." He and his wife, Clémence Birman, had a son named Etienne, who followed in Hégésippe's footsteps and became a journalist.

Etienne was a co-founder of the anti-racist organizations MRAP (Movement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples) and LICRA (la Ligue internationale contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme). He was a staunch defender and supporter of Antillean culture in France and spearheaded the transfer of the remains of Félix Eboué and Victor Schoelcher to the Pantheon.

Etienne was the life partner of Marie Berthilde Paruta, an actress, singer, and dancer from Guadeloupe who became known as Darling Légitimus. Darling became famous in her own right, starring in Euzhan Palcy's film Les Cases-Nègres (Sugar Cane Alley) and winning the Volpi Cup for Best Actress award at the Venise Film Festival in 1983. She was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1998.

Darling Légitimus
Studio Harcourt
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Etienne and Darling Légitimus had five children, and each of their children had children. Pascal and Samuel Légitimus are Etienne and Darling's grandchildren.

Several members of the Légitimus family were interviewed for the film. Their memories are interwoven with dozens of vintage photos and narrative about the family's trajectory between Guadeloupe and France.

Viviane Berdier - Great granddaughter of Hégésippe interviewed for film
© Entrée to Black Paris

Samuel Légitimus (shown in the cover image above) spoke passionately about the need for today's generation of Afro-Antilleans to connect with their past in order to be grounded and have the self-awareness and fortitude to handle the challenges they face as Black people in the Hexagon. Founder of the Collectif James Baldwin, he is an actor, director, translator, and speaker.

Samuel Légitimus - Great grandson of Hégésippe interviewed for film
© Entrée to Black Paris

After the screening, Samuel fielded questions from the audience and director Fabrice Gardel said a few final words before inviting the audience upstairs to a cocktail reception in the presence of the Légitimus family.

Samuel Légitimus and Fabrice Gardel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Les Légitimus - Une Famille Française will air on France 5 on Friday, November 10 at 11:05 PM.

Jake Lamar's Viper's Dream A Success in Three Markets

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Jake Lamar
Photo by Ulf Andersen

When I learned that People magazine ranked Jake Lamar's Viper's Dream Number 6 out of 35 books to read in October 2023, I immediately contacted Lamar to ask for an interview. I've read - and loved - all his books, and Viper's Dream was no exception.

Read on to learn what Lamar shared with me.

ETBP: It’s been 17 years since you were last published stateside. Congratulations on your return to the U.S. market with Viper’s Dream! How important is it to you to have your books released in the U.S.?

JL: I've had an unusual career. Between 1991 and 2003, I published five books in the USA: a memoir and four novels. I arrived in France in 1993, having no idea that I would stay for thirty years and counting. In those early years, I lived in Paris but my work as a writer was only available in English, in the USA.

I found that the longer I stayed in Paris, the less interested the New York publishing industry was in me. In 2003, I published my fifth book in the USA and that same year, for the first time, published a book in France. The enthusiasm of French critics and readers for my work was very gratifying.

So just as avenues were being closed off to me in New York, great big boulevards were opening up for me in Paris. Over the next several years, my back list of novels would be published in French. I started working in French theater, writing for French radio, teaching at French universities. My life as a writer was in France. An African American writer in France.

Viper's Dream was first published in France in September 2021. The response was very enthusiastic. I think that was the moment when I felt that this very American, specifically African American, story should be published in English.

So it's definitely important for me to publish this particular book in America. Jazz is an original American art form. The hard-boiled crime novel is an American literary genre. French and British readers have responded enthusiastically to this story. So far, the response in America has been positive as well.

People magazine book list
Fair use claim

ETBP: What was it about this book that got the U.S. market interested?

JL: For me, the important thing is to connect with an editor. In France, I've worked with Jeanne Guyon of Rivages Noir for 20 years. Today, she directs the house. In England, I've worked with Ion Mills, founding publisher and editor of No Exit Press. In the USA, it was Toni Kirkpatrick of Crooked Lane Books who responded enthusiastically to Viper's Dream and decided to publish it.

In each case---France, Britain, the USA---an individual editor needed to respond to this story and its specific vibe. First Jeanne, then Ion, then Toni: they all "got" the book. Not everybody does. That mix of jazz with the hard-boiled style of Dashiell Hammett and Chester Himes is not for everyone. But people who "get" jazz noir love this book.

ETBP: In the past, you’ve talked about how book covers are designed for different markets. I’ve seen a couple of covers for Viper’s Dream. Please share what you can about why these covers were designed as such, and which markets they target.

JL: There have actually been three jackets for Viper's Dream: French, British, American.

The French jacket features a photo by the great Robert Capa: the portrait of an impossibly cool Black man, in fedora and spats, perched with feline grace on a balcony railing, taken in Harlem in the 1930s.

Viper's Dream - French book cover

Even though the image didn't necessarily resemble my protagonist Clyde "The Viper" Morton, it somehow represented his spirit for me.

The jacket for the British edition was Ion Mills' idea. It very consciously, reverently yet wittily, evokes the great album covers by jazz labels like Blue Note, Prestige and Verve in the 1950s. Once again, the photo---silhouette with hat brim and cigarette---evoked the spirit if not the precise image of Viper Morton. I loved it.

Viper's Dream - UK book cover

The jacket for the US version goes in a different direction. Every noir novel needs a femme fatale. Viper's Dream is a deep dive into genre. Yolanda "Yo-Yo" DeVray is a jazz diva and the archetypal femme fatale.

To me, the image on the American cover represents the spirit, rather than the exact description on the page, of Yolanda. I love the resemblance with Nina Simone. And the dreamy look of her. Yolanda is Viper Morton's ultimate dream. In so far as this cover evokes Yo-Yo emerging from the Manhattan skyscape as Viper's dream, it's pretty great.

Viper's Dream - US book cover

ETBP: Which cover do you like best?

JL: Really, I love all three covers. I don't have a favorite.

ETBP: How does the reception of Viper’s Dream in the U.S. compare to its reception in France and the U.K.?

JL: Viper's Dream has had enthusiastic receptions in France, England and now the USA. The difference is that America is so huge, so many books come out there, it's much harder to break through.

Being picked as one of the four choices for the month of September by the New York Times crime fiction critic Sarah Weinman was a huge boost. As was the critique by crime fiction specialist Kristopher in BOLO Book Review. It's very gratifying when a reviewer grasps what you're trying to do and conveys it as well as he did.

And then People magazine ranked Viper’s Dream near the top of its picks for October. It was also a pick of the month on the highly regarded Murder & Mayhem website.

Back in the spring, when the book came out in the UK, it was a pick of the week for The Sunday Times and The Times of London in crime fiction. It was also pick of the week for the London Book Review bookshop.

I'm happy if this novel is considered both good and populaire.

ETBP: You traveled to the U.K. to promote Viper’s Dream. Please share details of your book tour there.

JL: In May, I was interviewed at Waterstones Islington bookshop in London by journalist and crime fiction expert Paul Burke.

Paul also has a podcast called Crime Time FM. Back in January, he interviewed me at the Café Flore in Paris for his podcast.

I was invited to one of Britain's biggest crime fiction festivals: CrimeFest in Bristol. Participated in panel discussions. Met great colleagues.

In addition to the The Times of London, the book got great reviews in The Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Daily Mail and The Sun. I've also done several interviews with BBC Radio.

Next summer, I’ll be giving a lecture at a crime fiction festival in Oxford.

ETBP: I LOVED your article in CrimeReads! What inspired it?

JL: Thank you so much! I really enjoyed writing that essay.

Illustration for CrimeReads essay
Screenshot from CrimeReads.com

It was inspired by something that has fascinated me for years and years. The way people judge books by their gut reactions to characters. They embrace a book because they say they found the characters “likable” or “relatable.” Or they reject a book because they couldn't “identify” with the characters or “didn't care” about them.

So I wrote this essay for the CrimeReads site called "The Four Corners of Subjectivity." The piece is a bit satirical. It takes an analytical approach to the way readers make these snap judgments based on four factors: Likability, Identification, Relatability, and Caring.

But it's also an exploration of the literary anti-hero. And Clyde "The Viper" Morton is definitely an anti-hero.

ETBP: It may be too soon to ask this question, given the very recent release of Viper’s Dream in the States. But I’ll ask it anyway – “What’s next for you as a seasoned writer?”

JL: I am already two and a half years into "the next project." All I can tell you is that, once again, the story is set in the past, in New York City in 1958. And it will be one of my thriller-ish books. It will have a strong plot and suspense. But it will not be the same sort of deep dive into the hard-boiled crime genre that Viper's Dream is.

Find out more about Jake Lamar at his Website: https://jakelamar.com/

Purchase Viper's Dream by clicking HERE.

We Could Be Heroes

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: La Mambo de Bois Caïman - Cécile Fatiman (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

We Could Be Heroes is a phenomenal exhibition that commemorates the efforts of numerous women and men throughout France's history of enslavement to resist their condition and reach for freedom.

It is particularly powerful because it is being presented in the Pantheon, where several personalities who worked to abolish slavery or prevent its reinstatement are honored.

We Could Be Heroes - signage on Pantheon gate
© Entrée to Black Paris

The artist, Raphaël Barontini, has created an "imaginary pantheon" of five women and six men who led or otherwise positively influenced the struggle for emancipation in Saint-Domingue (now Haïti), St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Reunion Island, and French Guiana. Ten artworks depicting these heroic people flank the west nave of the Pantheon (nearest the entrance), with flags made from dyed and iridescent fabrics serving as backdrops. (One man and one woman - Anchaing and Héva of Reunion Island - are represented as a couple.)

Artworks on north side of western nave
© Entrée to Black Paris

Artworks on south side of western nave
© Entrée to Black Paris

Moving to the center of the building, visitors must look toward the ceiling to see the banners presented in the north and south transepts.

On the north side, in a work called Le Gouffre, Barontini presents a muscular Black man appearing to fall from the sky. He is Joseph, the best known Black male model in 19th-century France, and his fall represents the descent of Black people into the horrors of slavery.

Artworks at northern transept
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Gouffre
© Entrée to Black Paris

To the left, Le Marron pays homage to all who escaped or attempted to escape bondage. To the right, Léwoz represents the music and dances of Martinique and Guadeloupe that were artistic forms of resistance to slavery.

Le Marron
© Entrée to Black Paris

Léwoz
© Entrée to Black Paris

Beneath these three works, La Traversée depicts the uprooting of millions of Africans through the triangular trade, the Middle Passage itself, and a slave plantation in Guadeloupe.

La Traversée (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

In the south transept, the large banner presents the Battle of Vertières, during which those fighting against the reinstatement of slavery in Haïti won a decisive victory over the French. The two individuals depicted in the works above the banner are Solitude and Toussaint L'ouverture.

Artworks at southern transept
© Entrée to Black Paris

Solitude
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Triomphe de Toussaint
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the afternoon of October 22, a two-act performance was staged to highlight the exhibition. Musician/composer Mike Ladd broadcast an original sound piece through strategically placed speakers that set the tone for the afternoon and prepared the sizeable audience for a dramatic procession that would be the main attraction of the day.

Audience
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mike Ladd
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mas Choukaj, a group of Caribbean carnival musicians based in Seine-Saint-Denis, delivered an inspirational performance of drumming and chanting while revealing the banners of the honored historical figures one by one. The massive monument to the National Convention, located in the eastern part of the nave, served as a backdrop.

Mas Choukaj - Opening sequence (5:59 minutes)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Dressed in costumes designed and created in collaboration with students of the Masters in Fashion Design and Textiles program at the Duperré School of Applied Art in Paris, group members moved each of the ten banners to the center of the building to surround the circle over which Foucault's pendulum swings.

Procession toward Foucault's pendulum - Sanité Bélair
© Entrée to Black Paris

Procession toward Foucault's pendulum
Dutty Boukman (foreground) and Victoria Montou - Toya (background)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Around Foucault's pendulum
© Entrée to Black Paris

Around Foucault's pendulum - Flore "Bois" Gaillard
© Entrée to Black Paris

They then proceeded to the western part of the nave, where they placed the banners on the stands where the artwork is being displayed during the exhibition.

Mas Choukaj - Installation sequence (4:12 minutes)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Finally, they marched through the central doors of the building to the portico, where they ended their performance.

Mas Choukaj - Closing sequence (1:26 minutes)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Barontini himself choreographed the procession, which unfolded seamlessly. (He is the man in the black Nike baseball cap who can be seen in the videos.) He and Mike Ladd have collaborated on various projects for over ten years.

Raphaël Barontini and Mike Ladd
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Pantheon's Website describes We Could Be Heroes as follows (English translation):

... superimposing techniques and colors, the artist assembles fragments of landscapes, bodies, adornments and motifs drawn from visual languages of different periods, cultures and geographies. Combining artistic, historical and societal questions, they are all opportunities to “creolize the imagination” (Raphaël Barontini).

We Could Be Heroes will be on display through February 11, 2024. Visitors to the Pantheon can view the exhibition for the cost of general admission to the monument (11.50€ for standard entry).

Le Panthéon
Place du Panthéon
75005 Paris
RER: Luxembourg (Line B)
Hours: October 2023 - 10:00 AM - 6:30 PM; November 2023 through February 2024 - 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Order your tickets online by clicking HERE.

Laetitia Ky Turns Black Hair into Art

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Laetitia Ky - Beauty and Skin Color (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Can you imagine living in a country full of black women and never seeing one with natural hair?

This is the question Laetitia Ky posed to Nesrine Malik, the woman who interviewed her last year for an article in The Guardian.

I discovered Ky's hair sculptures in multiple of the artist's self-portraits, which were displayed at place de la Bastille during the recent PhotoClimat Biennial.

Laetitia Ky photography exhibition at place de la Bastille
© Entrée to Black Paris

The organizers of the Pole Femmes segment of the event chose to feature Ky as one of two internationally known female photographers whose work would be complimented by photographic representations of women from Ile-de-France created by local female artists.

Matres Mundi - portraits and landscapes by Camille Gharbi
© Entrée to Black Paris

Re-Belle - portraits and still lifes by Elene Usdin
© Entrée to Black Paris

Les Reines - portraits by Sandra Reinflet
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ky's work is all about self-love, self-respect, and self-determination. She forms her sculptures from wire, thread and extensions woven into her natural hair and photographs herself sporting her eclectic creations. To see several whimsical examples of her art, click HERE.

The photo series that was displayed at place de la Bastille is called Love and Justice, like the book Ky published in 2022. Each self-portrait represents some aspect of womanhood and speaks out against aspects of current culture that diminish, violate, and even eliminate women.

Beauty and Skin Color - Laetitia Ky self-portrait and info panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Culture of Rape - Laetitia Ky self-portrait and info panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Harassment - Laetitia Ky self-portrait and info panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ky is an Ivoirian Millennial woman whose initial professional path was business. After graduating from the Institut national polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny with a degree in business administration, she changed her mind and began pursuing the arts as a career. Her hair sculptures are not only an expression of her creativity, but also her activism.

During her interview with The Guardian, Ky shared that she suffered from low self-esteem as a child and found her way to natural hair styles after she suffered severe hair loss due to having box braids put into her already relaxer-damaged hair. At the age of 16, she was inspired by hairstyles she saw in photos of precolonial African women and shaved her head so she could "start over" naturally.

The following is a quote from that article:

“Appreciating my hair let me appreciate other things that made me black. Like my skin. I’m very dark-skinned and the beautiful Ivorian woman is supposed to be light-skinned. When I started to love my hair, I started to love my skin, and I started to love the fact that I was black. And when I started to love the fact that I was black, it helped me to love the fact that I was a woman. Loving one thing led me to love another thing.”

Ky's life and work are powerful examples of what women can accomplish when they embrace themselves wholeheartedly and unapologetically. Read the entire extraordinary Guardian article about her HERE.

The "Six Triple Eight" in WWII Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Six African-American WACs in Paris
Image in the public domain

When talk turns to the African-American military presence in Europe during World War II, rarely are women mentioned in any context.

Until recently, I had never heard of African-American women soldiers mentioned in this context.

It was only in researching Black soldiers who are buried in the American military cemetery in Normandy that I learned of three African-American women who died while serving in the European Theater of Operations (ETO).

Their stories led me to the discovery of the phenomenal 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion – a majority Black Women's Army Corp (WAC) unit that served in Birmingham in England and Rouen and Paris in France.

6888th Battalion - Joan of Arc parade in Rouen
Image in the public domain

Most information about the "Six Triple Eight" indicates that the 800+ member battalion was entirely African-American. But the organization's Website indicates that Puerto Rican and at least one Mexican woman were also members of the battalion.

The 6888 was tasked with distributing a massive two-year backlog of mail to U.S. troops in the ETO from February/March 1945 through February/March 1946. The women fulfilled their mission in half the estimated time required, performing their duties in each of the three locations mentioned above.

By the time they headed for Paris in October 1945, many of the women in the unit had earned enough points of service to be discharged. This meant that there were many fewer personnel to perform the same amount of work. Though morale and performance suffered somewhat as a result, the battalion continued to faithfully execute its duties.

The living quarters occupied by the 6888 in Paris were by far the most lavish of those experienced during their tour of duty. The enlisted women "bunked" at the large Hôtel Bohy Lafayette at Square Montholon in the 9th arrondissement, while the officers stayed at the smaller Hôtel Etats-Unis (which I believe was the location for the current Hôtel Etats-Unis Opéra on rue d'Antin in the 2nd arrondissement). Both groups of women enjoyed carpeted rooms, maid service, and meals prepared by hotel staff.

Hôtel Bohy Lafayette postcard
Fair use claim
Image source: Ebay

To see additional vintage images of the Hôtel Bohy Lafayette, click HERE.

Building that housed the Hôtel Bohy Lafayette
© Entrée to Black Paris

The mail sorting facility – the 17th Base Post Office – was a warehouse-type building about a half-hour drive from both living quarters.

Sorting mail with French civilians in Paris
Image in the public domain

Major Charity Adams was the commander of the 6888 throughout its entire tour of duty. In her autobiography entitled One Woman's Army - A Black Officer Remembers the WAC, she describes in some detail the activities the WACs enjoyed once they shifted the backlog of mail in Paris. She noted how the women "took in the shows, the shops, and the scenes ... learned to get around on public transportation, and occasionally, dared to use a taxi..."

One Woman's Army - book cover

Major Adams also noted that "... the French did not observe us. It seemed that many citizens felt that if we, U.S. military personnel, had to be there, we should be invisible." She indicated that the women under her command developed French acquaintances and were invited to people's homes to participate in or observe family rituals such as weddings and funerals.

As the number of soldiers in the 6888 dwindled and the prospect of a less-than-desirable reassignment loomed, Major Adams submitted her request to be discharged. She arrived home just after Christmas in December 1945 and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on December 26, 1945. She was the only African-American WAC to achieve that rank – the highest possible in WAC – during the Second World War.

Lieutenant Colonel Adams was released from active duty on March 26, 1946.

For additional information about the Six Triple Eight, visit the following sites:

Women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

Army Women's Foundation - The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

Library of Congress: 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion: A Guide to First-Person Narratives in the Veterans History Project

Sorting the Mail, Blazing a Trail: African-American Women in World War II

LTC Charity Adams - Oral History 1990

Entrée to Black Paris Cultural Awareness

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Going Global with Barbara high school students at Sciences Po
April 2023
© Wells International Foundation

Entrée to Black Paris has provided walking tours and activities to study abroad groups since we opened our doors under the name Discover Paris! in 1999. We have always believed in the power of travel to broaden minds and hearts and building well-rounded, open-minded, critically-thinking youth.

We have seen firsthand how travel, especially travel abroad, provides opportunities for students to look openly and honestly at themselves, their homeland and their culture by experiencing different cultures and how those cultures view them.

Winston Salem State University students on
Black Images in European Art at the Louvre tour (2014)
© Discover Paris!

In Autumn 2020, we entered into an official collaboration with the Wells International Foundation (WIF) on the Entrée to Black Paris (ETBP) Cultural Awareness initiative with the mission to create opportunities for people of all nationalities, races, and creeds to learn about the enormous contribution that Africans and persons of African descent have made to French, and especially Parisian, culture.

We believe this program will increase awareness, understanding, and appreciation of black cultures, which, in turn, will positively influence and impact the path to social justice.

A powerful example of this is the work that ETBP Cultural Awareness has done to support the International Youth Leadership Program (IYLP) hosted by Going Global with Barbara, an organization that educates underserved African American youth about travel abroad and encourages these youth to consider enrolling in college abroad.

Through ETBP Cultural Awareness, WIF has designed campus visits and other customized activities for three IYLP excursions thus far and Entree to Black Paris contributed live walking tours and activities to these programs.

Going Global with Barbara students at American Business School in Paris
April 2023
© Wells International Foundation

The next IYLP excursion to Paris is scheduled for November 2023.

Another aspect of ETBP Cultural Awareness' work is social media outreach to expose youth to the enormous influence that Black culture wields in Paris. Content for our African Diaspora Cultural Awareness in Paris – aka ADCI Paris – Instagram page and Facebook group is curated by WIF interns and volunteers who are study abroad students or recent graduates of Paris institutes of higher learning.

ADCI logo
(designed by WIF Intern Marteena Mendelssohn)

During the 2022-2023 academic year, American University of Paris student Marteena Mendelssohn and Parsons Paris student Anisa Williams thoughtfully and creatively provided content in the fall and spring semesters, respectively. Both served as WIF interns during this time.

As of September 2023, Aniya Hamilton, a recent graduate of Sciences Po, has taken up the mantle and is volunteering to curate ADCI Paris content.

WIF Volunteer Aniya Hamilton
Image courtesy of Aniya Hamilton

If you know of youth or youth organizations that would benefit from learning about ETBP Cultural Awareness, please share this blog post with them or write to Entrée to Black Paris to make an introduction!

Big Black Cook - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Wily Denz - Chef at Big Black Cook
© Entrée to Black Paris

It was beastly hot when we went to Big Black Cook (BBC). We were greeted by Chef Wily Denz, who was cooling himself with a beautiful hand-held fan.

Chef Wily Denz with a hand-held fan
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because of the heat, we did not have an appetite for the standard three-course meal we normally order when we review restaurants. So we forwent the starters and ordered a main course for each of us.

Tom selected the jerk fried chicken as a main dish and a Trinidadian cola called Solo as his beverage.

Jerk Fried Chicken
© Entrée to Black Paris

Solo Kola Champion
© Entrée to Black Paris

BBC served this fried chicken, which had previously been marinated with jerk spices, in a deep bowl atop a bed of long grain Thai rice and coleslaw made of carrots and red cabbage. The chicken was liberally coated with a spicy sauce, almost like barbecue sauce. The entire dish was decorated with freshly chopped green onions.

Tom quite enjoyed this, and he appreciated the cola as well.

I selected Sweet Chicken as my main dish and ordered a side of sweet potato fries that Tom and I shared.

Sweet Chicken
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sweet Potato Fries
© Entrée to Black Paris

Both were delectable!

The sweet chicken was made with deboned chicken thighs that were seasoned with a sweet chili sauce, laid atop a bed of long grain Thai rice, dusted with crumbled peanuts, and decorated with freshly chopped green onions. The sweet potato fries were served directly from the fryer with a small cup of homemade mayonnaise as a condiment. They were the best I've ever eaten.

From the six flavors rhum arrangé that were available for tasting, I selected the apricot ginger variety. I received a glass of the beverage served at room temperature, and I quite enjoyed it. I drank tap water with my meal.

Still being prudent, Tom and I opted to split our selection for dessert. We chose the dessert of the day, which consisted of a sablé breton (a shortbread butter cookie) soaked in coconut milk and layered with mascarpone cream flavored with lime, vanilla, and almond. The cream was covered with a thin layer of pureed mango and dusted with sablé crumbs.

Dessert of the day
© Entrée to Black Paris

For us, this dessert was a cross between a cheesecake and a tiramisù. It was large enough to split and still get a satisfying portion. And it was delicious!

Customers receive a warm welcome at BBC, and services is friendly and helpful. On the day we visited the restaurant, Chef Wily was happily mingling with clients and commenting on his menu.

Chef Wily Denz talks with customers
© Entrée to Black Paris

We would happily return to Big Black Cook to sample more of his wares!

For a review of Part 1 of this post, where we describe the atmosphere and the menu at Big Black Cook, click HERE.

Big Black Cook
7, rue Tiquetonne
75002 Paris
Metro: Etienne Marcel (Line 4)

Big Black Cook - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Big Black Cook take-out bags
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, one of my tour groups told me about a Caribbean restaurant that they happened to find after a somewhat difficult day. They raved about it, saying they couldn't recommend it highly enough, and they strongly encouraged me to try it.

When I asked for the name and location of the restaurant, they responded "Big Black Cook" and said they thought it was in Pigalle. I had never heard of it before, and I asked them if they knew how long it had been in existence. They thought it had been operational for about a year, perhaps a bit longer.

Because I am always intrigued by Afro-Caribbean offerings in Paris, I set out to research Big Black Cook. I learned that it began as a restaurant in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, a suburb located northwest of Paris in Ile de France, and that it opened at 7, rue Tiquetonne in Paris' 2nd arrondissement last June.

My husband Tom and I lunched at the Paris restaurant last week. We found that while the group's memory of the eatery being in Pigalle was not correct, everything else they said about the place was spot on!

The menu at Big Black Cook (BBC) is an index of traditional Caribbean dishes that sometimes include a twist.

For example, their short list of starters includes accras, which are traditionally made with codfish. But none of three varieties offered by BBC contain cod - instead, they are made with vegetables, sardines, or prawns.

English-language menu at Big Black Cook
© Entrée to Black Paris

Their main dishes are comprised of three chicken, one fish, and one beef preparation. Sweet chicken tops the list, as it is a recipe handed down by the chef's mother. This may be a family recipe, but it is not one I have ever seen on other Caribbean restaurant menus.

BBC uses traditional seasonings for its chiquetaille (shredded cod), colombo chicken, and jerk chicken. But while jerk chicken is traditionally grilled, BBC deep fries its preparation. The only beef recipe, ropa vieja, comes from South America. It consists of pulled beef cooled with tomato sauce and peppers.

All the main dish offerings are also available as burgers. and BBC offers its vegetable accra as a patty on a burger bun as well. Its vegetarian "Super Bowl" is a large salad that can be supplemented with meat or fish if desired. Sides of sweet potato fries, fried plantains, flavored rice, and coleslaw round out the savory portion of the menu.

BBC offers three dessert options to provide a touch of sweetness at the end of your meal. Two flavors of homemade sorbet (coconut and peanut) and an iconic, prefabricated iced dessert from Martinique called Floup are always on the menu. The third selection is the dessert of the day, which by definition changes regularly.

Everything is available for take-out in these snappy paper bags.

Take-out bags
© Entrée to Black Paris

Regarding beverages, customers have a choice between traditional rum-based punches and cocktails, infused rums (rhums arrangés), Guadeloupan and Martinican beers, and Caribbean soft drinks. Water, tea, and coffee are available as well, of course.

Huge containers of infused rums at the rear of the dining room attracted my attention, so I inquired about them. I learned that BBC changes its offering of infused rums according to season, and that the following flavors are currently available:

Apricot ginger
Mango, mint, and lime
Peach litchi
Pineapple, passion fruit, and chile pepper
Guava papaya
Melon vanilla

Rhums arrangés
© Entrée to Black Paris

Each preparation is marinated for at least three months to achieve optimal flavor.

A wide selection of pure rum is also available.

Bottled rums
© Entrée to Black Paris

As we lunched, we watched the restaurant fill with customers and saw even more customers enter to order take-out and wait outside the restaurant to collect their meals.

Big Black Cook dining room at the beginning of our lunch
© Entrée to Black Paris

Big Black Cook customers later in our lunch
© Entrée to Black Paris

Come back next week to read about the meal Tom and I had at BBC!

Big Black Cook
7, rue Tiquetonne
75002 Paris
Metro: Etienne Marcel (Line 4)

Fun Facts about Richard Wright in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Signage - Richard Wright tribute at the Red Wheelbarrow
© Entrée to Black Paris

Monday, 4 September 2023 was the 115th anniversary of Richard Nathaniel Wright's birth. To celebrate his legacy, I am providing links to publications that Entrée to Black Paris has posted about him in the past:

Richard Wright Community Center

Richard Wright Estate Acquires Copy of Paris Walking Tour Honoring Expat Author Richard Wright

Richard Wright at the Red Wheelbarrow

Daddy Goodness - A Play by Richard Wright

and sharing the following fun facts about Wright's time in Paris (1946-1960).

Richard Wright and Gordon Parks in Paris

Gordon Parks photographed Richard Wright in the U.S. in 1943. This was prior to both men's first visit to Paris.

Photo portraits of Richard Wright by Gordon Parks (1943)
Images in public domain

During his two-year stint as a staff photographer for Life Magazine, Parks invited Wright to lunch in Paris and asked Wright to select the restaurant. Wright selected Maxim's, the tony bistro located a stone's throw from Place de la Concorde. Parks introduced Wright to actress Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan. Hayworth promptly informed Wright that she had read and loved his novel, Native Son.

Richard Wright and Shakespeare and Company

George Whitman of the Mistral Bookshop (later to be renamed Shakespeare and Company) organized a reception for Wright on November 17, 1956.

Crop from Paris Book News announcement
Fair use claim

The bookstore has posted a photograph of Wright on the exit door; it faces the street so passersby can admire it.

In the photo, Wright is perusing the book display on the sidewalk in front of the store.

Shakespeare and Company exit door
Photo of Richard Wright in red oval
© Entrée to Black Paris

Wright and his wife Ellen socialized with Sylvia Beach, the original owner of Shakespeare and Company. They first met in 1946 when Wright sought Beach out regarding a business proposition, not knowing that she closed Shakespeare and Company in 1941.

Favorite Foods

Biographer Hazel Rowley wrote that Wright partook of the following foods at Leroy Haynes' iconic soul food restaurant:

fried Georgia catfish

barbecued pig feet

chitterlings

collard greens

Southern fried chicken

Façade of Haynes' Restaurant
© Discover Paris!

Given Wright's southern U.S. roots, this is less than surprising.

Three Black Artists - Paris Shows Opening in September 2023

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Water Matters (detail) 2020
© Barthélémy Toguo
Image courtesy of Galerie Lelong & Co. and Bandjoun Station

Three Black artists have shows in Paris this September.

ruby onyinyechi amanze – The Poetics of Space
Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
Opening September 1, 2023

The Poetics of Space is ruby onyinyechi amanze's first solo exhibition in Paris and her second exhibition with Mariane Ibrahim. The title of the show is borrowed from Gaston Bachelard's book of the same name.

Art critic Orit Gat contributed an essay about amanze's work and made the following observation about what visitors will see in The Poetics of Space:

"The viewer will encounter a sprinkling of small drawings in this new show, but most of amanze’s new works on view are momentous. The scale gives her more space to work with, each one of the drawings becoming a different answer to the question of math, of configuration."

Watch amanze talk about her artistic practice in the video below.

The Poetics of Space
September 1, 2023 - October 7, 2023
Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
18, avenue Matignon
75008 Paris

********

Barthélémy Toguo – Water Is a Right
Galerie Lelong
Opening September 7, 2023

Barthélémy Toguo's upcoming show at Galerie Lelong, entitled Water Is a Right, is the third to be inspired by the his childhood memory of needing to "get up very early in the morning to fetch water from far away, to drink, to wash the plates at home, back home in Cameroon, before going to school." It is comprised of ink and watercolor works on canvas and enameled porcelain works that the artist conceived while in residency at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.

Balade Aquatique XIII
© Barthélémy Toguo
2022 Enameled porcelain
Image courtesy of Galerie Lelong & Co. and Bandjoun Station

Toguo exhibits regularly at Galerie Lelong. I have attended multiple shows of his work since 2013, when I saw his Hidden Faces exhibition, and I got to meet him during his Strange Fruit exhibition in 2017. I look forward to visiting this latest exhibition.

Water Is a Right
September 7, 2023 - October 7, 2023
Galerie Lelong
38, avenue Matignon
75008 Paris

********

Kehinde Wiley – A Maze of Power
Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac
Opening September 26, 2023

In 2012, Kehinde Wiley began to create a new series dedicated to African heads of state. For the next ten years, he traveled across the continent to meet them and render their likenesses through the lens of the artistic styles used to portray European royalty and aristocracy in centuries past.

According to the quai Branly Website: "The portraits designed reflect the distinctive cultural elements of each state and reveal the identity of an individual through the double prism of the artist and his model."

A Maze of Power
September 26, 2023 - January 14, 2024
Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac
37, quai Branly
75007 Paris
To purchase tickets, click HERE.

Le Corossol - Afro-Antillean Cuisine in the 3rd Arrondissement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Le Corossol sign
© Entrée to Black Paris

I first discovered Le Corossol earlier this summer, when my friend and colleague, Bob Tomlinson, invited me to lunch there at the beginning of June.

I was delighted to find this Afro-Antillean restaurant/caterer tucked into a corner of the Marché des Enfants Rouges on rue de Bretagne in the 3rd arrondissement. I enjoyed my meal so much that I took several photos and determined to return so I could write a review about this informal eatery.

Le Corossol catering counter
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Corossol dining area
© Entrée to Black Paris

Refrigerated cabinet
© Entrée to Black Paris

Rhums arrangés
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tamarin-infused rum
© Entrée to Black Paris

My thoughts turned to Le Corossol after writing the Entrée to Black Paris blog post about Créole cuisine at the Marché Saint-Quentin in the 10th arrondissement, and I was happy to learn that the restaurant was open this August. So my husband Tom and I went there for a late lunch last week.

We made a reservation for 2 PM in the hope that the long, narrow restaurant would be relatively empty, and we were granted our wish.

Le Corossol
© Entrée to Black Paris

As we approached, I noted that the artwork hung in the dining area had been changed since June.

Le Corossol artwork - June 2023
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Corossol artwork - August 2023
© Entrée to Black Paris

Though several people were settled at tables on the terrace, the "inside" dining area was practically empty. We were seated at a table for two and immediately perused the menu on the large blackboard posted near our table.

Menu
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom ordered the Menu du Jour (the daily special), selecting aloko (plantains) as his entrée and columbo de poulet (chicken in a Créole curry sauce) as his main dish. Though the menu did not include dessert, he decided to indulge anyway and ordered a sorbet coco (coconut sorbet) for an additional price.

Aloko
© Entrée to Black Paris

Colombo de poulet
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sorbet coco
© Entrée to Black Paris

I ordered à la carte and chose two items from the menu: atchomos (dumplings made from corn and bananas) and a bokit saucisse (a smoked sausage sandwich).

Atchomos
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bokit saucisse
© Entrée to Black Paris

We enjoyed all our food immensely. I had never tried atchomos (a Cameroonian specialty) before, and I appreciated this slightly sweet, doughy appetizer. I loved the tender yet crunchy bread that cradled the smoked sausage in my sandwich. It was so satisfying that I didn't have room for dessert.

Between us, Tom and I ordered a variety of beverages: ti' punch (rum punch), rhum gingembre (ginger juice with rum), bissap (a hibiscus drink), and jus de gingembre (ginger juice).

Bissap
© Entrée to Black Paris

I found the ginger juice used for the cocktail and the soft drink to be pulpier and less spicy than other preparations I've tasted, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Ginger juice
© Entrée to Black Paris

Three servers were on duty during our meal, and while the dining area remained calm, customers seated at the long terrace outside kept them busy. All the servers came to our table at one point or another, and all were cheerful and efficient.

Tom was not pleased with the volume of the music (a mix of African, reggae, and French Caribbean tunes) that played over the sound system, and I concurred that it was quite loud.

But the food was wonderful!

After two meals at Le Corossol, I can definitely recommend this restaurant.

If you enter the market at rue de Bretagne, you'll have to wind your way through a maze of vendors to find it.

But if you enter at 33bis, rue Charlot, you'll find it immediately to your left.

Marché des Enfants Rouges - rue Charlot entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Visit the restaurant's Website to see beautiful photos of the dishes they prepare: Le Corossol

Enjoy!

Le Corossol swag
© Entrée to Black Paris

Présence Africaine - A Black Paris Icon

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Cover art (details) for Présence Africaine - La Transmission

Présence Africaine has been a stop on Entrée to Black Paris' Black Paris after World War II walking tour since we began our business in 1999 under the name "Discover Paris! – Personalized Itineraries for Independent Travelers."

I can't count the number of individuals, families, and groups we have brought to this bookstore and told about its illustrious history and invaluable contributions to Black culture and contemporary life in Paris!

Below are images of a few of them.

Monique Y. Wells and Barbara Paroissien
© Entrée to Black Paris

Monique Y. Wells and Professor Saladin Ambar
© Entrée to Black Paris

Going Global with Barbara
© Entrée to Black Paris

Présence Africaine began as a journal – La Revue Présence Africaine – in 1947, with its first edition being published in November of that year. Founder Alioune Diop began conceiving the publication as World War II ravaged Europe.

After the war, Diop brought together a patronage committee of intelligentsia including Richard Wright, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire, André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus to contribute to the review while resolving not to restrict the ideologies expressed by the authors they sought to publish. La Revue Présence Africaine rapidly became a forum for the Négritude movement, which sought to reclaim and redefine the value of African culture.

In 1949, Diop and his wife, Christiane Yandé Diop, founded the Présence Africaine publishing company. Working in tandem with the journal, it provided (and still provides) a platform for Black writers and researchers from Africa and its diaspora to disseminate their works through the world.

To date, the publishing house has produced Francophone non-fiction and fiction works (including children's books) and titles translated from their original language into French by 663 authors!

These works and more can be found at the bookstore, which was founded in 1962.

Children's books at Présence Africaine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Alioune Diop died in 1980 and was buried in his native land of Senegal. Christiane Diop and two of the Diop children took over the management of the business thereafter. Christiane Diop was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur at the Elysées Palace on April 8, 2009.

Présence Africaine was the subject of an entire exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly from November 9, 2009 through January 31, 2010. The show presented numerous books and archival documents, photographs and other objects. Sound and audiovisual recordings, including interviews specially made for the exhibition, were also part of the exhibition.

Entry to Musée du quai Branly exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

Negro Nations and Cultures panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

In 2019, the publishing house celebrated its 70th anniversary and produced a French-language booklet presenting its history that store clerks give away to our clients and other visitors.

Présence Africaine - La Transmission
© Entrée to Black Paris

All books sold at Présence Africaine are published in French.

If you'd like to experience the Black Paris after WWII walking tour and visit Présence Africaine, send email to paris[at]entreetoblackparis[dot]com.

Creole Cuisine at the Marché Saint-Quentin

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Oh Africa! at the Marché Saint-Quentin
© Entrée to Black Paris

During a recent, unplanned stroll through the 10th arrondissement, I found myself in the neighborhood the covered marked called Marché Saint-Quentin on boulevard Magenta. I had a little time on my hands, so I ventured inside.

Marché Saint-Quentin
Lionel Allorge, photographer
CC BY-SA-3.0

As I meandered through the aisles, I was pleasantly surprised to find three restaurants that serve Creole cuisine!

Oh Africa!* is installed near the rue Chabrol entrance to the market.

Customers queuing at Oh Africa at the Marché Saint-Quentin
© Entrée to Black Paris

Despite the restaurant's name, the dishes on the menu are not entirely African. Two of the three main dishes offered - Poulet coco-curry (coconut-curry chicken) and Colombo (chicken or beef served with sweet potatoes, zucchini, and eggplant in colombo herbs and spices) - are decidedly Creole.

The "Afro-bols" (think Poké bowls with an African twist) contain either rice, fonio (a type of millet), or attiéké (manioc) served with marinated beef or chicken, chiquetaille (minced) fish (another Creole preparation), or red beans. All bowls are dressed with snow peas, chopped peanuts, fried plantains, and fried onions.

The two salads offered by the restaurant are called "Créole" and "Rasta."

Closer to the exit on boulevard Magenta is La Bahianaise.

La Bahianaise
© Entrée to Black Paris

This Brazilian restaurant describes its cuisine as inventive, lively, and modern and as being inspired by the freshness of Brazilian street food. Customers need to scan a QR code to access their menu.

La Bahianaise menu - QR code
© Entrée to Black Paris

One of the dishes I saw upon scanning the code was Feijão tropeiro (a bean and sausage dish containing collard greens) from Minas Gerias, the state that shares a northern border with Bahia.

La Bahianaise's offerings change weekly, so grab your cell phone and scan the image above to find out what they're serving today!

The last place I saw was a Reunion Island restaurant called Ti Caz.

Ti Caz
© Entrée to Black Paris

Their achards de légumes (pickled vegetables), rougail (spicy vegetable preparation served with meat or fish), and cari (curry) dishes are typically Creole.

Ti Caz menu board
© Entrée to Black Paris

I didn't get to eat at any of these places, but they are all on my list to try!

Oh Africa! signage at Marché Saint-Quentin
© Entrée to Black Paris

*Oh Africa! has a dedicated restaurant space near the market at 6, rue de Paradis.

Five Things I Didn't Know about Jean-Michel Basquiat

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Entrance to Basquiat Soundtracks exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

The extraordinary Basquiat Soundtracks exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris closed on July 30, 2023. I went to see it last week, having missed the Basquiat x Warhol exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which closed on July 28.

Entrance to Basquiat Soundtracks exhibition
© Entrée to Black Paris

I am not a fan of Basquiat's work from an esthetic standpoint, but I have always been intrigued by the factors that propelled his art to the tremendous heights it achieved in terms of acclaim and monetary value long before his premature death.

Basquiat Soundtracks, which was curated in collaboration with the Musée des Beaux Arts Montréal, opened a vast and unusual window onto Basquiat's world. It explored the profound impact that music ‒ from hip-hop to classical ‒ had on the artist's œuvre.

I spent almost five hours in the exhibition, immersed in sound, video, and visual art.

In today's blog post, I am presenting five tidbits of information from the exhibition that I found to be the most illuminating or compelling among all that I learned about this brilliant young man who left our world at the tender age of 27 years.

Hip-Hop Single

In 1983, Basquiat produced a record called "Beat Bop." It featured two rapper/graffiti artists, Rammellzee and K-Rob, and it was released on Basquiat's own label ‒ Tartown Records.

"Beat Bop" - vinyl record and cover art by Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Rammellzee was represented in multiple photos in the exhibition as well as in a Basquiat portrait.

Rammellzee
1982 Oil stick on paper
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Interest in Human Anatomy

At the age of seven years, Basquiat was hospitalized after being hit by a car. His mother bought him a copy of Gray's Anatomy, a reference book for human anatomy that was published in 1868, to keep him amused. The subject fascinated him for the rest of his life, and he frequently included anatomical drawings in his work when he created art.

Negro Period (detail)
1982 Acrylic, oil, photocopy collage and caps on wood panels
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Jazz (detail)
1986 Acrylic, oil stick, photocopy and wood collage on wood panel
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

He even created a stand-alone body of work entitled The Complete Anatomy Series.

Gray - the Band

Basquiat played clarinet and synthesizer. In 1979, he and an acquaintance named Michael Holman formed an experimental band called Test Pattern, which performed under various names before he changed the name to Gray (after Gray's Anatomy). In the original group, Holman played drums, Shannon Dawson played trumpet, and Wayne Clifford played keyboard. Holman was eventually replaced by Nicholas Taylor, who played guitar. The band performed together through 1980-81 but never recorded an album during Basquiat's lifetime.

Snapshot of brief video of Basquiat playing clarinet
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Heavy Jazz Influence

The exhibition presented jazz as the most formidable musical influence on Basquiat's work. The information panel for this section of the exhibition indicated that his works "inscribe the genre within a broader diasporic history and underscore the inequality and racism endured by jazz musicians in thrall to the rule of the record industry."

King Zulu
1985 Acrylic, wax and oil stick on canvas
Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The panel also cited Basquiat's strong interest in bebop and his particular affiliation for Charlie Parker. In several of the works shown in Soundtracks, Basquiat made reference to Parker's daughter Pree, who died at the age of two years.

Madonna
1985 Acrylic, oil stick, photocopy collage on wood
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Basquiat is said to have owned more than 3000 albums. He wrote out the titles of works recorded by major jazz artists and even copied liner notes from Charlie Parker's "Complete Savoy Studio Sessions" by hand. An information panel on the artist's discography stated that by "meticulously writing out titles, performers, matrix numbers, references, logos and labels, Basquiat demonstrated his esteem for these objects: scattered throughout his canvases in the form of photocopies, records are held up as trace, fetish, memory, and artistic testament."

Lover of Classical Music

In September 1982, art dealer Annina Nosei offered Basquiat her basement for use as a studio. He accepted the offer and reportedly painted while listening non-stop to Ravel's Boléro.

The last two works exhibited at Soundtracks, Eroica I and Eroica II take their names from Beethoven's Symphony No. 3. They were completed and exhibited in 1988, the year that Basquiat died from a heroin overdose.

Eroica I and Eroica II
1988
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Eroica I
1988 Acrylic, oil stick and graphite on paper mounted on canvas
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Eroica II
1988 Acrylic and oil stick on paper mounted on canvas
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Before leaving the exhibition, visitors were invited to look at a list of the 100+ audio recordings that played throughout the exhibition space. Find the playlist at the QR code shown below.

Josephine's Bookshop - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Children's books at Josephine's Bookshop
© Entrée to Black Paris

In Part 1 of Josephine's Bookshop, Jeannine Cook talked about finding the location for her Parisian pop-up bookstore and selecting the books she is offering for sale. She provided the complete schedule of events that the public can enjoy there.

This week, Cook talks about the Josephine's Bookshop experience and provides information about some of the challenges she faced / is facing with the pop-up. She also shares information on her personal love affair with Paris.

ETBP: You have been a teacher, student, and traveler in Paris. Please elaborate on all three activities.

JC: I first came to Paris alone for only one day in Summer 2018. I’d been sent to Europe by the American Friends Service Committee to help develop curricula on racism, colonialism, and imperialism alongside my sister friend, Nia Eubanks-Dixon, who is now the founder of Creative Praxis. Together we were tasked with guiding youth from several countries around the world in organizing their own global social change campaign despite potential language, class, and racial barriers.

On my day off, I flew into Charles de Gaulle airport, took a ride on the Seine, ate Thai food, and went to see art by Wylda Bayron. I remember saying to myself, “I like the vibe here.”

At the artist talk, there was a lively debate in French that I couldn’t understand, but I felt the passion as my neighbor to the left of me attempted to explain the plight and oppression and victories of artists from the French West Indies. The contemporary art gave me the realness, the rawness, the "I’ll-chop-your-head-off-if-you-mess-with-me-Marie Antoinette-Toussaint-ness" of the people who I felt at home with even though I couldn’t understand their words.

I understood the energy. I promised I’d be back.

I’ve made good on that promise several times since then.

There is an undeniable vibration here—I understand why Ms. Baker, and so many came here and made it their home. Ms. Baker fought for and loved this country like nobody’s business.

This place is very lovable. Perhaps it is a love left by the worshipers of Isis who I read still have a statue inside of St. Germain des Prés as we speak. PAR-ISIS. By Isis. Paris.

ETBP: What inspired you to use antique furniture (including a bed), household items, and a harp for your book displays?

JC: We wanted to create an immersive experience. We wanted people to feel Josephine as much as possible and we wanted to create a space that her spirit would be comfortable inhabiting.

Bed book display
©Entrée to Black Paris

Window display
©Entrée to Black Paris

We always aim to create a singular experience that you could never have anywhere else.

Purchasing a book at Josephine's Bookshop
Images ©Entrée to Black Paris

Downstairs, the Rainbow Room, is dedicated to Carrie McDonald, Josephine’s mother, who was a washer woman and caretaker to Josephine’s children.

The Rainbow Room
©Entrée to Black Paris

Book displays in the Rainbow Room
Images ©Entrée to Black Paris

There are lots of books hidden in plain site–in drawers, on dressers, in the closet, etc. It’s designed to stimulate the senses and keep folks present.

Books "hidden in plain sight"
Images ©Entrée to Black Paris

It’s also very much a tactile experience. The perfume bottle has real perfume that you can smell, the harp really plays, so does the piano, you can rock in the rocking chair, wash the fabric in the wash bin, make a wish into water.

Boudoir book display, perfume bottle, and garment
©Entrée to Black Paris

Christian Dior garment
©Entrée to Black Paris

This is just what we were able to pull off in seven days, on a tight budget, and a few hundred square foot of space.

ETBP: Describe the challenges you’ve had with obtaining the books you are selling at Josephine’s.

JC: We started to chat about a concept called Books Without Borders in an interview with Lori L. Tharps of Read, Write, & Create. It is a concept that we hope others pick up and run with.

Books are a cultural bedrock. We believe that:

1) Books should be way easier and cheaper to ship both nationally and internationally. For one children’s book sent for the installation, the sender paid $26 to send and I paid another $20 to receive it. This process was important so I could see the issues in the system, and that is a huge one.

2) Authors are not getting access to their own books to do with as they please and that is ridiculous. So many authors have reached out to me wanting to donate a book and couldn’t because they didn’t have copies of their own damn books.

3) Publishing houses, especially the very large ones, have not been held accountable for the abusive ways they have treated authors throughout the years and that gets to be addressed.

I was in Ms. Toni Morrison’s archive at Princeton where we built Toni’s Bookshop and there was a letter to Ms. Toni Morrison from Ms. Nina Simone saying Ms. Nina Simone had never received her royalties–blasphemous!

While the actors and writers in Hollywood have a union and are on strike, we’ve never seen that same level of push and organizing by authors, and we get to.

Cin Fabré - one of the authors having difficulty accessing her own books
©Entrée to Black Paris

ETBP: Are these problems specific to France, or do you think you’ll encounter similar difficulties when you go to Kenya next year?

JC: The path with no beginning is worth beginning. That said, I am not sure. There will likely be some similar and some different challenges no matter where we go.

I am learning on the job. I know we have a huge shipping container of books that we intend to ship to Nairobi in partnership with our South Jersey friends from BookSmiles and it shouldn’t cost us our arms, legs, and firstborns to do it.

ETBP: What have you learned from your previous pop-up bookshops?

JC: This question is impossible to answer in a few sentences ...

I learned mostly that it is possible and important and we should continue by any means necessary.

I learned to listen and be obedient to the call.

I learned that the earth (and beyond) is our home and we should experience as much of her as we possibly can.

I learned to follow the signs.

I learned that I am because you are and you are because I am.

I learned that I am a part of the all and all is a part of me.

I learned always that everything unfolds in perfect order.

Same lessons over and over again.

ETBP: You spoke about a “sister city” relationship between Philadelphia and Paris* and said that you’re interested in seeing this develop more fully. At present, there is no agreement in place between the two cities. How do you envision moving this idea forward?

JC: The "sister city" relationship that I was describing is rooted in the work and intention of Benjamin Franklin**, not any current agreement.

Benjamin Franklin declared the two cities sisters. He was the U.S. ambassador to France and in that role, he placed many French influences on Philadelphia. It was through him that I got to understand the many intentional ways that Paris influences Philadelphia.

Franklin loved the French aesthetic and decided to pay homage to its beauty by replicating much of it— from Philly’s city hall which is inspired by Hotel de Ville to the Philadelphia Museum of Art designed by Julien Abeke who was married to a French woman, not to mention the Rodin Museum and of course the parkway that is Franklin’s namesake, which was designed by two Frenchmen.

Rodin Museum in Philadelphia
Gordon Makryllos
CC-BY-SA 4.0

But while there is much of Paris in Philly, there is not nearly enough of Philly in Paris. Not a French twist on cheesesteaks in sight, not a Tasty Cake-inspired crepe, and not a Harriett's-like bookshop, called Josephine’s—until now. So I think it’s important to continue to build on the relationship of the sister cities that Franklin envisioned.

The daunting question for a little sister like Philly is what does she have to offer her older sister, Paris? What can Paris–the city with everything—learn from Philly, the city of Sisterly Affection? Maybe how to celebrate Black women poets like Yolanda Wisher and Trapeta B. Mayson are doing with ConsenSIS, or how to nurture Black girls spirits, the way Vashti DuBois is doing with The Colored Girls Museum?

It’s only right that Parisians come try Charisse McGill’s French Toast Bites, right? And eat oxtails at Amina’s.

And of course our big sister MUST take the Sisterhood Sit-In Trolley Tour with Starfire designed by you know who—wink wink.

With the Olympics just around the corner, maybe Parisians trying to avoid the crowds should come hang out with us in the Illadelph for a bit. It will feel familiar—like a home away from home. Parisians will see themselves reflected in our universities, restaurants, parks, and architecture, not to mention the raw realness of spirited debates.

There’s much to learn from your little sister now, Paris. Perhaps no one has ever invited you to come visit and see what she has been up to, but consider this an official opening of the door.

Jeannine Cook
©Entrée to Black Paris

*What Chicago and Washington, D.C. call “sister city” arrangements with Paris are called “friendship pacts” or “cooperation pacts” by the French. The Paris mayor’s office says that Paris’ only sister city is Rome.

**Before Cook returned to Paris, she got to research the work of Benjamin Franklin as she was working on incorporating books into the design of a new restaurant/hotel in Olde City Philadelphia called The Morris at 8th and Walnut. This historical location was once a hangout for what she calls "contradictory thinkers" like Franklin – "contradictory" because as Cook says, "as smart and bold as he was, he didn’t have the forethought to admonish slavery and other social ills of the time." This makes her wonder what social ills are we are allowing now that will be completely taboo in the future.

Josephine's Bookshop - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Signage for Josephine's Bookshop
© Entrée to Black Paris

Early last month, an Entrée to Black Paris client introduced Jeannine Cook to me via email.

Cook is the owner of Harriett's Bookshop in Philadelphia and Ida's Bookshop in Collingsworth, NJ. She is also the creator of pop-up bookshops dedicated to Marian Anderson and Toni Morrison. I was excited to learn that she planned to open a pop-up bookstore called Josephine's Bookshop on rue de Médicis, a street in the 6th arrondissement that is on the route of the standard version of our Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden tour.

Josephine's bookshop - façade
©Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine's opened with fanfare on July 14 - Bastille Day - and Cook has planned a robust line-up of activities during the two weeks that the store will be open. She graciously granted me an interview that will have you clamoring to visit!

ETBP: How did you decide on the location for Josephine’s Bookshop?

JC: I knew I wanted to build Josephine’s Bookshop even before I came to France last year for La Maison Baldwin's International Conference on James Baldwin in Nice. I reached out to a retired bookseller, the founder of Berkeley Books of Paris, and received a list of folks to connect with. Penelope Fletcher from The Red Wheelbarrow was on that list. I wrote to Penelope and planted the seed.

When I came back to Paris a few months ago, I kept visiting Penelope asking her if I could use her children’s bookstore for Josephine’s. But it would have been a logistical nightmare and we both knew it. She suggested that I use a space down the street, and she picked up the phone and called the owner. The owner said yes immediately and the rest was history.

We're in a dope location on a block that used to be lined with bookshops, and it’s cool being next to Penelope and her anglophone bookstores. There’s a rare bookstore to our right and a great soul food-inspired cafe, Treize, co-owned by an American, to our left. We are an ear shot from the Pantheon and across the street from the Luxembourg Garden. I don’t think we could have asked for a better location.

All in all, I allow myself to be guided, to follow the signs, to walk with the great mothers and trust they are working on my behalf as I work on theirs.

ETBP: What makes Josephine’s Bookshop a community space?

JC: It’s a community space because it is built and inhabited by the community. It is an offering and an altar.

I think people feel the love, the warmth. There are areas designed for conversation, including a super long bench out front. There are books to discuss.

Josephine's bookshop - sitting room
©Entrée to Black Paris

Our bookshops are a space for ideas and dialogue and music and dancing and laughter and fun. They also provide space for reflection and ritual and cleansing—a place to take it off and let it go.

Harp and book display
©Entrée to Black Paris

Piano
©Entrée to Black Paris

Opening day tips and book on piano
©Entrée to Black Paris

Now the cool thing about these spaces is I get to build them with others. I laugh and say I get to combine minds. I did this one with my sister, Minista Jazz, who inspired the textile and tactile elements in the shop through the clothing collection she's currently working on. She made a dress for me out of the same material that is on the walls at Josephine's.

Being in Paris with her is one of my sister fantasies. Who doesn’t want to spend the summer in Paris with their sisters?

I also had lots of help from local Parisians, like Isabel and Irina, and expats like Brian and Penelope.

It is a mix of worlds that make it happen—community is built in building the space. Folks get to see my face and hear my name, and my voice a lot, but it’s many, many people who make it happen.

ETBP: How did you select the titles you are offering at the shop?

JC: The collection is all interconnected to Josephine—her era, her peers, places she lived, people she encountered, people inspired by her, expats, Black-American-ness, etc.

In addition, for this installation, we invited community members from all over the world to submit books to the collection along with a note explaining why they sent it. We received books like Paris Noir by Tyler E. Stovall from historian Virginia Reinberg and Josephine’s Cinematic Prism by Terri Simone Francis, Vanguard by Martha S. Jones, and Wolf Hustle by Cin Fabré.

Book displays
©Entrée to Black Paris

We even received a signed Josephine Baker poster from my collector friends, Dr. Monique Gary in Philadelphia and Brainerd Phillipson in Massachusetts.

ETBP: How did you come to engage Sabreen Lateef to work with you at the shop?

JC: Sabreen reached out via social media. We always get sent the best people. She is also from Philly and has been traveling to Paris for summers since she was a little girl. She is a former English teacher and fashion designer. She is kind and smart and attentive–the VERY best. She is working everyday from 12-6 pm at Josephine’s Bookshop.

Sabreen Lateef
©Entrée to Black Paris

We’ve had so many cool Philly folks come through. Denise King, who curated the music for the Bastille Day opening—5 local jazz musicians who played for 6 hours straight—is from West Philly. Lindsey Tramuta signed books—she’s the author of The New Parisienne.

ETBP: Josephine's Bookshop will be open during the month of July only. What events are you planning to host over the course of the next two weeks?

JC: Here's the complete list:

Joli Petit Bébé

July 19 2023 at 5:00 pm

Author, artist, and activist Lesley-Ann Brown and Camille Rich will host a lecture for university students who are traveling from the United States to Copenhagen to Paris.

J’attendrai

July 20 2023 at 11:00 am

Author Lesley-Ann Brown shares about her book, Blackgirl on Mars, and the Black expat experience. The conversation will be recorded on Instagram Live.

Touche Pas à Mes Tomates

July 21 2023 at 7:30 pm

Chef and cookbook author Ashley Schütz and illustrator Ashly Jernigan of the book A Table Set for Sisterhood have developed a dish specifically for Josephine’s Bookshop that they will serve over a conversation about sisterhood. My frenemy, Chris Harrop, the General Manager and Mixologist at The Morris in Philly developed a signature drink for the evening called the French Baker. There’s an alcohol and non-alcohol version. We will be joined by jazz bassist, Thomas Posner.

J'ai Deux Amours

July 26 2023 at 7:30 pm

We will screen a short film (11 minutes) by digital artist Nia James and facilitate a community conversation about Artificial Intelligence and the future of books.

C'est Lui

July 27 2023 at 7:30 pm

Poet and American University of Paris Creative Writing professor, Biswamit Dwibedy, has curated an evening of student poetry readings.

Sous Le Ciel D'afrique

July 28 2023 at 7:30 pm

Alongside Pour 2 Meilleure Afrique, we will host author, historian, and scholar Sylvia Serbin, and her book Reines d'Afrique et Héroïnes de la Diaspora Noire - Nouvelle Édition 2023. We will discuss her scholarship, Africans in Paris, Caribbeans in Paris, Blacks in Paris, and the importance of getting this text, the ONLY one dedicated to ancient queens of Africa, translated into English. We will also discuss our next installation in Nairobi, Kenya–Wangari’s Bookshop scheduled for 2024. We will be joined by jazz pianist, Gille.

Tu Me Rends Folle

July 29 2023 at 7:30 pm

Preacher, teacher, advocate, and artist, Minista Jazz will close out our Josephine’s Bookshop installation with a sermon inspired by the life of Josephine Baker.

All events are FREE!

ETBP: Please confirm the opening days and times for the bookshop.

JC: We are open every day from 12-6 pm until July 30, 2023.

Click here for Part 2 of this post, where Cook shares her personal story and the backstory behind this and her other pop-up bookstores.

Jeannine Cook
©Entrée to Black Paris

Jazz at Le Duc

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Mike Ladd performs spoken word at Le Duc des Lombards
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Duc des Lombards, a jazz club located in central Paris, was the venue for an evening of musical and spoken-word performance on July 6. Hosted by Rashida Braggs, professor of Africana Studies at Williams College, the event was part of a biennial study-abroad program organized by Trica Keaton, professor of African and African American Studies at Dartmouth College.

The show was originally dedicated to the memory of two African-American expat jazzmen - Rasul Siddik and Farris Smith, Jr.

Rasul Siddik
© Entrée to Black Paris

Farris Smith, Jr.
© Entrée to Black Paris

In the aftermath of the shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk by French police, which resulted in Merzouk's death, the show was also dedicated to him.

Braggs organized a one-day workshop at Le Duc during which fifteen (15) Dartmouth students learned the art of scat singing and spoken word composition and delivery from several professionals in these fields. Participating students had the option to join the line-up for the performance that evening, and several chose to do so.

The two-hour program opened at 9:30 PM with Braggs announcing what the audience could expect and introducing the musicians who would perform throughout the evening.

Rashida Braggs
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pianist Gerard Hagan, bassist/guitarist Darryl Hall, and drummer Mourad Benhammou provided the perfect musical bedrock for the singers and poets.

Gerald Hagen
© Entrée to Black Paris

Darryl Hall
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mourad Benhammou
© Entrée to Black Paris

Three female jazz singers opened the show: Michèle Hendricks, Leslie Lewis, and Sylvia Howard. All demonstrated their "scatting" prowess and warmed the audience for the spoken word performances that were to follow.

Michèle Hendricks
© Entrée to Black Paris

Leslie Lewis
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sylvia Howard
© Entrée to Black Paris

Spoken word artists Mike Ladd and Jamika Ajalon were highly complementary of the students and the works they created during the workshop. They performed separately and together, with the jazz trio providing the musical scaffolding for their words.

Mike Ladd
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jamika Ajalon
© Entrée to Black Paris

Then it was the students' turn.

Jared Pugh, Jr. anchored the spoken word performance of several of his fellow students with musings about his memory of the talk his mother had with him after Michael Brown's shooting death in Ferguson in 2014. Between stanzas, other students came to the stage and recited their own works about topics ranging from black-on-black racial profiling to the Palestinian conflict.

Jared Pugh, Jr.
© Entrée to Black Paris

Two students sang and one played a tune on the saxophone.

Lexy Piton
© Entrée to Black Paris

Emilie Hong
© Entrée to Black Paris

Devontae Lacasse
© Entrée to Black Paris

The evening ended with all the performing students coming to the stage and singing Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" with Professor Braggs.

Rashida Braggs (third from left) and students
© Entrée to Black Paris

The full list of students participating in the workshop is as follows:

Esmeralda Abreu-Jerez
Bryson Berry
Maya Cole
Nuhamin Demeku
Hayden El Rafei
Emilie Hong
Yasmeen Hussein
Reign Jefferson
Devontae Lacasse
Lexy Piton
Jared Pugh, Jr.
Anne Rhee
Alexander Stanford
Tia Walker
Janessa Yan

Tribute to the 369th Infantry and Josephine Baker at Les Invalides

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: The 369th Experience Band
© Entrée to Black Paris

On July 3, a concert featuring the music of the band of the 369th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army and music-hall performer Josephine Baker was held in the gardens of the Military Governor of Paris at the Hôtel National des Invalides.

The 369th Experience, a nonprofit organization dedicated to acknowledging, educating and preserving the legacy of Lieutenant James Reese Europe, Second Lieutenant Noble Sissle, and The 369th Infantry Regiment – the Harlem Hellfighters – organized the music for the event. Four U.S. and seven local musicians played jazz selections from the World War I and World War II eras, including "How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm?" (1919) and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" (1941).

The 369th Experience - U.S. and French musicians
© Entrée to Black Paris

The U.S. musicians wore historic 369th Infantry uniforms. They are all HBCU graduates.

Brandy Collot - Florida A&M - Trumpet
© Entrée to Black Paris

D'Angelo Fluellen - Jackson State University - Trombone
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jaden Adkins - Delaware State University - Tuba
© Entrée to Black Paris

Stephen Gregory - Southern University - French Horn
© Entrée to Black Paris

Several French musicians were recommended by Mercedes Ellington, granddaughter of Duke Ellington. They were:

Yves Le Carboulec - Trumpet
Malo Mazurie Desgarennes - Trumpet
David Grebil - Drums
Roland Seilhes - Flute
Yannick Cognet - Sax

Other musicians were:

Josiah Woodson (special guest) - Trumpet
Baptiste Capitano - Trumpet

The band was directed by Anthony S. Jones, Sr., who is Assistant Professor at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Anthony S. Jones, Sr. - Band Director for The 369th Experience
© Entrée to Black Paris

Stephany Neal, founder of The 369th Experience, opened the program.

Stephany Neal - Founder of The 369th Experience
© Entrée to Black Paris

Along with the music, which was played before and during the event, numerous speakers paid tribute to the valor of the soldiers of the 369th Infantry and to Baker's indomitable spirit as performer and civil rights activist.

Youth who won a contest to create a comic strip that featured an event, an encounter, or an historical fact pertaining to "Sport and War" in the 20th and 21st centuries presented their prize-winning project – a multi-page work called "Le Noir n'est pas une couleur de l'arc-en-ciel" ("Black Is Not a Color in the Rainbow"). It was inspired by the story of the Harlem Hellfighters.

Panel from "Le Noir n'est pas une couleur de l'arc-en-ciel"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Baker was honored through a presentation by her son, Brian Bouillon-Baker

Brian Bouillon-Baker
© Entrée to Black Paris

and by American singer Ursuline Kairson, who performed Baker's theme song, "J'ai deux amours."

Ursuline Kairson sings "J'ai deux amours"
© Entrée to Black Paris

Véronique Peaucelle-Delelis, executive director of the French Combat Veterans and War Victims Office (ONaCVG), addressed the audience, as did ONaCVG Mission Chief Vincent Bervas and Project Manager Edie Branch.

Véronique Peaucelle-Delelis
© Entrée to Black Paris

Edie Bridge and Vincent Bervas
© Entrée to Black Paris

With the support of the U.S. Embassy, ONaCVG has created Joséphine Baker : The Serious Game! – a game that is being used as an educational tool to teach youth about Baker's life. It dubs Josephine "The Voice of Freedom."

Among the guests of honor in attendance were Mattie Sharpless, former U.S. ambassador to the Central African Republic; Helen Patton, granddaughter of General George S. Patton; and Paul Brembly, member of the Golden Gate Quartet.

Mattie Sharpless - Former U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic
© Entrée to Black Paris

Paul Brembly - Member of the Golden Gate Quartet
© Entrée to Black Paris

The U.S. musicians' trip was made possible through the sponsorship of Ubisoft, the Valient Hearts - Coming Home video game, Jason Moran, the American School of Modern Music, Dr. John H. Morrow, Jr., Mr. Evarard Rutledge, and Daniel Karrenbauer - Chez Paul. "Coming Home" and "Trench Cuisine," two of the songs that were played during the event, are featured in the video game.

The evening ended, fittingly, with a warm sunset illuminating the façade of Les Invalides.

L'Hôtel National des Invalides

Art by Black Artists in the 8th Arrondissement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: View of foyer for The Forging Years by Nathaniel Mary Quinn
© Entrée to Black Paris

Artworks by two Black male artists are currently being shown at tony galleries in the 8th arrondissement.

Nathaniel Mary Quinn's The Forging Years at Gagosian

Upon entering the ample, white-walled space and viewing the paintings of Nathanial Mary Quinn at Gagosian, you may be underwhelmed by what could be considered the sparsity of the works displayed. Several feet separate the composite portraits and scenes, most of which are small, and one could imagine oneself to be in a jewelry store where each gem is set apart from the others to command the viewer's full attention.

The Forging Years at Gagosian
© Entrée to Black Paris

Indeed, each work demands your undivided attention.

Quinn produces composite portraits in oil paint, paint stick, oil pastel, charcoal, gouache, and soft pastel that simulate the appearance of torn-paper collage. I found them to be mesmerizing.

The Bathtub, 2023
Oil paint, paint stick, oil pastel, and gouache on linen canvas stretched over wood panel
© Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Study for Invader, 2023
Black charcoal, gouache, and soft pastel on Coventry Vellum Paper
© Nathaniel Mary Quinn
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Watch the artist explain his process in the video below (in English and French).

Nathaniel Mary Quinn was born in Chicago and lives and works in New York.

The Forging Works will be on display through July 29, 2023.

Gagosian
4, rue du Ponthieu
75008 Paris
Metro: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Lines 1 and 9)

Entrance to Gagosian Gallery
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ian Micheal's Intimités at Mariane Ibrahim

Not a five minute walk from Gagosian, Mariane Ibrahim is showing works by Detroit native/Oakland resident Ian Micheal in a show called Intimités (Intimacies).

Intimités at Mariane Ibrahim (ground floor)
© Entrée to Black Paris

The following quote from the Ibrahim Website explains the artist's intent regarding the displayed works:

“I explore my figure’s relationship towards each other, objects and the spaces they occupy and exist in. I like to produce images that tell a story or a memory... a place in time.” 

Intimités at Mariane Ibrahim (upstairs room)
© Entrée to Black Paris

From the info panel at the entrance to the show, we learn that Micheal chooses intimate settings in which to depict his subjects - places such as bedrooms, kitchens, and front yards or backyards. The figures themselves, all of which appear to be male, display various degrees of intimacy.

Come Rain or Shine was my favorite of the entire show.

Come Rain or Shine, 2023
Acrylic, oil, photo transfer and paper on canvas
© Ian Micheal
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Intimités is the second showing that Ibrahim has organized for Micheal. It will run through July 22, 2023.

Mariane Ibrahim
18, avenue Matignon
75008 Paris
Metro: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Lines 1 and 9); Miromesnil (Lines 9 and 13)

Intimités at Mariane Ibrahim (view from stairwell)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sawa Shoes - Ethiopian-made Sneakers in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Sawa low top and high top sneakers
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sawa Shoes is one of the equitable commerce businesses that I talk about during Entrée to Black Paris' "Spirit of Africa" walking tour.

Though it closed its Château Rouge store in the 18th arrondissement in 2022 in favor of an address in the Canal Saint Martin area in the 10th arrondissement, it is a business whose story is inspirational and worth telling in the context of the tour.

Sawa Shoes at 37 rue Myrha, Paris 18e
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sawa Shoes at 65 rue de Lancry, Paris 10e
© Entrée to Black Paris

The face of Sawa Shoes is Mehdi Slimani, a French man of Algerian descent who launched the business with two partners in Douala, Cameroon in 2009. Their intent was to produce and sell sneakers made 100% in Africa, from raw materials to production to marketing and promotion.

The following is a quote (translated from French) from a press release found on the company's Website:

Do not expect from us the same charity business as so many other brands: they give a pair of shoes, a notebook or a pencil to a child of Africa for each of their products purchased in the West.

We decided to proceed differently: we manufacture our shoes in Africa to create productive and creative skilled jobs on site as well as to promote the image of what Africa really is - strong and dynamic.

Corruption in Cameroon and fallout from the Arab Spring forced Slimani and his partners to move production to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2011.

The company has never looked back.

Sawa is proud of the quality of the sneakers it sells and the employment and other economic opportunities it provide across the African continent. Its Website boasts of the quality materials used to produce its shoes (full-grain cut leather for the uppers and the entire internal lining) and presents a detailed explanation of the quality control to which the shoes are subjected to ensure their resistance to flexion, abrasion, and tearing.

I visited the boutique at rue de Lancry several days ago and marveled at the sneaker collections and additional items available for purchase there. These include jewelry, fabrics, and home decor items.

High tops, jewelry, and home decor items
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fashion accessories, jewelry, and home decor items
© Entrée to Black Paris

Pins
© Entrée to Black Paris

Waxed tablecloths from South Africa
© Entrée to Black Paris

They even carry a line of natural cosmetics from Algeria called Azul.

Azul Cosmetics
© Entrée to Black Paris

The salesperson who was at the boutique when I visited was friendly and helpful. She told me that Sawa gets a lot more foot traffic in the Canal Saint Martin area but said she misses the community feeling of the location at Château Rouge.

Sawa shoes can be purchased online as well as in person at 65, rue de Lancry. The other items in the store are not currently available on Sawa's Website.

Sawa Shoes
65, rue de Lancry
75010 Paris
Metro: Jacques Bonsergent (Line 5), République (Lines 3, 5, 8, 9, 11)
Internet: https://sawashoes.com

ECHO - Contemporary African Art at Duvivier Canapés

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Rosée I and II by Faten Rouissi and En-corps nb. 2 by Y. Touré
© Entrée to Black Paris

From May 11-31, 2023, the association Pour l’art pour l’Afrique presented the third edition of Traverses Africaines (African Crossings) - an event through which the public was invited to meet artists and view works from the African continent and its diaspora at 29 galleries around Paris.

As part of this program, La Galerie Africaine mounted an exhibition called ECHO in collaboration with Duvivier Canapés in the 6th arrondissement. It is ongoing through August 31, 2023, and it is well worth the time you might take to visit it.

Unlike traditional gallery shows, where works of art are shown adjacent to each other, this show displays works in rooms that showcase Duvivier's beautiful sofas and chairs. It feels like you've walked into a luxurious home!

Works by T. Konte, Zian Alabdeen, and Y. Touré
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bronze sculptures by H. Yameogo; paintings by Faten Rouissi
© Entrée to Black Paris

Migrations
Zian Alabdeen
Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Freedom (wall art) by N'Dorah and La famille en cheval by Ib. Guiré
© Entrée to Black Paris

Wooden sculptures; paintings by Faten Rouissi and Zian Alabdeen
© Entrée to Black Paris

A la recherche de la liberté
Zian Alabdeen
Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Portraits by Camara Gueye
Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

The artists whose work is being shown in ECHO are the following (in alphabetical order):

I. Zian Alabdeen - Sudan
Mamadou Fayé - Senegal
Camara Gueye - Senegal
T. Konte - Senegal
Yao Metsoko - Togo
N'Dorah - France/Cameroon
Faten Rouissi - Tunisia
Karim Tapsoba - Burkina Faso

and several master bronze smiths of Burkina Faso:

M. Bilgo
Is. Boukoungou
A. Démé
Is. Dermé
Is. Gandema
M. Guira
Ib. Guiré
Y. Touré
H. Yameogo

Three artists are featured in the show.

Faten Rouissi was born in 1967 in Tunis. Her work takes her around the world, from Carthage, where she has her studio, to the U.S., Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, and several European countries. Galerist Aude Minart of La Galerie Africaine selected several of Rouissi's bold, bright acrylic paintings for ECHO.

Entre mer et ciel
Faten Rouissi
Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Yao Metsoko's work is frequently featured in shows mounted by La Galerie Africaine. For ECHO, Aude Minart selected two paintings that portray the Zem motorcycle taxis that are abundant in Benin and Togo. (The word "zemidjan" means "take me away quickly" in the Fon language.) Because many accidents and deaths result from using this form of transportation, Metsoko is using these paintings as a colorful and humorous way to call attention to the dangers associated with them.

Zem nb. 8 and Zem nb. 3
Yao Metsoko
Acrylic on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Zian Alabdeen was born in 1969 in Khartoum. At the age of 17, he encountered the lifestyle and music of the nomadic people of Berta when he exhibited for the first time in a city located south of the Blue Nile. Their archaic writings and use of animals to express their feelings have influenced his work ever since.

Migrations (close up)
Zian Alabdeen
Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Stop by Duvivier Canapés from Monday through Saturday between 10:30 AM and 7 PM, or contact Aude Minart at audeminart@hotmail.com or 06.60.24.06.26 to set up an appointment to see ECHO.

Showroom Duvivier Canapés
27, rue Mazarine
75006 Paris
Metro: Odéon (Lines 4 and 10)

25 Years of Regards Noirs - Photo Portraits of Black Celebrities

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Photo portrait of Carole Denise Fredericks and artist commentary
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the evening of Saturday, June 3, 2023, a diverse group of visitors to Little Africa Village gathered to listen to photographer Henry Roy tell the story of Regards Noirs, an extraordinary coffee-table-style book of Black portraits published in 1996 as a way to fill the void of positive representation of Afro-descendant people in France.

Regards Noir book cover
© Entrée to Black Paris

This event followed on the heels of the May 31 opening of 25 Years of Regards Noirs, an exhibition of a selection of photos from the book, which doubled as the final reception for the Black Portraiture[s] conference held at NYU and the Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac on May 29-30, 2023.

During Saturday's event, Roy told the audience how he and his family moved to France from Haïti, how he only saw crude, stereotypical images of blacks as he grew up in the 1970s and 80s, and how young Afro-French people had no positive reference other than “white” with which to identify, except for a few rare athletes and musicians. When he undertook the project that would become Regards Noirs, he felt it was important not to limit himself to photographing people in these fields. So, he reached out to intellectuals, scientists, artists, and others to present renowned people with a wide range of expertise.

In written commentary that presented his motivation for producing Regards Noirs, Roy talks about the damaging effect that the concept of universalism - which does not recognize race or religious affiliation as valid ways of identifying France's population - has had on French society. He says that while this "denial" was put into place for good reasons, the ultimate effect has been to make Black French people constitutionally invisible, even as they are stigmatized.

Henry Roy addresses the audience
© Entrée to Black Paris

Henry Roy
© Entrée to Black Paris

After speaking and answering questions for roughly half an hour, everyone descended to the lower floor to view the exhibition of splendid photos.

Roy's French-language commentary about the making of Regards Noirs is displayed on three walls in the exhibition.

Artist commentary and photo portraits
© Entrée to Black Paris

Photo portraits
© Entrée to Black Paris

Portraits of Donald Caldwell and Manu Dibango
© Entrée to Black Paris

The portraits and books are available for purchase.

25 Years of Regards Noirs will be on display through August 2, 2023. For more information, contact Patrick Banks at Little Africa Village.

Little Africa Village
6 bis, rue des Gardes
75018 Paris
Metro: Barbès-Rochechouart (Lines 2 and 4)
Internet: https://littleafrica.fr
Email: hello@littleafrica.fr

Henry Roy and Carol Denise Fredericks
© Entrée to Black Paris

Black Portraiture[s] Returns to Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: NYU - Black Portraiture[s] signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Ten years ago, the first Black Portraiture[s] conference took place in Paris.

Flier for first Black Portrature[s] conference

This event paved the way for six additional conferences of the same name, held over the years in the U.S., Italy, Canada (virtually) and South Africa, that have explored the representation of Black people in the arts from numerous perspectives. Themes presented include "The Color of Silence," "Memory and the Archive," and "Blackness as Absent/ed Presence."

Thousands of scholars, artists, and activists from around the world attended or participated in lectures, round tables, screenings, and other activities at these meetings.

Having missed the inaugural conference in January 2013, I was determined to attend this year's event.

It did not disappoint!

Power by Alexis Peskine - 2017 (detail)
Image from Black Portraiture[s] Website

The two-day conference opened at NYU Paris at midday on Monday, May 29. Panel discussions on "Black Film," "The Politics of Pleasure," and "The Myth: Black Women Unflattened" captured the imaginations of the largely female audience of ~200 people.

Title slide from one of the "Black Film" presentations
© Entrée to Black Paris

Audience at NYU
© Entrée to Black Paris

This was followed by screenings of excerpts of two films - a science fiction/gaming video by Ayoka Chenzira and a documentary about Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor - and a full screening of Rokhaya Diallo's Où Sont les Noirs. The latter production presented several viewpoints on the relative dearth of opportunities for Black people in French film and television.

An opening reception brought attendees together on the 8th floor of the NYU building, where fabulous weather, finger foods, and wine and soft drinks eased attendees into lively conversation and set the tone for the remainder of the conference.

Audience at NYU
© Entrée to Black Paris

Monique Y. Wells at NYU reception
© Jordan Walls
Morehouse College

The following day, the conference convened at 9:30 AM at the magnificent Théâtre Claude Levi-Strauss at the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac.

Signage at Théâtre Claude Levi-Strauss
© Entrée to Black Paris

The day began with an inspiring keynote conversation between artists Amy Sherald (creator of the portrait of Michelle Obama) and Raphaël Barontini (whose work I encountered for the first time at the Studio des Acacias art gallery in Paris in 2021).

Paris galerist Mariane Ibrahim introduced the two artists (her gallery hosted the reception at the end of the second day of activity), and Professor Cheryl Finley, Inaugural Director of the Atlanta University Center Art History & Curatorial Studies Collective, moderated the discussion.

Keynote panel and image of Michelle Obama portrait
© Entrée to Black Paris

Amy Sherald
© Entrée to Black Paris

Raphaël Barontini
© Entrée to Black Paris

This was followed by a morning of parallel sessions that explored "The Act of Portraiture," "Writers from the Diaspora," "Contemporary Voices (for artists)," and "The Black Paris Archive: Interrogating Colonialist Visual Culture in Public Space."

Title slide from one of the "Contemporary Voices" presentations
© Entrée to Black Paris

Alexis Peskine, creator of the artwork that is featured on the advertisements for the conference, was a panelist for the this discussion.

Alexis Peskine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Afternoon sessions were split between panel discussions called "Le Grand Duc: Charleston, Chitlins, and Champagne," "Black Curators Matter," and "Black Paris," and full-length screenings of AI: African Intelligence by Manthia Diawara and Saint Omer by Alice Diop.

Throughout both days of the event, praise was continually heaped on Professor Deborah Willis, Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging and Director of the Center for Black Visual Culture at NYU, for her vision and leadership in creating and hosting the conferences over the years.

Dr. Deborah Willis
© Entrée to Black Paris

Students from NYU Abu Dhabi, Morehouse and Spelman, and other schools were bathed not only in the rich and varied exchanges from the conference sessions, but also in multiple opportunities to meet and converse with some of the most preeminent scholars in their fields.

Little Africa Village, the cultural and touristic agency that provides opportunities to discover the best of African culture in Paris, hosted the closing reception on the evening of Wednesday, May 31 in conjunction with the opening of a photography exhibition featuring works from Henry Roy's publication entitled Regards Noir.

May 23 - France's Day to Remember the Victims of Slavery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 25 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Limyè Ba Yo - stage banner
© Entrée to Black Paris

Earlier this week, I attended a Limyè Ba Yo (Light on our Ancestors) event for the first time. It was held on Tuesday, May 23 in commemoration of the victims of slavery in France.

May 23 became the official date for this commemoration* on May 2, 2008, when an announcement was published in the Journal Officiel de la République Française. Part of the text of this announcement reads as follows (paraphrased):

"For associations that bring together France's citizens from overseas departments, May 23 will be the date of the commemoration of the painful past of their ancestors that must not be forgotten."

This year's ceremony marked the 25th anniversary of the Silent March of May 23, 1998, during which ~40,000 people remembered their ancestors who suffered the slave trade and slavery in France's colonies of Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, and Reunion Island in a procession from Place de la République to Place de la Nation. The committee that organized the march (CM98) has undertaken genealogical research to uncover the names of the people enslaved in these colonies and publishes them each year.

The national ceremony took place in the gardens of the Ministry of Overseas Departments in the 7th arrondissement.

Crowd gathered for May 23 ceremony
© Entrée to Black Paris

Journalist Marie-Christine Ponnamalé served as the Mistress of Ceremonies.

Marie-Christine Ponnamalé
© Entrée to Black Paris

The event opened with speeches by Emmanuel Gordien, president of CM98; Romuald Fonkoua, president of the scientific council of the Fondation de la mémoire pour l'esclavage; Serge Romana of the Fondation Esclavage et Réconciliation, and Jean-François Carenco, Minister Delegate in charge of Overseas Departments.

Emmanuel Gordien
© Entrée to Black Paris

Romuald Fonkoua
© Entrée to Black Paris

Serge Romana
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jean-François Carenco
© Entrée to Black Paris

Representatives of these associations placed flowers in front of the Tree of Liberty, planted by then Minister of Overseas Departments Annick Girardin in the garden in 2018.

Tree of Liberty
© Entrée to Black Paris

Flowers at the base of the Tree of Liberty
© Entrée to Black Paris

Plaque at the base of the Tree of Liberty
© Entrée to Black Paris

MC Ponnamalé invited representatives of two families - one from Martinique and one from Guadeloupe - to place their flowers in front of the tree.

All the dignitaries who attended the event then lined up in front of the tree and the podium, and a minute of silence was observed.

As a magnificent a cappella group called Gospel Voices sang a powerful melody called "Pou Yo," the flowers placed in front of the tree were moved to the base of two panels that named ancestors who were enslaved in Martinique and Guadeloupe. Attendees from the general public were encouraged to place their own flowers at the base as well.

Gospel Voices
© Entrée to Black Paris

Placing flowers at the base of the name panels
© Entrée to Black Paris

Thirty-eight (38) additional plaques bearing names and locations in Martinique and Guadeloupe lined one of the sidewalks bordering the garden. Among them was a panel in English that explained the process of providing names to the newly liberated people of these two islands between 1848 and 1869.

English-language panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

After the ceremony, the crowd was treated to traditional/modern dance and musical entertainment.

Max DIAKOK et la Compagnie BOUKOUSOU
Videos © Entrée to Black Paris

CM98 had a large stand in the garden, where people could learn about having their family lineage investigated.

CM98 stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

Two organizations - Le Mabouya Caribbean Street Food and Instant Sucré Salé - provided food and liquid refreshment.

Le Mabouya by Tropiques Gourmets - food truck
© Entrée to Black Paris

Instant Sucré-Salé
© Entrée to Black Paris

The weather was fine (if a bit chilly), the ceremony was quite moving, and the entertainment was superb!

To learn more about the work of CM98, visit their Website (in French) at http://cm98.fr/.

*May 10 is the other official date that anchors the month of May as France's "Black History Month." It commemorates France's history of slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition.

Made in Africa: Style – Design – Fashion

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200

by Tom Reeves
Cover Image: Hortense Assaga with a handcrafted bag
© Entrée to Black Paris

Hortense Assaga, a Cameroonian-born writer and television journalist who lives in Paris, has produced a large-format book extolling the handicrafts of Africa and their creators.

Beautifully illustrated with glossy color photographs by Jean-Pierre Nakpane and Patrice Bondurand, Made in Africa amply demonstrates Assaga’s central thesis: that African handicraft workers are skillfully transforming recycled material into useful items that are not only practical to own and use but also handsome decorative objects.

Take, for example, the Macocotte, a large cooking pot made from recycled aluminum. When Assaga engaged a local craftsman in Douala to make one for her, he molded her name on its lid. That, he said, would prevent her pot from being stolen when she washed it after cooking and left it outside to dry. He also included the words “Obama 2009” on the lid, the year of Barack Obama’s first inauguration.

Hortense Assaga with cooking pot
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cooking pot by Amadou in Douala, Cameroon
© Entrée to Black Paris

Assaga is particularly proud of the bracelets that she purchased in Africa. Some are made from wood, others from recycled plastic. When she wears them, people often take them for high-fashion designer accessories.

Ebony bracelets from lower right - Mali - Senegal - Cameroon - Cameroon
Ring from Mali
© Entrée to Black Paris

The tote bags and baskets that she has brought back from Africa are made from new materials such as straw, rope, and bamboo, as well as from recycled material such as plastic, rubber and metal.

Hortense Assaga with tote bag from Zanzibar, Tanzania
© Entrée to Black Paris

Assaga declares that traditional African fabrics are being replaced by industrially-printed material imported from Asia or Europe. However, her book illustrates a number of locally-produced handwoven textiles and dyed fabrics. In this photograph, she poses wrapped in a cloth produced by the Dan, a population of Mande people from Liberia and the Ivory Coast.

Hortense Assaga with cloth from the Dan in Ivory Coast
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cloth from the Dan in Ivory Coast
© Entrée to Black Paris

Assaga’s enthusiasm for African handicrafts is inexhaustible. Her book illustrates baskets, cups and trays, pottery, utensils, textiles, jewelry, sandals, reverse-glass paintings, dolls, and small trunks among other items. She also pays homage to several craftsmen and craftswomen and reproduces photographs from some of the forty African countries that she has visited.

With its sumptuous photographs and evocative text, Made in Africa will stimulate readers' appreciation for creative artisanship from the African continent. Find it at the following Paris locations:

Librairie Présence Africaine
25 bis, rue des Ecoles
75005 Paris

Librairie-boutique du Musée du quai Branly
222 rue de l’Université
75007 Paris

Kate Mack Sustainable Fashion
15, rue Oberkampf
75011 Paris

Viper's Dream - A Novel by Jake Lamar

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Jake Lamar signing a copy of Viper's Dream
© Entrée to Black Paris

Four years ago, Jake Lamar granted Entrée to Black Paris an exclusive interview about his 10-episode radio drama entitled Viper's Dream. At the time, Lamar indicated that his novel of the same name would be published in French by Rivages Noir in 2020. Publication was delayed until 2021, and the novel was well received.

Viper's Dream has now been published in English. No Exit Press, an imprint of Bedford Square Publishers Ltd. in London, released the book last month. They are the first English-language house to publish Lamar's work since his novel Ghosts of Saint Michel was released by St. Martin's Minotaur in New York in 2006.

Lamar has been featured at two book signings in Paris since No Exit Press released Viper's Dream - one at The Red Wheelbarrow bookstore and one at the American Library in Paris.

I got to see him at the latter event, which took place on May 3, 2023.

Signage at the American Library
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lamar was interviewed by Marcus Bruce, Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies in the Religious Studies Department at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

Marcus Bruce (left) and Jake Lamar (right) being introduced to the audience
© Entrée to Black Paris

Watching the two men banter was heartwarming, and their exchange made the book come alive for those seated in the audience at the library as well as those who tuned in through Zoom.

Enraptured audience at the American Library
© Entrée to Black Paris

Bruce obviously loved Viper's Dream's protagonist, Clyde Morton - The Viper, citing times during his reading of the book when he was inspired to reflect on his own life as Morton struggled to write three wishes to be instantly granted, or when he willed Morton "not to go there" when he saw that Morton was falling hard for Yo-Yo, the young femme fatale of the novel.

Marcus Bruce holding a copy of Three Wishes
by Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Viper is one of the millions of African Americans who left the South for a better life, landing in Harlem in 1936 with the intent to become a jazz trumpeter. While his hopes of becoming a musician are dashed on his second day in town, he is immediately introduced to life in the fast lane and seduced by the effects of "Mexican loco weed."

Viper becomes a "principled gangster" who supplies marijuana to jazz men with the intent to heighten their creativity and performing ability while thoroughly disapproving of the destructive inroads that heroin carves in their community. His rise in the criminal world is swift, and we watch him negotiate life among the musicians he loves and the dealers he despises.

During the course of their conversation, Bruce engaged Lamar about the depth and breadth of U.S. history and culture woven into Viper's story. The Great Migration, World War II, jazz culture, and the multi-ethnic population of Manhattan all serve as backdrop for the plot, which takes place largely in Harlem.

Paris gets a nod in the book when Viper travels to the City of Light to make business arrangements for importing marijuana from Thailand into the States. He goes to a Saint-Germain jazz club and discovers Yo-Yo singing there. The two finally become romantically involved after all the years Viper has pined for her, and they return to the U.S. together.

But the lovers become star-crossed again. You'll have to read the book to find out how!

Bruce and Lamar spoke for about 45 minutes and Lamar responded to questions from the audience for an additional 15 minutes or so before moving to the reception area of the library to sign books.

Jake Lamar at book signing table
© Entrée to Black Paris

Conversation at the table was lively and sales were brisk.

Chatting and signing books
© Entrée to Black Paris

Viper's Dream is a quick and thoroughly enjoyable read. It is available for purchase at:

The Red Wheelbarrow
11 rue de Medicis and 9 rue de Medicis
75006 Paris
Telephone: 01.42.01.81.47.
Metro: Odéon (Lines 4 and 10), RER B (Luxembourg)
Internet: https://theredwheelbarrowbookstore.com/

The Flame of Equality

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 May 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Christiane Taubira, author of the Loi Taubira
Philippe Grangeaud - photographer
CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0

In compliance with the Law of May 21, 2001 (aka La Loi Taubira), which declares slavery and the slave trade crimes against humanity and decrees that France's involvement in slavery and the trade be taught in school, France's National Council for the Memory and History of Slavery (CNMHE) created the Flamme de l'égalité (Flame of Equality) competition in 2015.

This initiative is led by France's League of Education and supported by the Ministries of National Education, Interior and Overseas Departments, and Agriculture and Food Sovereignty as well as DILCRAH (Délégué interministériel à la lutte contre le racisme, l'antisémitisme et la haine anti-LGBT*) and FME (Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage**).

The competition invites students (aged 9-17) and teachers in elementary, middle, and high schools throughout France and its overseas departments to reflect on and develop projects that demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the history of slave trade and capture, the life of enslaved people and their struggles for abolition, their contemporary legacies, and more.

Participants are encouraged to engage external consultants to assist with these projects. (African-American Cheryl Ann Bolden, proprietor of the Precious Cargo Museum, is on the list of visual and plastic arts consultants.)

The competition invites students to write essays, assemble dossiers, or create video documentaries or interdisciplinary works that can include literary, graphic, theatrical, cinematographic, choreographic, musical, or other artistic components. A project can bring together a few students, an entire class, or several classes at an individual school.

Four pupils and a teacher from the educational team of each national winning group are invited to the national award ceremony organized on May 10, the National Day of Commemoration of the Slave Trade, Slavery and Their Abolition.*** Prizes are awarded in the presence of one or more representatives of the national government.

Classes that do not win an award receive a letter from the competition jury to thank them for their participation.

The winners of the 7th competition were recently announced by Minister of National Education and Youth, Pap N'diayé (see video below, in French).

This competition brought together more than 5,135 students enrolled in 178 establishments in mainland France and overseas, as well as in establishments of the AEFE network (Agency for French Education Abroad).

The theme for this competition was "Working in Slavery." The 302 projects submitted were evaluated locally in April 2022, and the works selected were valued by regional academic juries in May and June 2022. Between September and November, the national jury evaluated the work selected by the academic juries in order to create the national prize list. On November 6, 2022, the members of the national jury met in Paris to make their final deliberations and assign the prizes to be delivered on May 10, 2023.

Students and educators from winning schools are invited to attend this year's National Day of Commemoration ceremony to be held at the Luxembourg Garden in Paris.

The Luxembourg Garden ceremony is held in the space adjacent to the sculpture entitled Le Cri, L'écrit by Fabrice Hyber, which was inaugurated on May 10, 2007 (the second National Day of Commemoration) as a permanent reminder of the slave trade, slavery, and their abolition. This space is dedicated to France's formerly enslaved peoples.

Monique Y. Wells and Fabrice Hyber, creator of Le Cri, L'Ecrit
© Entrée to Black Paris

The first ceremony that honored winners of the La Flamme de l'égalité competition was held in 2015.

Christiane Taubira, author of the Loi Taubira
#POINTGOUV avec Christiane Taubira
March 14, 2013
Philippe Grangeaud - photographer
CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0

*Interministerial delegate for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred

**Foundation for the Memory of Slavery

***At the behest of the Comité pour la Memoire de l'Esclavage (Committee for the Memory of Slavery), May 10 was designated as the National Day of Commemoration of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and their Abolition in 2006. This date now punctuates a series of annual national and overseas commemorations that run from April 27 to June 10.

Africa Lyric's Opera - 2nd Annual Competition

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Award-winning African-American composer Cynthia Cozette-Lee
Image courtesy of Cynthia Cozette-Lee

I discovered Africa Lyric's Opera last year and was pleased to post an article about the organization's first lyrical music competition in April 2022.

To qualify to participate in the second edition of the competition, all applicants needed to be African, of African descent, or a citizen of an African nation. The twenty (20) amateur and 20 semi-professional (part time singers) participants who made it to the semi-finals performed before a prestigious jury at the Museum of Immigration History in the Palais de la Porte Dorée in the 12th arrondissement on April 13. Those selected for the final round of competition performed before the same jury at the Porte Dorée on April 15.

Flier for international singing competition

One of the two songs that the semi-professional finalists were required to sing was "The Wake" for voice and string orchestra (air imposé) by award-winning African-American classical music composer Cynthia Cozette-Lee.

This was the auspicious world premiere for “The Wake,” which was performed by each of the six finalists accompanied by the Orchestre Symphonique du Loiret under the direction of Maestro Mehdi Lougraïda.

Listen to an excerpt of the song HERE.

Lee learned about Africa Lyric's Opera a year ago through the Internet. After visiting the Website for this global initiative, she submitted "The Wake" for review and was pleased when it was accepted as a work to be performed during this year's competition.

When ETBP asked her to comment on this she said:

"It is a great honor to have my art song selected and performed by such talented singers with the distinguished Orchestre Symphonique du Loiret and superb conductor Mehdi Lougraïda. I am eager to see the video performance of the six opera singer finalists in the final category performing my entire art song 'The Wake.'"

Hazel Ann Lee, an award-winning lyricist and published author and poet, co-wrote the lyrics of the song with her sister, Cozette-Lee. The lyrics are based on an original poem called “The Wake” that Hazel Lee wrote after attending a funeral wake of a scientist colleague. Hazel Lee is the author of a book of science poems and science fiction stories entitled “The Astronaut’s Window: Collection of Poems and Short Stories Celebrating Nature.”

The winners of the 2nd Concours International de Chant des Grandes Voix Lyriques d'Afrique are listed below:

SEMI-PROFESSIONALS

1st prize - "Grand Prix" Africa Lyric’s Opera: Mariamielle Lamagat (soprano, Madagascar – 31 years old – 2000€)

2nd prize - Africa Lyric’s Opera - Fondation Orange: Aaron Casey Gould (tenor, USA – 30 years old – 1000€)

3rd prize - Génération Opéra: Monika Audrey Dongmo Mazanka , (soprano, Cameroon – 34 years old – 1000€)

Special prize Natalia Smalto: Aaron Casey Gould (tenor, USA – 30 years old – 1000€)

Special prize Mady Mesplé: Blaise Rantoanina (tenor, Madagascar – 37 years old – 500€)

Prize for the best interpretation of "The Wake" by composer Cynthia Cozette-Lee: Mariamielle Lamagat (soprano, Madagascar – 31 years old – 300€)

Public prize: Raphaële Green (mezzo-soprano, Congo – 35 years old – no monetary prize) and Blaise Rantoanina (tenor, Madagascar – 37 years old – no monetary prize)

AMATEURS

1st prize: Boris Mvuezolo Panzu (tenor, Congo – 26 years old – 600€)

2nd prize: Adoulou Bitang (baritone, Cameroon – 32 years old – 400€)

Young Hope (Jeune Esprit) prize: Victoria Lingock (mezzo-soprano, Cameroon – 26 years old – 500€ for tuition fees)

Prize for the best interpretation of the African language work by composer Godwin Saoh: Sonia Tchato Waton (soprano, Cameroon – 32 years old – 300€)

Public prize: Sonia Tchato Waton (soprano, Cameroon – 32 years old – no monetary prize)

All winners will appear in the Voix Lyriques d'Afrique concert tour in May that will include the Opéra Orchestre National at Montpellier, the Opéra Rouen de Normandie, and the Opera de Tours before returning to Paris for a final performance at the Palais de la Porte Dorée on May 31, 2023.

Fashion Designer Kate Mack - Up Close and Personal: Part 3

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Kate Mack at her rue Oberkampf boutique
© Entrée to Black Paris

This is the last installment of our exclusive interview with fashion designer Kate Mack.
Read Part 1 here.
Read Part 2 here.

What’s one of your proudest moments since opening your shop?

Undoubtedly, it is the acquisition of some of my designs by NMAAHC (National Museum of African American History and Culture) in Washington DC. I have been part of their permanent collection since they opened in 2016.

National Museum of African American History and Culture
2020 Frank Schulenburg
CC-BY-SA 4.0

I feel blessed to be part of such a meaningful place and the Smithsonian Institution in general. It’s a mind blowing achievement coming from where I do, being a French designer, and knowing how I made my way to fashion. It’s a great reward for being persistent and determined, and I can only advocate for more of this in the future.

Kate Mack design acquired by NMAAHC
Image courtesy of the designer

Where do you see yourself and your brand in 10 years?

1) Going global after getting back on track regarding exports after being deprived of this due to attacks on my business,

and

2) Creating a fashion house run by a Black person…

How do you think being a Black designer in Paris has impacted your experience in the fashion world?

Greatly and sadly, at so many levels.

It has been difficult, with a lot of closed doors and obstacles. I can’t believe I’ve been lacking visibility and funding to make my brand a real success until now.

Even if we’re talking about culture, which most people think should be gathering open minded people, it’s obviously not the case in this world. Fashion is a very conservative field to evolve in and often times people make you feel like you don’t belong here.

I've even had shop visitors making me feel that way. I remember one telling me I show way too much boldness in keeping up with my activities.

Kate Mack boutique - façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

Artisanal fashion accessories displayed at Kate Mack
© Entrée to Black Paris

Although I have nothing but my faith and talent, some people were willing to crush me literally in ways I could never have thought of when I got started. Others will just ignore you as if they want to silence your contribution to fashion. And I’m not even talking about the constant lack of support.

Ironically I’ve received genuine validation from people and countries abroad who have hired me or invited me to their Fashion Week and fashion events as a representative of French fashion and Parisian style.

This quote from Michael Granger, a businessman I know, pretty much summarizes it all:

I give major credit to her [Kate] for the fortitude she has exhibited in keeping her independent business going, without the resources of the major brands and with a paucity of support in general.

Honestly, I thank God I’m so passionate about what I do and see it as a purpose!

Kate Mack
15, rue Oberkampf
75011 Paris
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12 PM-2 PM; 3 PM-8 PM
Metro: Oberkampf (Lines 5 and 9) or Filles du Calvaire (Line 8)

Fashion Designer Kate Mack - Up Close and Personal: Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Kate Mack at her rue Oberkampf boutique
© Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, we brought you Part 1 of our exclusive interview with Kate Mack, a Black French designer based in the Haut Marais in Paris' 11th arrondissement. Find a synopsis of Part 2 of the interview below.

From a self-taught designer to a professor, what do you think is something that aspiring fashion designers need to know?

I don’t really see myself as a professor - I see myself more as an educator.

I’m more like a catalyst and guide inviting students to tune out from their training for a while to experiment and connect with their natural flow and resources to enhance their creativity.

Kate Mack
Image courtesy of Kate Mack

Overtime, I've noticed that many of my interns were blocked in their creative process - they felt inadequate whenever they were confronted with something new and didn’t know how to do it. Also, their designs resembled each other because they were following too closely the general guidelines that they'd been taught. This destroyed their personal creativity.

Students in fashion have to differentiate themselves to get attention and cultivate their wealth. The best way to do so is to experiment outside of the common teachings they receive, do research, and be very curious. There are inspirations for fashion designs in everything, somehow one has just to stay open and have a wandering eye to imagine and create.

I think aspiring designers have to make a conscious effort to cultivate their inner world aka inner self by being extremely curious, exploring, and experimenting as much as possible. Mastering techniques can be good and necessary, but you also have to feed yourself with aesthetics and content that have impacted you personally or you’re drawn to naturally. That’s how you build a sense of true self and get very personal in the expression of your creativity.

EthnikCoat by Kate Mack
Image courtesy of the designer

When you accomplish this, you are then in a position to bring something new to the table that will inspire and impact others.

Where do you think traditional schooling differs from a more intuitive approach?

Because it’s didactic, traditional schooling can shrink or compromise a person’s creativity - especially if it is not aligned with your natural flow and perspective.

The common belief that being taught something enables you to do things also compromises your initiatives that will in turn negatively impact your ability to find resources to create solutions for issues that arise.

The intuitive approach allows you to actually learn new techniques with enjoyment and detachment regarding the final result and teaches you to progress confidently and trust the process. That's what I "preach" and encourage via this practice. When I see a course attendee get stuck, I invite the person to draw away from the mind and let intuition kick in.

This exercise works because it's the mind that creates the blockage in the first place. It’s extremely empowering - people feel potent and capable and leave with a sense of self-confidence. I think it’s a great tool to build or rebuild self-confidence and self-esteem while discovering your inner potential through a joyful experience.

And because it’s a joyful ride most of the time, the tricks and techniques the participants get to discover are very well understood and more profoundly acquired. It’s a very effective learning technique, and it proves that joy plus experimentation equals knowledge…

This type of experimentation, just like the moulage technique, provides invaluable knowledge about fabrics. It is a sure way to understand their properties and behaviors. Practicing regularly with different fabrics guarantees a real understanding of them and generates an expertise that helps you stand out as a stylist, designer, and/or pattern maker.

Intuitive Design Courses
Collage courtesy of Kate Mack

I open my Intuitive Design courses to students in fashion and costume design but also to people who don't know anything about sewing as a self-help and mental health practice.

Come back next week for the last installment of our interview with fashion designer Kate Mack!

Kate Mack
15, rue Oberkampf
75011 Paris
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12 PM-2 PM; 3 PM-8 PM
Metro: Oberkampf (Lines 5 and 9) or Filles du Calvaire (Line 8)

Fashion Designer Kate Mack - Up Close and Personal: Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Kate Mack at her rue Oberkampf boutique
© Entrée to Black Paris

Kate Mack is a Black French designer based in the Haut Marais in Paris' 11th arrondissement. She has cultivated a space that looks at clothes as a sculptural extension of the body. Since 2001, she has created countless “made to order” pieces that cultivate uniqueness and sustainability - a symbiosis of luxury and ethics that is rarely found in the fashion world.

Wells International Foundation intern Anisa Williams, who is a sophomore majoring in fashion design at Parsons Paris, interviewed Mack for African Diaspora Cultural Impact in Paris (ADCI Paris). Find a synopsis of Part 1 of our exclusive interview below.

What does sustainability mean to you and your brand?

Sustainability for me is first and foremost a way of living, a lifestyle!

I’m putting an emphasis on this because lately a lot of people use the word loosely and look at it as some sort of trend.

Truth is, I was raised in a very modest household that taught me to make the most of what I have, treasure things and make them last. I saw my parents always investing in durable things, also operating in a "DIY" mentality. Everything about my brand is intricately connected to who I am and what I believe in.

I take a very intuitive and organic approach to sustainability in accordance with my holistic approach to life. Extensive dialog over time with my people (I'm referring to "people" rather than "clients" to indicate the degree of intimacy that has been developed with most of them) has allowed me to calibrate my collections accordingly and feel what matters most to them. I align my work with the people who come to me, the behavior and properties of the fabric that I use, and what I feel the market needs or is leaning toward.

In short, I center my work on the true nature of human beings - which, when it comes to fashion design, is the human body, its soul, and its personality.”

Kate Mack design - dress in linen and rami
Image courtesy of the designer

When it comes to production, I focus on the sound and effective use of resources.

I work with remnant stocks from the big fashion houses, and I "upcycle" and repurpose my production wastes. Ninety-five percent (95%) of the fabrics I use are locally sourced or come from areas close to the production site or point of sale. (Only for unequaled quality or educational and awareness purposes would I derogate from the rule and feed an avoidable increase in carbon footprint.)

All of this translates to my brand as made to order/made on demand fashion with a concrete “no” to over production.

I create all-inclusive fashion, with 90% of designs made to measure to fit an actual body with all its diversity and match the personality of the wearer.

I constantly advocate for self awareness, mental health and consciousness, and I work almost exclusively with like minded people and entities.

My business will become part of the Beconomy label (a label equivalent to B Corp that concerns and gathers small businesses whereas B Corp gathers corporations) as soon as possible. B Corp and Beconomy list businesses that have environmental and social preoccupations and try to have or develop the most sustainable practices.

How do you think you approach design differently than other brands?

In many ways.

Altogether, I think I’m a UFO in the fashion world, except I’m not flying and am not an object!

More seriously, my personality and approach are very different to what people are used to or expect from a fashion designer.

For one, I’m selfless and humble and able to see what I design as a mere proposal, not science or a diktat.

From that stance, I open up to people and their needs readily without friction to my ego. I’m dedicated to transforming my designs to provide the best fit possible for the person, and I have the capacity to adapt to a person’s needs and way of expression. I have the will to tune into people‘s expectations as much as possible.

To be clear though, what I do is not really unique - it's more my understanding and choice to do and process things that are different.

I’m pragmatic and a free thinker, so I open up to things. I observe a lot and listen.

The way I approach design is mostly sensitive, intuitive and organic. As said before I put the person - the body - in the center of my creative process.

I don’t draw. Rather, I visualize my designs or let them take shape in the making. I’m not keen on flat design at all, nor using fashion design applications. I believe in moulage (molding) instead - I like to work in 3D.

Typically I do moulage first, then work flat, then proceed to pattern. I may repeat the process after new fittings for corrections and adjustments to improve the cut, if necessary.

Illustration from wiki"How to Drape Fabric for Fashion Design"
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Outside of being empowering and liberating, proceeding organically in the design process is a great way to innovate. You get to be resourceful and imaginative and create something out of the blue, limited only by the behavior of the fabric you’re working with or the pieces you have in hand when upcycling.

Here's another way to look at this:

Intuitive design is a "think-outside-the-box" method that allows you to tap into your inner resources (which you may not have known you had!) and let what comes through you flow out and guide you into realizing something unexpected. When you’re forced to dig down into your capacity to adapt and humble yourself in front of the fabric or the body type you have to dress, you gain valuable knowledge and build an expertise that will improve your fashion design ideas and constructions.

Outside of having access to new technologies or textiles, I think this is a royal way to innovate because adaptation to circumstances is what gets you in tune with physical reality and resourcefulness and is the best way to get creative. It’s this interactive position that makes the creative process more fluid, fruitful and pertinent as well as empowering.

I label my fashion designs as wearable art because handmade fashion and craftsmanship are art to me. Labeling textile designs as Art is a call to remind people that this is something that ultimately requires human skills and natural resources. Therefore it has to be valued, not consumed avidly and thrown away like nothing.

Wearable art dealer is how I consider myself and how I want people to view my work as well as the work of the other artisan designers that I showcase.

Kate Mack cowl design
© Entrée to Black Paris

Kate Mack cowl design
Image courtesy of the designer

From the beginning, I chose to develop my brand as a handmade bespoke fashion line to ultimately help people express their difference. I offer value-added services most people shy away from in order to propose fashions that respond to a person globally (figure and personality, religious habits, etc.). Importantly, I decided to offer this Made4You service at no extravagant cost.

For more impact, I made a deliberate choice to exclusively provide wearable designs that respond to any “problem” women have. I view dressing as a strategic game you play to enhance what you like about yourself and hide or tune out what you dislike. It is an asset that allows you to express your true self - who you are and how you feel.

When you think about the fact that happy people interact better with others, that's something you want to participate in. The motto attached to my brand since Day One is “Be yourself, nobody else!” I want people to value, embrace and celebrate their uniqueness as if their happiness depends on it!

Truth is, it does!

Come back next week for Part 2 of "Fashion Designer Kate Mack - Up Close and Personal"!

Kate Mack
15, rue Oberkampf
75011 Paris
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 12 PM-2 PM; 3 PM-8 PM
Metro: Oberkampf (Lines 5 and 9) or Filles du Calvaire (Line 8)

La Maison Baldwin Turns a Page

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Tara Phillips - Executive Director of La Maison Baldwin
Image courtesy of Tara Phillips

I first met Tara Phillips in April 2016, when she contacted Entrée to Black Paris (ETBP) to inquire about walking tours and activities for students she was bringing to Paris from La Cima Elementary Charter School in Brooklyn. We told Phillips that we considered the material we presented on our walks to be suitable for youth aged 14 and above, and she immediately responded to advocate for the maturity of the 11- and 12-year-old students who had been selected to make the trip.

We ended up providing our Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden walk for La Cima for three consecutive years, and we also organized a magnificent gourmet cooking class for the last group of students we served before the pandemic.

Phillips and I talked when she was pursuing her Executive Masters Degree at HEC and preparing to embark on her "MOM"bbatical in Paris (read her excellent blog HERE). After that conversation, we lost touch for several years.

Then, lo and behold, I received an email message from her earlier this week announcing that she is now serving as executive director of La Maison Baldwin (LMB) – the French non-profit association that was founded in 2016 to honor and celebrate Baldwin’s legacy in the southern French town of Saint-Paul de Vence.

Morning Light on Saint Paul de Vence
Dynamosquito - July 2009
CC-BY-SA-2.0

She informed me that LMB is organizing a writer's conference in Paris this summer and inquired about ETBP's availability for involvement.

I realized that I had received messages from La Maison Baldwin that had gone unopened or were barely skimmed, so I found them and read about the transition of leadership from Founder Shannon Cain to Phillips.

LMB's current aim is to cultivate and support Black artists in residence in the south of France. The organization will benefit from Phillips' considerable experience and expertise in the social sector, where she has served for the past 28 years as a teacher, executive director, development director and a national program director.

Most importantly, it will benefit from the relationship that Phillips is building with the Baldwin family, which has been at odds with LMB since its inception.

The theme of the Summer 2023 writer's conference is "Our Creativity Is Our Liberation." The goal is to honor the path for creative expression through writing paved by Baldwin himself and "support and cultivate the creativity and liberation of artists who seek to be seen and heard."

In anticipation of the James Baldwin Centenary in 2024, LMB is partnering with Harlem-based, Emmy-award winning filmmaker Lance Cain (no relation to LMB's former founder) to document writers' testimonies and works that reflect and articulate James Baldwin's influence and inspiration and show the resulting film at various venues in celebration of Baldwin's birthday during the coming year.

To learn more about the conference and to register, click HERE.

To learn more about LMB Executive Director Tara Phillips, click HERE.

Senghor and the Arts

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Advertisement for Senghor and the Arts

Léopold Sedar Senghor was an integral part of the Negritude movement that galvanized Black pride in the Francophone world in the 1930s. He was a prolific poet who contributed to the founding of Présence Africaine, the iconic bookstore in the 5th arrondissement. He led the independence movement in Senegal and served as the country's first president from 1960 to 1980.

The Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac is offering a unique opportunity to critically examine the cultural policies and diplomacy set forth by Senghor during his presidency. In six sections, Senghor and the Arts - Re-inventing Universalism presents Senegal's major achievements in the visual and performing arts under Senghor's term.

Section One of the exhibition explores the first World Festival of Negro Arts, held in Dakar in 1966. This was the fruit of the recommendation made during the second Congress of Black Artists and Writers (organized in Rome by the Présence Africaine in 1959) to organize an event on African soil that would showcase African songs, dance, theater and visual arts. Festival events included the Art Nègre exhibition mounted through a collaboration between UNESCO and France, which was shown first at the Musée Dynamique in Dakar and subsequently at the Grand Palais in Paris.

Stamp issued by Congo (Brazzaville) during the World Festival of Negro Arts
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Public domain

Section Two looks at the creation of the School of Arts of Dakar in 1960, the Daniel Sorano National Theater in 1965 and the Manufacture National Tapestry of Senegal in Thiès in 1966.

Section Three presents Senghor's redefining of "universalism" in a cultural context:

« Il s’agit que tous ensemble – tous les continents, races et nations -, nous construisions la Civilisation de l’Universel, où chaque civilisation différente apportera ses valeurs les plus créatrices parce que les plus complémentaires ». ("It is about everyone - all continents, races and nations - building the Civilization of the Universal, to which each different civilization will bring its most creative values because [they are] the most complementary.")

Section Four explores Senghor's cultural diplomacy. He considered Senegal's artists as cultural ambassadors, and he encouraged presentations of Senegalese artists and art forms as diplomatic acts. Three events evoked in this part of the exhibition are the Parisian version of the exhibition L’Art nègre. Sources, evolution, expansion presented at the Grand Palais in 1966, the performance of Macbeth by the national theater troupe at the Odéon Theater on March 3, 1969 and the Senegalese Art Today exhibition shown at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1974.

Section Five presents elements of Senegalese opposition to Senghor's arts philosophy and policies.

And Section Six examines what is perhaps the ultimate legacy of Senghor's cultural vision - the Museum of Black Civilizations, which opened in Dakar in 2018.

Graphic representing the Museum of Black Civilizations
Source: mcndakar

Senghor and the Arts opened on February 7, 2023 and will run through November 19, 2023. For information and to purchase tickets, click HERE.

A Lovely Afternoon at the Fair

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Caramelized mango dessert demonstration
© Entrée to Black Paris

On March 1, Tom and I went to the Parc des Expositions to attend the 2023 edition of the Salon de l'Agriculture (International Agricultural Fair). Showcasing livestock, agricultural products and regional and international gastronomy, the salon has been a major event for over 50 years.

Tom wanted to see if he could find some Guadeloupean coffee beans, so we headed straight for the hall for overseas markets.

Hall 5.2 - Products from overseas department and international vendors
© Entrée to Black Paris

We arrived in the middle of lunch hour and found the place to be jam packed with people. Guadeloupe had reserved a large area at the front of the hall, so we didn't need to go far to look for the coffee Tom anticipated purchasing.

Guadeloupe section
© Entrée to Black Paris

Alas, there was none to be found.

We decided to walk around the entire hall to see if anyone else was selling whole coffee beans. We passed the zones reserved for French departments and collectivities including Guyane, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Reunion Island, and of course, Martinique.

We were amazed at the number of food stands that were selling bokit, the Guadelopean sandwich.

Case Créole
© Entrée to Black Paris

List of bokit options at food stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

A Reunion Island "restaurant" laid out a beautiful display of traditional creole dishes that hungry attendees would have difficulty resisting.

Creole cuisine
© Entrée to Black Paris

We were surprised to find enclosures of live animals near the rear of the hall. Dromedary camels, yaks, dwarf zebu, and Watusi cattle ate, slept, or watched the people who crowded around their pens to observe them.

Mother and baby camel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Watusi
© Entrée to Black Paris

We happened by a cooking demonstration of products from Reunion Island and were able to sample a caramelized mango dessert that was prepared before our eyes.

Caramelized mango dessert - preparation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Caramelized mango dessert - finished product
© Entrée to Black Paris

There were scores of vendors selling rum and fruits, and a few that were selling vanilla.

A couple of stands sold sorbets prepared on the premises.

Créolita Sorbet stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

Sorbet makers
© Entrée to Black Paris

A company called Zabbaan was selling equitable commerce juices, jams, and teas from Africa.

Zabbaan stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

We were surprised to see stands selling cosmetics and personal care products.

Organic cosmetics
© Entrée to Black Paris

Personal care products
© Entrée to Black Paris

When we finally got back to the front of the hall, we still had not found any coffee beans. It was late enough that we were able to find empty space at the bar of a Martinican food stand so we could sit down and eat.

Martinican food stand
© Entrée to Black Paris

We enjoyed a meal there and resumed our search.

There remained one aisle that we had not explored, so we decided to walk its length in the hope of finding some coffee. We were just in time to see a performance by dancers from Wallis and Futuna.

Wallis and Futuna performance
© Entrée to Black Paris

There were so many people watching that we moved to the neighboring stand, which sold products from Mayotte. The people manning this stand were just as enthralled by the performance as was the public.

Mayotte representatives watching performance
© Entrée to Black Paris

It was at this stand that we found coffee beans. Tom happily bought them (even though they were not from Guadeloupe), and he also purchased a chocolate bar for good measure. The attendant was careful to point out that even though the chocolate had been made in Mayotte, the cocoa beans had come from Madagascar.

We were so tired from our visit that we forgot to photograph the coffee and chocolate at the stand, so we did so when we got home.

Coffee beans and chocolate bar
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Salon de l'Agriculture closed on March 5. For those interested in going to next year's event, mark your calendars for February 24-March 3, 2024!

Black Is Beautiful Has Come to Paris - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: The Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles: The French Connection Part I, #4 (detail)
© Faith Ringgold
1991 Acrylic on canvas and printed and dyed fabric
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Last week, I presented the first half of Black Is Beautiful in Part 1 of this blog post.

Today, I'll walk you through the second half of this phenomenal show.

We begin with Ringgold's tankas - works inspired by Tibetan and Nepalese cloth paintings. Ringgold discovered this art form during a trip to Europe in 1971, when she visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

On the left wall of the fourth room of the exhibition, three works from the Coming from Jones Road series present words by and images of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman.

Observing Coming to Jones Road tankas
© Entrée to Black Paris

On the right wall, you will see Echoes of Harlem, the first quilt that Ringgold created in collaboration with her mother.

Echoes of Harlem
© Faith Ringgold
1980 Hand-painted cotton
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

At the rear, three haunting tankas from a 19-work series speak to the horrors of slave rape.

Slave Rape #2: Run You Might Get Away
© Faith Ringgold
1974 Oil on canvas with fabric borders
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Displayed in the following room are six story quilts - two from The Bitter Nest series and four from The French Collection series.

The Bitter Nest is a five-part fictional tale that Ringgold wrote to communicate her experiences with her two daughters. This story quilt series is less well known than the twelve-part The French Collection, which tells the fictional story of a young African-American woman who recounts her life in Paris in letters that she writes to her Aunt Melissa at home.

For both series, Ringgold presents the story on long rectangular patches of fabric that are sewn into the body of each quilt. The patches serve as a border of sorts, and you are forced to physically move from left to right and tiptoe and squat to read the enchanting story, while continually shifting your gaze to the center of the work to understand how the image relates to what you are reading.

The Bitter Nest Part 4, The Letter
© Faith Ringgold
1988 Acrylic on canvas with printed, dyed, and pieced fabroc
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The Bitter Nest Part 4, The Letter
(Story Panel 9 and part of Story Panel 10)
© Faith Ringgold
1988 Acrylic on canvas with printed, dyed, and pieced fabroc
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

My favorite work in this room is The Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles because Ringgold represents eight of the U.S.' most influential historical Black women in it. She presents their names in the black, white, and purple border of the quilt they have made. A lonely Vincent Van Gogh watches the scene from a distance.

The story patches for The Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles are sewn into the quilt above and below the image.

The Sunflowers Quilting Bee at Arles: The French Collection Part I, #4
© Faith Ringgold
1991 Acrylic on canvas with fabric borders
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The last room contains an installation called The Wake and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro (1975-1989). It represents a traveling, allegorical performance of the same name that Ringgold organized in response to the commemoration of the U.S. bicentennial:

We’re not going to celebrate that bicentennial because we weren’t free.
I’ll tell you what, we won’t celebrate, but let’s have a wake and resurrection.

~ Faith Ringgold

In this show, an African-American couple—Buba, who died of a drug overdose, and Bena, who died of grief—are resurrected in a better, more egalitarian world. The performance consisted of dances and declamations by masked students, gospel music, and recited excerpts from Dr. King's “I Have a Dream” speech.

The installation consists of five works from the Windows of the Wedding tanka series (the last such series created by Ringgold), four standing and two prone mixed-media figures, and flower pots.

The Wake and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro
© Faith Ringgold
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

A powerful selection of audio tracks accompanies this installation. You will hear Aretha Franklin singing "Amazing Grace" and "Mary, Don't You Weep," Ella Fitzgerald singing "My Man," and Lil Green singing "Why Don't You Do Right?". You will also hear an instrumental recording of "Pressure Cooker" by Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker.

After each song, you hear Dr. King speaking words from "I Have a Dream."

The Aretha Franklin recordings come from a live performance at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. I don't know that Ringgold could have chosen anything more fitting to set the tone for this installation.

To leave the exhibition, you must re-enter the French Collection room and exit it via the opening between Picasso's Studio and Le Café des Artistes.

Outside, you will find one final Faith Ringgold work - Tar Beach #2.

Observing Tar Beach #2
© Entrée to Black Paris

Created in 1990, it is one of 24 multicolored screen prints made from silk, cotton, and moiré synthetic fabric. It tells the story of Cassie, an eight-year-old girl who finds freedom in an imaginary flight above New York City.

Tar Beach #2 (details)
© Faith Ringgold
1990 Serigraph on silk with quilted fabric border
Images © Entrée to Black Paris

You will find a brief biography of Ringgold's life and samples of the exhibition catalog in a space behind Tar Beach #2. To purchase the catalog, you'll need to cross the vestibule of the museum to find the gift shop.

I was greatly impressed by the range of books relevant to the exhibition that the museum has stocked in addition to the catalog and Faith Ringgold swag they are offering for sale. There are several books about Angela Davis, the Black Panthers, and Rosa Parks. Children's books include a publication about Maya Angelou and two books written by Toni Morrison and her son, Slade.

All are in French.

Books about Angela Davis
© Entrée to Black Paris

Books about the Black Panthers
© Entrée to Black Paris

Book about Maya Angelou
© Entrée to Black Paris

Books by Toni & Slade Morrison
© Entrée to Black Paris

Black Is Beautiful is a must-see exhibition. It will be on display through July 2, 2023. If you're in Paris or if you're planning to visit between now and then, put this on your calendar!

Black Is Beautiful Has Come to Paris - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Entrance to Black Is Beautiful exhibition - oblique view
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

I didn’t want people to be able to look, and look away,
because a lot of people do that with art.
I want them to look and see.
I want to grab their eyes and hold them, because this is America.

~ Faith Ringgold

The self-quote above and five other self-quotes set the tone for what you will see in the rooms devoted to Black Is Beautiful - the Faith Ringgold exhibition that opened at the Musée Picasso on January 31, 2023.

Mounted in collaboration with the New Museum in NYC, it is the artist's first retrospective in Paris.

A few months ago I learned that this exhibition was coming to Paris, and I've been looking forward to seeing it ever since!

The Wells International Foundation (WIF) acknowledged Ringgold as its Legendary Artist for the COVID-19 PAGES: The Influence & Inspiration of Women exhibition it mounted in 2021 for all the reasons that her quotes relate in Black Is Beautiful. The nonprofit was proud to include her American People Series #16: Woman Looking in a Mirror, 1966 in its online show, and I was hoping to see the original work at the Picasso Museum.

Unfortunately, it is not part of Black Is Beautiful.

That was the only thing that disappointed me about this exhibition. From the moment I climbed the short flight of stairs to enter the first room of the show, I was mesmerized!

Entrance to Black Is Beautiful
© Entrée to Black Paris

You'll find Ringgold's self-portrait and a few of her early works in this room, as well as the introduction to the exhibition in French and English.

Reading opening information panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

Early Works #25: Self-portrait
© Faith Ringgold
1965 Oil on canvas
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

Three early works
© Entrée to Black Paris

I found the work entitled Uptight Negro, which can be inverted and still show a portrait of a man, to be especially interesting.

Early Works #22: Uptight Negro
© Faith Ringgold
1964 Oil on cardboard
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

The second room contains works from Ringgold's Black Light series, Black Power posters, and an oil painting from the American People series that presents a postage stamp composed of white, mixed-race, and black faces supported by a grid that says "White Power" and overwritten by the words "Black Power."

The People's Flag Show and The Judson 3
© Faith Ringgold
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

American People Series #19: U.S. Postage Stamp Commemorating the Advent of Black Power
© Faith Ringgold
1967 Oil on canvas
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

In reading about The People's Flag Show, an event held at the Judson Memorial Church in 1970 in NYC to protest legal restrictions on the use and display of the U.S. flag, I learned that Ringgold and two co-organizers/fellow artists (the Judson 3) were arrested and convicted of desecrating the flag because of the event. (The American Civil Liberties Union helped them get all charges dropped.)

Ringgold had painted the flag in various guises prior to The People's Flag Show and continued to do so afterward. Her quilt entitled The Flag is Bleeding #2: The American Collection #6 (1997) is part of the Black Is Beautiful exhibition.

The third room of the exhibition contains many works from the American People series and is dominated by American People Series #20: Die, the work that was inspired by Picasso's Guernica. A display case on the right side of this room contains photos and documents pertaining to Guernica.

American People Series #20: Die
© Faith Ringgold
1967 Oil on canvas
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

My favorite work in this room is a portrait of Charlayne Hunter-Gault entitled Study Now. She was one of the first two African Americans to enroll at the University of Georgia.

American People Series #10: Study Now
© Faith Ringgold
1964 Oil on canvas
Image © Entrée to Black Paris

To get to the next part of the exhibition, you need to re-enter Room 2, cross it, and exit it on the opposite side. You'll find yourself in a room containing works inspired by Tibetan and Nepalese cloth paintings called "thangka" or "tanka."

Come back to the blog next week to learn about these works, numerous story quilts, and the powerful installation that make up the last half of this amazing exhibition!

Claude McKay, from Harlem to Marseille

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Screenshot from Claude McKay, de Harlem à Marseille

On Wednesday, February 8, the American Embassy hosted a Black History Month event at the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Paris. It celebrated the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Claude McKay, writer and poet, in France.

Monique standing next to Claude McKay portrait at U.S. Ambassador's residence
© Entrée to Black Paris

Program
© Entrée to Black Paris

The main attraction of the evening was the screening of the documentary called Claude McKay, de Harlem à Marseille (Claude McKay, from Harlem to Marseille) by Matthieu Verdeil. The room filled quickly and completely in anticipation of the event.

Audience awaiting the beginning of the program
© Entrée to Black Paris

Mr. Verdeil was present that evening, and he addressed the audience after Ambassador Denise Campbell Bauer opened the evening with brief remarks. He informed the audience that an entire year of activities in honor of McKay - l'année KAY - is being sponsored by France's former Minister of Justice, Christiane Taubira.

Ambassador Denise Campbell Bauer at the podium
© Entrée to Black Paris

Director Matthieu Verdeil at the podium
© Entrée to Black Paris

The screening was preceded by a musical interlude and a reading from McKay's recently published Romance in Marseille by Lamine Diagne, who also features prominently in the film.

Musical interlude
© Entrée to Black Paris

Lamine Diagne reads from Romance in Marseille
© Entrée to Black Paris

Only about 30 minutes of the 1h20m film were shown that evening. Once the screening was complete, the audience was invited to partake of food, drink, and conversation at a convivial reception.

Reception crowd
© Entrée to Black Paris

During his opening remarks, Director Verdeil said that he would provide access to the entire film to anyone who sent him an email to ask for it. I did, and Verdeil responded with a password-protected link to the video file, which is housed on Vimeo.

I watched the documentary with interest and was grateful to be able to stop the video and replay parts where I didn't quite catch what was said or wanted to look more closely at an image of a piece of art, a photo or post card, or a frame in a movie that Verdeil skillfully employed to evoke the atmosphere of the geographic locations McKay visited during his European travels.

Claude McKay on a plane in Russia
Detail of photo shown in documentary
Fair Use claim

Lamine Diagne is an author, actor, and musician. Viewers hear his mellifluous voice throughout the documentary as he reads passages from McKay's novels Banjo as well as from his autobiography A Long Way from Home during a jam session with a band called Big Hop Swing and friends.

Frame from Claude McKay, de Harlem à Marseille
© Entrée to Black Paris

The film also features numerous scholars, musicians, and long time Marseille residents who comment chronologically on McKay's life and work, spending considerable time on his formative years in Jamaica, his eight years in the U.S., and the ten years he spent in Europe. Professor Jarrett Brown of Howard University reads from A Long Way from Home, and actor/rapper Ice T recites McKay's iconic poem "If We Must Die." (Ice T does not appear on camera.)

Professor Jarrett Brown of Howard University reads from A Long Way from Home
Screenshot from documentary
Fair Use claim

Less than four minutes are spent on McKay's time in Paris. Virtually no time is spent on his years in Morocco, his return to the U.S., and the last years of his life there.

About fifteen minutes before the end of the film, scholars introduce the subject of the use of the terms nègre, Negro, and the "N" word as they have been understood throughout the centuries.

Headline for announcement by the Comité de Défense de la Race Nègre
Detail of image shown in documentary
Fair Use claim

Dr. Issa Koné, a physician from Mali who immigrated to Marseille over 40 years ago, explains how he was confronted by his blackness when he arrived in France. He says he did not know that "black" (in terms of people) could be considered a homogeneous entity. He thought it natural to view someone from Senegal as different from someone from Jamaica and that a Jamaican would be considered different than an African American.

Dr. Issa Koné
Screenshot from documentary
Fair Use claim

Viewers then see a manuscript of McKay's that has been edited to replace the word "Negro" with "colored" or Afro Americans."

About ten minutes before the end of the film, scholars discuss the story line of Romance in Marseille (2020, Penguin Classics) and the reason his editor thought the manuscript was "too shocking to sell." (McKay graphically depicted multiple same-sex relationships in the book, which he began writing in 1929.)

About five minutes before the end of the film, Professor Brent Hayes Edwards of Columbia University states that McKay's Marseille novels "still feel relevant to me, perhaps even more relevant in the age of Black Lives Matter and the crisis around trans-Mediterranean migration."

I thoroughly enjoyed Claude McKay, de Harlem à Marseille. Having never visited Marseille, I will be sure to reference this film in preparation for my first trip there - whenever that may be!

Claude McKay, de Harlem à Marseille was made with the backing of the U.S. Consulate General in Marseille and Films du Soleil. It was released in 2021.

Le Kori Doré - Afro Cake Design

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Le Kori Doré - façade
© Entrée to Black Paris

When I first heard about Le Kori Doré last December, I made up my mind to make the trek out to Puteaux as soon as possible to see the owner's magnificent Afro Cake Designs myself.

I finally made my way there last Friday to have lunch, figuring that I would get a good look at the baked goods while there.

My plan worked beautifully!

This Afro-Caribbean tearoom is owned by Nafissatou Ndiaye (Nafy). She serves lunch every day. There is a regular menu as well as daily specials you can consult on Instagram. The plat du jour is posted on a sandwich board outside as well as on small slates inside the restaurant.

Le Kori Doré sandwich board
© Entrée to Black Paris

Upon entering, you will find a display case to your left and the dining room to the front and right. The display case containing twelve varieties of cupcake, each of which is dressed with a phenomenal Africa-inspired design that gives the business its name.

Le Kori Doré display case
© Entrée to Black Paris

The dining room is rather small, but the tables are well spaced and the area is bright and inviting.

Le Kori Doré dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Two niches on the right wall house examples of the multi-tiered cakes that Nafy creates.

Example of Afro Cake Design in rear niche
© Entrée to Black Paris

Example of Afro Cake Design in front niche
© Entrée to Black Paris

I opted to sit a the table for one next to the window.

Le Kori Doré dining room - table for one
© Entrée to Black Paris

Whenever I go to an African restaurant I haven't tried before, I order their bissap to compare it with others that I've tasted. I quite liked the one served at Le Kori Doré, and I was impressed with the glass straw that I received in my glass!

Bissap
© Entrée to Black Paris

I wanted to try several things on the menu - pastels and sweet potato fries (Afro tapas), bananes pesées et pikliz, kinkéliba infusion - but I decided to order beef mafé, which was one of the daily specials. I wasn't disappointed!

Mafé au boeuf
© Entrée to Black Paris

I ate most of this dish and took what I couldn't finish home with me. On a whim, I also ordered two servings of bokit poulet - the other plat du jour that day - for take-out with the intent to serve them for dinner that evening.

While I enjoyed my lunch, customers came in to order cakes and purchase gourmet items displayed on the left side of the restaurant. I noted the care with which Nafy spoke with them and showed them photos of possible designs for their cakes.

Nafy with a customer
© Entrée to Black Paris

I also took the time to peruse the merchandise she has displayed on shelving at the left rear of the room, on the counter next to the display case, and on the display case itself.

Teas, jams, powders, and more
© Entrée to Black Paris

Place settings and chocolate and hibiscus cubes for hot chocolate
© Entrée to Black Paris

Chocolate bars
© Entrée to Black Paris

Calebasse gourmande
© Entrée to Black Paris

And then, there were the cakes and cupcakes themselves. They are simply GORGEOUS!

Individually boxed cupcakes and cake boxed for client atop display case
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cake boxed for client
© Entrée to Black Paris

Individually boxed cupcake
© Entrée to Black Paris

I purchased a box of six cupcakes and took them home to serve after our dinner of bokit poulet, a Guadeloupean sandwich made from a flat bread that is fried and stuffed with morsels of chicken.

This dish came with sweet potato fries, so I was able to satisfy my desire to taste them after all.

Bokit poulet, sweet potato fries, and sauce
© Entrée to Black Paris

We enjoyed our sandwiches and fries, but we couldn't wait to tuck into the cupcakes.

Box of six Le Kori Doré cupcakes
© Entrée to Black Paris

Nafy makes chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with six types of filling:

guava and lime
raspberry and ginger
Ghanaian milk chocolate
bissap
passion fruit and mango
coconut and white chocolate

We tried a vanilla cupcake with guava and lime cupcake and a chocolate cupcake with raspberry and ginger that evening.

Vanilla cupcake with guava and lime filling
© Entrée to Black Paris

Vanilla cupcake with guava and lime filling - interior
© Entrée to Black Paris

Chocolate cupcake with raspberry and ginger filling
© Entrée to Black Paris

Chocolate cupcake with raspberry and ginger filling - interior
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom found the cupcakes to be exquisite. I liked them as well, but found that the beautiful icing was not as sweet or soft as I'd like.

Nafy launched her business using KissKissBankBank, a French crowdfunding platform. If you understand French, you can read her story HERE.

Puteaux is quite a distance from central Paris, but if you're at La Défense or the Bois de Boulogne, you can get there with relatively little difficulty. I would definitely go back to try additional Afro tapas and sample the teas and the hot chocolate sold there.

The tearoom is open from Tuesday through Friday from 10 AM to 7 PM and on Saturday from 11 AM to 8 PM.

Opening hours
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Kori Doré is located at 6, boulevard Richard Wallace in Puteaux. The nearest public transportation is the 175 bus, the stop for which is less than a 5-minute walk away.

Josephine, Mickaline, and Dior

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Noir est Beau - Josephine Baker 1
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

"The Dior spring-summer 2023 collection is guided by Josephine Baker, the African-American singer and dancer who arrived from the United Stats in the mid 1920s to the cosmopolitan city of Paris, which was a dream destination for artists, writers, and fashion designers."

This is the first sentence of Dior's online article about the "Craft of Thought" collection designed by creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri and revealed during Paris Fashion Week on January 23, 2023.

Josephine Baker-inspired fashions by Dior
Screenshot from Dior video

Chiuri called upon Mickalene Thomas to create the decor for the enormous temporary structure in the garden at the Rodin Museum, where the general public was invited to see the 2023 Spring-Summer Haute Couture fashion show. The tent remained open for viewing for several days afterward and was dismantled on January 30, 2023.

View of tent and the Dome church
© Entrée to Black Paris

Thomas, whose exhibition at the Musée de l'Orangerie coincided with this event, created what Dior called a "new pantheon of women, born out of a conversation dedicated to the importance of black and mixed-race female figures who have become exemplary by choosing to think and act differently." In her inimitable fashion, she created collage portraits of thirteen legendary black women that were printed on textiles and embroidered by the Chanakya ateliers and Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, India.

She calls the installation Noir est beau (Black is beautiful).

The women she honored are (in alphabetical order):

Josephine Baker
Diahann Carroll
Dorothy Dandridge
Marpessa Dawn
Ophelia DeVore
Lena Horne
Eartha Kitt
Donyale Luna
Josephine Premice
Hazel Scott
Nina Simone
Naomi Sims
Helen Williams

Josephine Baker was featured in three "extra large" works, one of which served as the frame for the passage through which models (almost half of whom were black or other women of color) entered the exhibition space.

At the opposite end of the space, an information panel presented Thomas' quote regarding her motivation for choosing these women for the project:

“The inspiration for the creative process developed through conversation about the importance of Black female role models that broke racial barriers by going against the grain and creating a new platform for many others. In choosing these thirteen phenomenal Black women, across continents, the consideration was to research a diverse and eclectic group of women with the odds set against them. In spaces that attempted to reject or impede their success, they persevered with confidence, elegance, beauty and talent. All of these Noir est beau have achieved and accomplished incredible feats that warrant this notable celebration with a brand like Dior.”

Thomas worked with Dior for the first time in 2020, when she was asked to reinterpret the iconic Dior bar jacket for the company's resort show in Morocco.

I visited the Rodin Museum to see the installation two days before it closed. Find images of the space below.

Views of the Dior Installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine Baker 2 (detail)
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

Marpessa Dawn
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

Eartha Kitt
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fabric and sequins
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

Donyale Luna
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

Nina Simone
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

Naomi Sims
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

The art is now part of the Dior Collection. While individual works may be shown at future events, the fashion house does not envision displaying them together again.

See a photo gallery of the Dior collection HERE.

***************

Sign the petition for Josephine to be honored at the
2024 Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards ceremonies:
HonorJosephineBaker.org

Mickalene Thomas' 1st Exhibition in France

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe avec Trois Femmes Noires avec Monet
2022 Mickalene Thomas
© Entrée to Black Paris

I had been forewarned that the exhibition entitled Mickalene Thomas : Avec Monet (Mickalene Thomas: with Monet) at the Musée de l'Orangerie might be disappointing.

Not because of the quality of the artist's work ...

... but rather, because of the small number of works displayed.

So when I went to the museum last Sunday, I was prepared.

Mickalene Thomas exhibition signage
© Entrée to Black Paris

Three of exhibition's works are on display in the ground floor anteroom for Monet's Water Lilies. This assures that they will be seen - they are not tucked away in an obscure corner of the museum.

A woman gazes at Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe: les trois femmes noires avec Monet
(Lunch on the Grass: Three Black Women with Monet)
2022 Mixed media on Dibond
© Entrée to Black Paris

A wall panel in French and English explains the significance of what the museum is calling Contemporary Counterpoint #9 to Monet's masterpieces.

Exhibition wall panel
© Entrée to Black Paris

These works are not small - Le jardin d'eau de Monet is 113.03 x 139.7 cm / 44.5 x 55 in, and the other works are comparable in size. Each is displayed on a separate wall, so it can receive the attention it deserves.

A group admires Le jardin d'eau de Monet (Monet's Water Garden)
2022 Mixed media on Dibond
© Entrée to Black Paris

Salle à manger et sofa avec Monet
(Dining room and sofa with Monet)
Mickalene Thomas
2022 Mixed media on Dibond
Photo © Entrée to Black Paris

The entrance to the elliptical rooms that house the Water Lilies is to the left of Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe avec Trois Femmes Noires (Lunch on the Grass: Three Black Women with Monet), so one could easily go directly from contemplating Thomas' strident, rhinestone-studded works into the chapel-like environment of the murals.

Instead, I chose to go downstairs to see the fourth piece of art that comprises Thomas' exhibition.

As I descended the stairs, I was shocked to see an enormous work by Thomas called La maison de Monet (Monet's House).

Occupying almost the entire wall opposite the stairway, it is impossible to ignore.

La maison de Monet (Monet's House)
2022 Mixed media on Dibond
© Entrée to Black Paris

La maison de Monet (Monet's House) - details
2022 Mixed media on Dibond
© Entrée to Black Paris

Just to the right of the staircase is a room in which Thomas' fifth work - a video installation called Me as Muse (2016) - is installed. I didn't know about this element of the exhibition before I arrived, so I was intrigued to find out what it was all about.

Entrance to Me as Muse
© Entrée to Black Paris

The walls of the room, which are decorated in a collage of garden scenes, and artificial flowers and lawn at floor level evoke Monet's garden at Giverny. The four-minute video is displayed on a grouping of 12 screens, making the presentation resemble a collage as well.

Room where Me as Muse is being shown
© Entrée to Black Paris

The visuals consist of abstract patterns, views of classical paintings of reclining odalisques, and a nude Mickalene Thomas posing in the manner of an odalisque. The images appear and disappear in seemingly random fashion, with the viewer being able to appreciate a "complete" image on all 12 screens only briefly, before they dissolve into randomness again.

Me as Muse - Random patterns
© Entrée to Black Paris

Me as Muse - Nude Mickalene Thomas
© Entrée to Black Paris

The audio for the installation is a powerful excerpt from a television interview that Eartha Kitt gave on the Terry Wogan Show on November 15, 1989. You can obtain the transcript for the audio from the museum by scanning the QR code at the entrance of the video room.

The Orangerie is a relatively small museum, so it is easy to casually observe everything that is on permanent display in two to three hours. This includes paintings by Picasso, Modigliani, Renoir, Cézanne, Laurencin, and Derain, as well as African sculptures from the private collection of Paul Guillaume.

If you plan to visit the museum to see Mickalene Thomas: Avec Monet, plan for an additional 30 - 60 minutes to see her works as well.

The gift shop is offering a book that provides a comprehensive look at Thomas' work, so you'll want to at least glance at this as you make your way between floors.

Mickalene Thomas - book display
© Entrée to Black Paris

I did so before returning to the ground floor to look at Thomas' three works again. I then viewed the Water Lilies murals before leaving the museum.

Mickalene Thomas : Avec Monet will be showing at the Orangerie through February 6, 2023.

Full price tickets (12.50€) provide access to this exhibition as well as the permanent collection.

In my opinion, it's worth your time to go!

Mickalene Thomas : Avec Monet
Musée de l'Orangerie
Jardin des Tuileries
Place de la Concorde (côté Seine)
75001 Paris
Hours: Wednesday through Monday 9 AM - 6 PM
Closed Tuesdays

Portraits of Josephine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Josephine Baker
1939 Studio Harcourt
Public domain

Josephine Baker is an inexhaustible subject for anyone interested in black Paris.

I recently found a Website (in French) that has an entire page devoted to Josephine as philanthropist. It presents many instances of her philanthropic activity of which I was not previously aware.

One of these is Josephine's support of a food drive for elderly people in Montmartre in 1935 and 1936.

Joséphine Baker at a distribution of pot-au-feu for the elderly
Photo published in the weekly Marianne on May 15, 1935
Public domain

The entire site is filled with extraordinary photos of Josephine that I have never seen anywhere else!

In searching for copyright information about these photos, I turned to Wikimedia Commons. While I didn't find what I was looking for, I did find dozens of additional photos of Josephine that I'd never seen before. Several of them are portraits or close-ups of her taken during interviews or other photo opportunities.

I'm sharing a few of these images here for your enjoyment.

Josephine Baker
1930 Paul Nadar
Public Domain

Josephine Baker
1939 Studio Harcourt
Public Domain

Josephine Baker
1960 Nationaal Archief - Dutch National Archives
Public Domain

Josephine Baker at Les Milandes
1961 Nationaal Archief - Dutch National Archives
Public Domain

Josephine Baker arrives at Schiphol Airport
1969 Nationaal Archief - Dutch National Archives
Public Domain

**********

Please sign the petition for Josephine to be honored at the
2024 Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards ceremonies:
HonorJosephineBaker.org

Barbara Chase-Riboud's First Solo Exhibition in London

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Signage in front of Serpentine Gallery North, London
© Entrée to Black Paris

After viewing Barbara Chase-Riboud's exquisite exhibition at the Institut Giacometti in late 2021, I knew I had to go to London to see her solo show entitled Infinite Folds.

During the week before Christmas, Tom and I took the Eurostar across the Channel to do just that.

On the afternoon of our second day in town, we ventured over to Serpentine Gallery North at Kensington Gardens in Hyde Paris, had a late lunch at the gallery's restaurant, The Magazine, and then went to the exhibition.

Even though the gallery requests that you sign up for a predetermined time slot, tickets are free. Because our plans changed, we showed up at the gallery outside the time slot we had reserved.

Fortunately, there was a lull in visitation at the hour. We were heartily welcomed, and had the place pretty much to ourselves. No one even asked to see our tickets!

Walking Angel
1965 Barbara Chase-Riboud
Bronze
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom gazing at Confessions for Myself
1972 Barbara Chase-Riboud
Bronze, paint, and wool
© Entrée to Black Paris

Infinite Folds presents six themes related to Chase-Riboud's work as it has unfolded during her 50+ year career: The Early Years, Material Experimentation, Monumental Figures, Divine Energies, The 1970s, and Memoria.

Several of the works in this show were presented at the Giacometti, but they take on a different energy at the Serpentine. I was pleased to see them again, and even more pleased to discover so many additional two-dimensional and three dimensional works by Chase-Riboud.

Bathers
1967 Barbara Chase-Riboud
Aluminum and Silk
© Entrée to Black Paris

The New Concubine Pearl Monument, Beijing
1997 Barbara Chase-Riboud
Mixed media on paper
© Entrée to Black Paris

Time Womb (with cord)
1967 Barbara Chase-Riboud
Polished aluminum and silk
© Entrée to Black Paris

The sculptures presented in Divine Energies and Monumental Figures have been placed in rooms completely lined with red brick. The photos below do not do justice to the setting - it is extremely powerful.

Monumental Figures
© Entrée to Black Paris

Divine Energies
© Entrée to Black Paris

A final room is devoted to a single sculpture - La Musica Josephine Black/Red (2021). This work is the latest in a series called La Musica, for which several pieces are currently on display in St. Louis, MO at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation's retrospective of Chase-Riboud's work entitled Barbara Chase-Riboud Monumentale: The Bronzes.

A manifesto called "From Malcolm to Josephine," attributed to Chase-Riboud and Sir Reginald Jackson, is affixed to the left wall just past the entrance to this room. The only other thing present in the room is the sculpture.

La Musica Josephine Baker Black/Red
2021 Barbara Chase-Riboud
Black patina bronze with red cord
© Entrée to Black Paris

This is the first time La Musica Josephine Baker Black/Red has been exhibited anywhere, so I was pleased to be able to view it in solitude.

I chatted with one of the gallery docents for some time about the exhibition and about this sculpture in particular. She thought the show would be extended, but at the time I write this, I have not seen such a notification.

If you are planning to visit London in the next couple of weeks, I highly encourage you to see Infinite Folds!

Serpentine North Gallery
Kensington Gardens
London
Open Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm

MoSugo - Street Food by a Michelin-star Chef

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Combo of Mosugo mains and sides
© Entrée to Black Paris

A few months after enjoying an exquisite meal at MoSuke, Chef Mory Sacko's Michelin-star restaurant in the 14th arrondissement, I was intrigued by signs outside Galeries Lafayette announcing that Chef Sacko was opening a street food restaurant called MoSugo on the first floor of its building devoted to housewares and gastronomy.

Opening announcements for MoSugo
Images © Entrée to Black Paris

The next time I was in the neighborhood, I took a few minutes to find the restaurant - even though I didn't have time to eat there. It is one of several restaurants that feature street food from various parts of the world.

Chef Sacko has chosen to feature fried chicken and fried plantains at Mosugo. Customers can either dine in or take out after selecting from the limited menu, which is a fusion of tradition Southern U.S., Cajun, Japanese, and African ingredients and inspirations. Seating for 60 persons is available at this location.

Take-out counter
© Entrée to Black Paris

The interior design of the dining area is minimalist and the space has ample light.

Dining area
© Entrée to Black Paris

I have not yet had the pleasure of dining in, but I did order take-out for two from MoSugo just a few days ago. I selected a fried chicken burger and fried alloco (plantains) as main dishes, roasted sweet potato and sweet potato fries as sides, and house-made bissap (a soft drink made from hibiscus flowers) as the beverage.

My husband Tom and I tucked into the hearty meal once I got home. We each ate half of everything so we wouldn't miss any part of this new dining experience.

MoSugo Take-out bag
© Entrée to Black Paris

Fried chicken burger, fried alloco, roasted sweet potato and sweet potato fries
© Entrée to Black Paris

The burger was served with pickles and a small cup of miso mayonnaise, and the alloco was served with a tangy soy-based bulldog sauce. We loved the crunch of the panko breading that was used to coat the chicken and plantains for frying.

The portion of alloco was larger and more filling than we expected.

We enjoyed both versions of the sweet potatoes. They were supposed to come with a Cajun sauce, but I did not find it in my bag.

The bissap was refreshing, but MoSugo's recipe is not quite as sweet as I would have liked.

Tom would have preferred beer, but MoSugo does not sell beer for take-out.

Though I discussed with the server the Mobrookie (brownie-cookie hybrid) that I was considering for dessert, I forgot to order it!

Overall, we appreciated this meal. We were too hungry to take the time to reheat it properly, and we regretted not being able to taste the Cajun sauce and the Mobrookie, so we will return to MoSugo.

Next time, we'll dine in!

Window at MoSugo - Galeries Lafayette
© Entrée to Black Paris

MoSugo Lafayette Gourmet
35, bd Haussmann
75009 Paris
Metro: Chaussée d'Antin (Lines 7 and 9)
Open Monday through Saturday 11:30 AM - 8:30 PM; Sunday 11:30 AM - 8 PM

Note: MoSugo also has a smaller location at 22, rue Raymond Losserand in the 14th arrondissement. In addition to dine-in and take-out service, they deliver!

Shirley Monestier: A Black Female Artist in France - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Shirley Monestier cruising the Garonne River
© Jean-Marie Monestier

In Part 1 of this article, I introduced you to Shirley Monestier with a focus on her development as a visual artist. Today's post will examine Monestier's thoughts on expatriation and the women's organizations that have been a large part of her social integration in France.

Shirley Monestier has lived in France since December 1991. Her approach to moving abroad was to "take the risk and just do it." She says her very first goals were to:

"learn how to write a check in French, and learn French words for grocery shopping. Two important things in my life…money and food!"

To make the transition easier, she connected with expats and expat organizations that helped her assimilate into French culture.

The Association of American Women in Europe (AAWE) is one of these groups. When you visit the home page of their Website, you learn that it is a "bicultural community of American women primarily in France ..."

which

"... fosters an environment that enables our members to create bonds, develop supportive relationships and [establish] lifelong friendships."

Monestier joined AAWE in 1993, shortly after moving to the northwestern Paris suburb of Taverny. While she is no longer a member, she credits the group for offering her tremendous support during the early years when she strove to adapt to living in French society:

"AAWE offered me a wealth of information on how to assimilate in France. Their monthly meeting was like a home away from home. Through this group, I met many dynamic women with whom I still maintain friendships today.

"AAWE opened up avenues for me to use my creative and culinary skills. As a member, I co-edited a bilingual dessert cookbook called LET THEM EAT CAKE that is now in its third or fourth publication. I also chaired the decorations committee for the annual fundraising Christmas Bazaar.

"I had a very positive experience as a member of AAWE."

Interconnections
Shirley Monestier
2019 Acrylic on canvas

For six years, Monestier was also a member of an organization called Sisters - An Association of Black Women in France (no longer in existence). For three years, she has been a member of Sistah Circle Paris, which was inspired by Sisters. She says the benefit of being a member of both organizations is meeting a diverse group of dynamic black women who share(d) their experiences on living in France:

"The two associations helped ground me in France and offered many events that I participated in. There is no greater feeling than to be connected with sisterhoods, particularly when living in a European community. I have formed many long time friendships with sisters in both groups."

After moving to Bordeaux in 2002, Monestier joined the Bordeaux Women's Club (BWC). This organization "helps international English-speaking women to meet each other and adapt comfortably into French and Bordelaise life and culture."

Monestier says that the group's core values are friendships and community. As a member, she participates in fundraising activities for charities in Bordeaux.

Though she loves France, Monestier has never forgotten that her roots lie in the U.S. She says she has a foot planted in two countries, and she loves them both.

In concluding our interview, she shared these final words for ETBP readers. They embody her expatriate story:

"Never give up on your passions, follow your dreams, take risks because they are part of the journey.

"Creativity is a gift, so share with others. Be loving and kind to humans and nature.

"And remember, 'Nothing is over until the fat lady sings!'”

To contact Shirley Monestier about her art, send email to shirley.monestier@neuf.fr.

Shirley Monestier: A Black Female Artist in France - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Shirley Monestier at l'Atelier 65 -- Bordeaux, France
© Jean-Marie Monestier

Shirley Monestier was on vacation in France in the early 1990s when a friend introduced her to the man who would become her husband:

"After 1 year of correspondence, phone calls and a visit with my family, he convinced me to 'take the risk' and come live in France. I took that risk and am happy to now have roots in two countries with a wonderful soulmate."

She and her husband, Jean-Marie, lived in Taverny - a northwestern suburb of Paris located approximately 13 miles from the city center - for 10 years. When they moved into their new home, which was a freshly renovated barn, Monestier was inspired to visit galleries and artist studios in Paris with the intent to purchase works to decorate the bare walls.

Because she found the prices of the works she wanted to be exorbitant, she decided to take art lessons so she could create her own paintings.

She enrolled at the Municipal Centre d’Arts and Plastiques in Taverny (no longer in existence) and took classes there for two years.

And she's never looked back!

Shirley Monestier cruising the Garonne River
© Jean-Marie Monestier

Jean-Marie Monestier is from Bordeaux. After he retired in 2001, he and Shirley relocated there in 2002 to be near his family and to enjoy warmer weather and a more laid back lifestyle than they experienced in the Paris area.

Shirley describes Bordeaux as being a family-friendly city with a much simpler vibe than Paris. She says they are "surrounded by vineyards, great southwest food, and good transportation."

Monestier was once a member of the Association of American Women in Europe (AAWE). She is now a member of the Bordeaux Women's Club (BWC). Both organizations were instrumental in helping her find venues to show her artwork.

AAWE organize the Fight Cancer art exhibition at the Mona Bismarck American Center (now called the American Center for Art and Culture) where Monestier showed two of her paintings in 2007.

And a BWC member found L'Atelier 65, the Bordeaux café/gallery that his currently hosting Monestier's first solo show, which is called Multicultural Women in Vibrant Colors. She introduced Monestier to the gallery owner and asked if Monestier could exhibit her work there.

Once the owner looked at Monestier's portfolio, she was delighted to organize the exhibition.

Vernissage flier

Monestier describes L’Atelier 65 as a beautiful, intimate space located in Chartrons, an up and coming trendy area of Bordeaux. She says the venue is perfect for displaying paintings because it has natural stone and wooden walls.

The vernissage (opening) for the exhibition took place on December 1.

Vernissage attendees
© Jean-Marie Monestier

Shirley Monestier (seated) and vernissage attendees
© Jean-Marie Monestier

Monestier deemed the event a success:

"I spoke with each of attendees who asked questions ... the engagement was wonderful, so personal. The atmosphere at the event was warm and fuzzy-friendly. What was amazing is that all those attending stayed for the entire 2 hours - they did not want to leave! I had one sale and the possibility of more."

The painting whose image graced the vernissage flier is the one that sold.

A Girl in Nature
2020 - Acrylic on canvas
© Shirley Monestier

Once Multicultural Women in Vibrant Colors closes, Monestier plans to open a private home art gallery, where her works will be viewed by appointment only.

Her target date for opening is May 6, 2023.

To contact Shirley Monestier about her art, send email to shirley.monestier@neuf.fr.

Come back next week for Part 2 of this article, where Monestier discusses her thoughts about expatriation and the women's organizations that have been a large part of her social integration in France.

Celebrating the 1st Anniversary of Josephine Baker's Induction into the Pantheon

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Brian Scott Bagley at Place du Panthéon
© Entrée to Black Paris

Brian Scott Bagley didn’t want to let November 30 pass without a gesture of remembrance for the 1st anniversary of Josephine Baker's induction into the Pantheon in Paris.

So he organized an impromptu "Community Musical Vigil" and invited people to come to the Pantheon that evening to honor Baker with song.

Invitation to Community Musical Vigil
Image courtesy of Brian Scott Bagley

Bagley is the founder of the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendents de Paris. He organized the first Josephine Baker Day celebration in May 2022 and co-organized the Joséphine en Rose event that took place on the evening of Baker's "pantheonization."

So it was only natural that he would want to commemorate this first anniversary date, which is so important to Baker's legacy.

A small group gathered in the square in front of the Pantheon at 6 PM.

Those who didn't know each other introduced themselves and those who did caught up on the latest news.

Bagley handed out mementos for the occasion - cards bearing an image of Baker taken after the Second World War.

We Sing to Honor You Dear Josephine!
Cards created by Brian Scott Bagley

He explained that he thought this image was perfect for the occasion because he felt that Baker looked relaxed and reflective in this picture, as though she might be reviewing the events in her life and feeling happy that she survived the war and her serious illnesses.

He passed out sheets of paper bearing the lyrics of two songs - "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "J'ai Deux Amours."

He spoke passionately about Baker's legacy and what he believes she would be doing today to combat the violence and injustices perpetrated against women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ communities around the world.

And he led the group in song.

Brian Scott Bagley leading the group in song
© Entrée to Black Paris

Watch and listen to J'ai Deux Amours HERE.

And watch and listen to him call for a moment of silence to recognize several causes he believes Baker would support today HERE.

After that moment of silence, Bagley invited those who gathered for the brief ceremony to continue the camaraderie experienced over coffee or an apéritif.

It was a wonderful tribute to the "Black Pearl" of Paris!

Brian Scott Bagley and event attendees
© Entrée to Black Paris

Atelier Lea Lund and Erik K - Revisited

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Erik K - Café Van Gogh (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

It's been five years since Tom and I visited the atelier of Lea Lund and Erik K, the photographer and model whose love story and work are simply magical. Entrée to Black Paris published an article about that first visit in April 2017: Atelier Lea Lund and Erik K - Open for Business!

Last Friday evening, in conjunction with this year's Paris Photo conference, Lund and K welcomed friends and colleagues into their whimsical space on the cité Dupont for wine and conversation.

Cité Dupont
© Entrée to Black Paris

Atelier entrance
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom and I were excited to catch up with them and see some of the work they've created since we last met.

Lea Lund and Monique Y. Wells in conversation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Café Van Gogh, Lund and K's story, magazines, catalogs, and works
© Entrée to Black Paris

B&W works
© Entrée to Black Paris

B&W works, wall hanging, and Erik K silhouette
© Entrée to Black Paris

The hats and cigars that are ever present in Lund's photos of K were displayed in the atelier.

K's hats
© Entrée to Black Paris

K's pipe and cigars
© Entrée to Black Paris

One of K's famous hats
© Entrée to Black Paris

The pandemic hit Lund and K hard, as it did most artists around the world. And yet, it opened opportunities for them to build new relationships and embark on new ventures. We were excited to learn that they opened a gallery in Arles, France last July and that the Catherine Edelman Gallery (CEG) in Chicago represents them in the U.S. CEG organized the first solo exhibition of their work in the States in September 2021.

Itinerant gallerist Aude Minart, whose La Galerie Africaine exhibitions we frequently present on the blog and who introduced us to Lund and K, showed their work for the second time at the May 2022 Biennale de Dakar.

La Galerie Africaine - flier for May 2022 Biennale de Dakar

The couple was featured in the September 2022 edition of Profifoto and in the Fall 2022 edition of Spots Magazine, the theme of which is "Myth and Memory."

Profifoto September 2022 - Magazine cover
Fair use claim

Shots Magazine - Fall 2022 - Magazine cover
Fair use claim

To peruse Lund and K's fascinating work, including 2022 photos taken in Kinshasa, Oslo, Lausanne, Paris, and Arles, visit their Facebook page HERE.

To contact them, send email to lund.and.k@gmail.com.

Contact information for Atelier Lea Lund & Erik K
© Entrée to Black Paris

Erik K, Monique Y. Wells, and Lea Lund
© Entrée to Black Paris

African-American Women Artists in Paris after WWII

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Triptych of Loïs Mailou Jones, Barbara Chase-Riboud, and Faith Ringgold
Collage © Entrée to Black Paris

In the first half of the 20th century, Paris was the world capital of the arts. After World War II, though New York began to replace Paris in this role, thousands of artists continued to move to the French capital to find and express their creative Muse.

Paris and Nowhere Else, the art exhibition currently on display at the Musée de l'Immigration at the Palais de la Porte Dorée in Paris' 12th arrondissement, examines questions of immigration through the work of 24 artists who moved to the City of Light between 1945 and 1972.

Curator Jean-Paul Ameline selected artists from Europe, North America (including the Caribbean), South America, Asia, and Africa to mount this show. Of them, two are black (Wifredo Lam from Cuba and Iba N'Diaye from Senegal) and six are women. The U.S. is represented by a single artist, painter Joan Mitchell.

Though I plan to visit this exhibition, I am disappointed that no African Americans - male or female - were chosen for it, despite the numerous African-American artists who called Paris for months to years after WWII. And I am intrigued that the only American selected for the show was a woman.

This makes me think of the few well-known female African-American artists who moved to or spent significant time in Paris during the post-WWII era: Loïs Mailou Jones, Barbara Chase-Riboud, and Faith Ringgold.

Loïs Mailou Jones

Loïs Mailou Jones
Black Women Oral History Project - Judith Sedgwick
Schlesinger Library, RIAS, Harvard University
No known copyright restrictions

After studying at the Académie Julian in 1937-38, Loïs Mailou Jones returned to France frequently between 1945 and 1953, when she and her friend and colleague Céline Tabary traveled together. Jones and her husband, Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noël, also traveled frequently to France after they married in 1953.

ETBP featured Jones in the following article:

Remembering Loïs Mailou Jones

A detailed article about African-American artists in Paris provides images of multiple paintings that she created during her numerous trips to France after the war:

The "Other" Lost Generation of Black American Artists in Paris

Barbara Chase-Riboud

Barbara Chase-Riboud at the Institut Giacometti
© Entrée to Black Paris

Barbara Chase-Riboud moved to Paris in 1960. Two of her works were acquired by France's Centre National des Arts Plastiques in 1972 and 1984.* In 1974, she had a solo exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

ETBP has featured Chase-Riboud twice in the past 13 months. Read our articles below:

Entrée to Black Paris Celebrates Barbara Chase-Riboud

Barbara Chase-Riboud at the Institut Giacometti

The Serpentine Gallery in London is currently showing her work in an exhibition called Infinite Folds.

Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold
Brooklyn Museum
CC-BY 3.0

Faith Ringgold first visited Paris in 1961, with her mother and her two daughters accompanying her. Thirty years later, she created Part I of her famous French Collection series of story quilts, which she began during a three-month internship on the French Riviera in 1990 thanks to funding from the University of California, San Diego and the National Endowment for the Arts. After completing Part I of the series, she traveled to Paris and stayed for two months in 1992.

In February 1994, Ringgold participated in "A Visual Arts Encounter, African-Americans in Europe," a event organized by the Sorbonne, Harvard, and four additional U.S. and European universities at the Luxembourg Palace to explore the relationship between African-American artists and Europe.

The Musée Picasso is hosting a solo exhibition of her work from January 31 through July 1, 2023.

All three artists had work featured in the The Color Line exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac in 2016.

*To learn more about African-American women artists in French public collections, click HERE.

Black Fashion Designers in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Newspaper article about Jay Jaxon (cropped)
Source of original article unknown - fair use claim

Last week, when I posted about ETBP's newest walking tour, Black Paris Pilgrimage - A Walk through Père Lachaise Cemetery, I began thinking about the all-too-short life of fashion designer Patrick Kelly. A 2020 article in i-D of the Vice Media Group states that he was the first American designer to make it in Paris, and I was ready to believe that.

Patrick Kelly
Screenshot from video called "Rifat Ozbek and Patrick Kelly," fashion 1989
Fair use claim

But when I began searching for information about other black designers in Paris, I learned that this is not true.

Jay Jaxon is described by the New York Times as "a promising young designer in Paris in the late 1960s and early ’70s" who "worked in the ateliers of esteemed Parisian fashion houses like Jean-Louis Scherrer, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, creating couture and ready-to-wear for them."

Newspaper clipping about Jay Jaxon
Original source unknown - fair use claim

The Times article goes on to say that Jaxon became the first Black designer to work in the top-tier couture ateliers in Paris. He stayed there for several years, returning to New York City in 1973. Jaxon's biographer and champion, Rachel Fenderson, describes him as having been largely "hidden in the fashion and historical narrative."

Kelly arrived in Paris six years later. Though he was not the first African American to "make it" here, he was the first American to be accepted into the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. To be precise, he was accepted into the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode (the Union Chamber of Couturiers’ and Fashion Designers’ Ready-to-Wear). He was inducted into this illustrious institution in 1988.

Following in Jaxon's and Kelly's footsteps are Olivier Rousteing, appointed creative director of Balmain in 2011 (at the age of 24), and Virgil Abloh, the first African-American artistic director for Louis Vuitton (appointed in March 2018). Though raised in France by adoptive parents, Rousteing claims African-African heritage (Somali mother and Ethiopian father).

Olivier Rousteing in 2016
My Wall Art
CC-BY 4.0

Virgil Abloh Virgil Abloh at Paris Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2019
Myles Kalus Anak Jihem
CC-BY-SA 4.0

In 2021, Haitian-American Kirby Jean-Raymond became the first Black designer to show his work as part of the official couture calendar for the Fédération.

For more information about black fashion designers and details about the nuances surrounding the Fédération, click HERE.

Black Paris Pilgrimage - A Walk through Père Lachaise Cemetery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Patrick Kelly tombstone (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

A pilgrimage is a visit to a place that is considered special, where you go to show your respect. The term is most frequently used to describe a voyage to a sacred place.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary also defines “pilgrimage” as “the course of life on earth.”

Entrée to Black Paris (ETBP) is pleased to announce the launch of the Black Paris Pilgrimage - a private, guided walking tour that addresses "pilgrimage" in both contexts described above.

Père-Lachaise Cemetery, aka the Cemetery of the East, is the most famous necropolis of France and the most visited cemetery in the world (more than 3.5 million visitors go there every year). We created a tour of this "garden cemetery" to celebrate the lives of numerous black people who called Paris home as well as to pay homage to them.

Black people are physically in the soil at Père-Lachaise. Since the cemetery established the Jardin de Souvenir (Garden of Remembrance) in 1985, the ashes of those whose bodies were cremated have been scattered here. Among them are William Gardner Smith, an African-American novelist, essayist, and journalist who was a contemporary of Richard Wright and James Baldwin.

William Gardner Smith
© Carl Van Vechten (public domain)

Jardin de Souvenir
© Entrée to Black Paris

Prior to being dispersed in the garden, Smith's ashes were held in a niche at the cemetery's columbarium. which was built around the crematorium in 1889 and expanded with subterranean galleries in 1930.

Crematorium and columbarium
© Entrée to Black Paris

As is true for the cemetery's plots, niches are allotted via a "concession system of leasing" through which a fee must be paid at predetermined intervals to retain the right to occupy them.

If the concession is not renewed, the remains are removed. Bones are placed in a common grave and ashes are scattered in the Jardin de Souvenir.

Richard Wright's ashes also reside at Père-Lachaise. They are kept in Niche 848 of the original columbarium.

Richard Wright
© Gordon Parks (public domain)

Richard Wright - Niche 848
© Discover Paris!

African Americans whose remains are inurned in the subterranean galleries include James Emanuel and Patricia Laplante-Collins.

James Emanuel
© www.SophiaPagan.com

Patricia Laplante-Collins
© Discover Paris!

Black Paris Pilgrimage begins at the upper level of the cemetery where the Jardin de Souvenir , the crematorium, and the columbarium are found. The tour route zigs and zags across the scenic landscape, moving down hill along the way.

Architect Alexandre Brongniart preserved the groves and winding paths of the estate purchased for the cemetery when he designed it in the early 19th century. His intent was to immerse visitors in nature to inspire "a suitably meditative state in which to contemplate imposing monuments to the moral examples of great citizens."

Indeed, there is no end to the remarkable funerary architecture and memorials that are visible along the tour route.

Those wishing to experience the Black Paris Pilgrimage must be physically fit. The cobblestone avenues that wind through the cemetery are rough and uneven, and on a few occasions, visitors must leave the path to walk through cemetery divisions replete with exposed tree roots and decaying stones to see the graves on the tour.

Fashion designer Patrick Kelly's grave is one such example of this.

Patrick Kelly's tombstone
© Entrée to Black Paris

Patrick Kelly's tombstone (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Black Paris Pilgrimage is the first and only afrocentric walking tour of Père-Lachaise Cemetery. It can be booked for individuals and private groups only.

For information, contact paris@entreetoblackparis.com.

ETBP co-owner Monique Y. Wells at the Père-Lachaise columbarium
© Entrée to Black Paris

Joséphine Baker le Musical Returns

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Jean-Pierre Hadida, Brian Bouillon Baker, Nevedya, and Joseph Cange on stage at the avant-première
© Entrée to Black Paris

After a wonderful début performance run at La Nouvelle Eve in Paris' 9th arrondissement this summer, Joséphine Baker le musical returns triumphantly to the stage at the Bobino Theater this fall.

In case you're wondering, this is the same Bobino Theater where Josephine gave her last performance forty=seven years ago before suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and dying in a nearby hospital.

Thanks to my participation in the upcoming Canal+ documentary on Josephine, I was invited to attend the avant-première of the show, which took place on October 12.

Filming at the Bobino Theater for Canal+ documentary
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was delighted by every aspect of the evening.

The theater was packed. It was heartwarming to see such a magnificent turnout.

Entering the auditorium
© Entrée to Black Paris

Full house
© Entrée to Black Paris

From beginning to end, Nevedya dazzled the audience in her role as Josephine. She enthusiastically and effectively portrayed Josephine from her childhood in St. Louis to her last shows on the Bobino's stage.

Other members of the cast played multiple roles in fifteen vignettes written and directed by Jean-Pierre Hadida.

Two of Josephine's sons, Jean-Claude and Brian Bouillon Baker, were in the audience. Brian Bouillon Baker, who served as the historical consultant on the show, joined the cast, Hadida, producer Francine Disegni, musical director Raphaël Corbin, and choreographer Florie Sourice on stage after a standing ovation of several minutes. He graciously addressed the audience, acknowledging the outstanding work that went into creating the show. (See cover image.)

Joséphine Baker le musical cast and direction
Image courtesy of Marjory Déjardin

I had the pleasure of being invited backstage to meet the fabulously talented Nevedya,

Monique and Nevedya
Image courtesy of Marjory Déjardin

and met Brian Boulllon Baker as he signed copies of his book, Joséphine, l'Universelle, in the lobby.

Brian Bouillon Baker and Monique
© Entrée to Black Paris

I learned that France's Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak also attended the performance and saw her with Bouillon Baker at the book signing table.

Brian Bouillon Baker and Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak
© Entrée to Black Paris

Joséphine Baker le Musical officially opened on Wednesday, October 19., 2022. Three additional performances are scheduled for November 16, November 30, and December 7, 2022. For information and to purchase tickets, click HERE.

Bobino Theater
14-20, rue de la Gaîte
75014 Paris
Metro: Gaîte - Joséphine Baker (Line 13), Edgar Quinet (Line 6)

Dining at Chez Lucie

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Bouchons réunionnais
© Entrée to Black Paris

If you find yourself at the Musée du quai Branly, the Eiffel Tower, or elsewhere in the vicinity and want to experience Créole cuisine, make your way over to Chez Lucie on rue Augereau in the 7th arrondissement.

I first learned about Chez Lucie in 2004, when guest blogger Kiratiana Freelon reviewed it for us. (Find her article HERE.)

Tom and I reviewed the restaurant in 2010 and quite enjoyed our meal there. We even had our picture taken with Didier Morel, the owner and chef.

Tom, Monique, and Didier at Chez Lucie in 2010
© Discover Paris!

So, after attending last week's opening of the Black Indians de la Nouvelle-Orléans exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly, I decided to visit Chez Lucie for a light, late night meal.

I arrived just before 10 PM and found only two people in the dining room. I thought it might be too late to be served, but Didier warmly welcomed me and assured me that the kitchen was still open. During the time I was there, several additional customers arrived and were greeted with the same grace and humor with which he greeted me.

The dining room is small, and the set up and decor were pretty much the same as I remembered it from the last time I visited. Didier looks the same as well.

Rear wall of dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Left side of dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

One thing I definitely didn't remember from my last visit was photos of Elvis Presley on the left side of the restaurant. Elvis tunes played over the sound system, and Didier and the couple that was present when I entered the restaurant sang along to many of them!

Elvis Presley on calendar hung on left wall
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because it was so late, I decided to have two courses instead of three. I ordered a Ti' Punch Citron Vert, and slowly sipped it while munching peanuts as I perused the list of dishes on the menu.

Ti' Punch Citron Vert
© Entrée to Black Paris

I had a few questions about the dishes proposed, and Didier responded by first telling me that several of the options presented originate from Reunion Island, while others come from the French Caribbean. After some deliberation based on his detailed responses, I decided to order Bouchons Réunionnais as an entrée (which is the first course in France) and Chabine de Chocolat as dessert.

Bouchons Réunionnais are extremely popular on Reunion Island. Introduced to the island's cuisine by Cantonese immigrants from China, these dumplings are generally made with hashed pork or chicken wrapped in wonton skins and steamed. That evening, the bouchons were made with chicken.

I deliberately took my time consuming the Ti' Punch and much of it was still in my glass when Didier served my food. The bouchons were served with a generous salad of shredded carrots and lettuce, and a relish made from chopped raw onion was served alongside. They had a lovely texture and a delicate flavor.

Didier left the peanuts on the table, and these, combined with the large salad and the four dumplings, satisfied my hunger while leaving room for me to enjoy dessert.

Late night spread
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Chabine de chocolate turned out to be a chocolate fondant lying in a large pool of crème anglaise. Reunion Island produces cocoa beans and finished chocolate, but this dessert was decidedly French.

Chabine de chocolat
© Entrée to Black Paris

I found it to be perfectly adequate, but I was much more intrigued by the origin of the word "chabine." It is used in the French Caribbean to describe a person of "pure" African descent who has blond hair; blue, green, or hazel eyes, and fair skin.

The fixed price menu at Chez Lucie costs 28€ for a three-course meal. When ordering à la carte, expect to pay 7€ - 10€ for an entrée, 14€ - 40€ for a main dish, and 5€ - 10€ for dessert.

Chez Lucie
15, rue Augereau
75005 Paris
Telephone: 01.45.55.08.74
Metro: Ecole Militaire (Line 8)
Hours: Monday - Sunday 12 noon to 2 PM and 7:30 PM - 11 PM
Internet: https://www.restaurant-chez-lucie.fr/

Black Indians of New Orleans

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Black Indians signage at Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
© Entrée to Black Paris

I was intrigued when I first heard about the Black Indians de la Nouvelle-Orléans exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac and excited when I received an invitation to attend the October 3 vernissage (opening). I had no preconceived notions about what I would see there, and I was anxious to find out how the museum would present this subject.

Visitors to the exhibition first encounter an enormous Indian "suit" - a traditional Black Indian garment - displayed to the right of a video that introduces Big Chief Darryl Montana, the son of one of the most influential chiefs of the Black Indian tribes (note that these are not Indian nations, such as the Choctaw, Coushatta, and Chitimacha tribes of Louisiana). I found this to be a marvelous prelude, and my appetite was whetted for what I thought would be an exhibition full of information about the history and customs of the Black Indian (aka Mardi Gras Indian) tribes and how they have interrelated throughout the years.

Big Chief Darryl Montana - video
© Entrée to Black Paris

Big Chief Costume
Big Chief Darryl Montana
2015 Textiles, ribbons, dyed ostrich feathers,
glass beads, sequins and cabochons, rubber
© Entrée to Black Paris

Big Chief Costume - detail
© Entrée to Black Paris

If you visit this exhibition, you should understand that this is not what you will find in the show.

When you pass the initial installation and enter the exhibition space, you will be plunged into the world of the indigenous populations of what is now the U.S. and the history of the colonial exploits of France and Spain as they claimed lands for their sovereigns. You will learn that Europeans first enslaved indigenous peoples and then turned to Africa for the labor they needed to establish their colonies and maintain the revenues generated from them. You will encounter installations that present the transatlantic slave trade, including artifacts and video that describe and demonstrate the conditions that captives endured during the Middle Passage.

Information panels and accompanying installations describe how New Orleans became the largest slave market in North America and how enslaved Africans and indigenous people were able to interact freely during Sunday sessions at Congo Square. One panel indicates that the first feathered costumes that foretold the emergence of the Black Indians were worn at the square.

From this point on - because of the title of the exhibition - I thought the remainder of the show would delve into the history of the indigenous tribes in southern Louisiana, the origins of the enslaved Africans who were brought to the area, and how the two groups intermingled. This history is the basis upon which the masking culture of today's Black Indians is built.

I also thought there would be an in-depth presentation on the evolution of the Black Indian tradition in Louisiana throughout the centuries.

Instead, the show continues to trace the history of the area through a European colonial lens and then examines the Civil War and post-Civil War race relations in the American South as a whole, including Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, the Civil Rights Movement, and modern-day racism during the Trump administration.

Only three panels specifically address race relations in Louisiana.

Magnificent suits are installed in various rooms along the path through the exhibition. I had the good fortune to encounter Big Chief Dow Michael Edwards, a retired New Orleans attorney who created two of them. I overheard him chatting with one of the museum guides about the suit he named The Taking. It is a magnificent feat of craftsmanship, and the imagery sewn into the garment tells the story of Europeans capturing Africans and Native Americans to force them into slavery.

The Taking (front)
Big Chief Dow Michael Edwards
2019 Ostrich, goose, and duck feathers, cowhide,
crocodile skin, beads, rhinestones, and shells
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Taking (rear)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Big Chief Edwards graciously posed for a photo and then went on to attract a crowd as he continued to talk about his work.

Big Chief Dow Michael Edwards and The Taking
© Entrée to Black Paris

Big Chief Dow Michael Edwards addresses the crowd
© Entrée to Black Paris

As one might expect, Black Indians is an exhibition built around objects. Yet the curator has included several pieces of fine art in the show. As an example, two works from Michael Ray Charles' Forever Free series hang in this part of the show - The Road Most Traveled and Facts of Live.

Forever Free - The Road Most Travelled
Michael Ray Charles
2013 Acrylic and penny copper on canvas
Private Collection
© Entrée to Black Paris

Attention is refocused on Louisiana about three quarters of the way through the exhibition, when visitors can view a 6m27s video called "Black Indians - Origines." This is somewhat of a rehash of what has already been presented in the show. You then walk past the enormous and powerful painting by Mexican-American artist Vincent Valdez called The City I, which depicts Klan men, women, and even a baby, at a rally on terrain above an unidentified city, to arrive at an installation on Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it wreaked on the African-American citizens of New Orleans.

The City I
Vincent Valdez
2015-2016 Oil on canvas
Blanton Museum of Art
Austin, TX
© Entrée to Black Paris

The City I - detail
Vincent Valdez
2015-2016 Oil on canvas
Blanton Museum of Art
Austin, TX
© Entrée to Black Paris

An information panel in this section presents New Orleans' Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, which have a 130+ year tradition of providing assistance for black people in New Orleans when white insurance companies would not serve them. A video presents a 2+ minute interview with Big Chief Victor Harris regarding this somber period in New Orleans history. One of Chief Harris' suits is displayed next to the video.

Big Chief Victor Harris - video
© Entrée to Black Paris

Eyes of the Fire
Big Chief Victor Harris
Ostrich and rooster feathers, cowrie shells, pearls, raphia
Collection of the artist
© Entrée to Black Paris

Next is an area where you can view a 7m29s video called "Black Indians - Aujourd'hui," which consists of vignettes of interviews with contemporary Black Indians.

Gang Flag Dewey of the Redhawk Hungers
in "Black Indians - Aujourd'hui" video
© Entrée to Black Paris

After watching this video, you enter the last room of the exhibition, which is filled with garments worn by Black Indians in parades held during Mardi Gras. There are also display cases containing objects from the museum's collection that evoke the origins of some of the traditions held by today's Black Indians. Several information panels provide information that I believe should have been introduced and expanded upon much earlier in the exhibition.

Final room of Black Indians exhibition - 1
© Entrée to Black Paris

Baby Dolls suits
© Entrée to Black Paris

Final room of Black Indians exhibition - 2
© Entrée to Black Paris

Black Indians de la Nouvelle-Orléans is visually and informationally exquisite. The artisanship and the passion that went into the creation of the suits on display is phenomenal and the information presented is intricately detailed. But I feel that the exhibition does not present nearly enough information about the Black Indians to warrant its name.

Black Indians de la Nouvelle-Orléans
October 4, 2022 - January 15, 2023
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday - 10:30 AM - 9:00 PM
Thursday - 10:30 AM - 10 PM
Entry: 12€
Reduced price entry: 9€

Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
37, quai Branly
75007 Paris
Metro: Bir Hakeim (Line 6), Ecole Militaire (Line 8), Alma-Marceau or Iéna (Line 9)
RER C: Pont de l'Alma or Champs de Mars Tour Eiffel

For information about the Black Indians of New Orleans, visit the following links:

Black History Month: Celebrating Iko Iko, Mardi Gras Indians, and the Second Line

Mardi Gras Indians Begin Carnival by Honoring "Big Chief Tootie Montana," the "Chief of Chiefs"

Super Sunday 2019: The history behind Mardi Gras Indian Tradition and Culture

Mardi Gras Indians History and Tradition

The Evolution of Tradition: A Mardi Gras Indian Queen Shows Off a New Type of Suit

Art Inspires Reflection on Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Their Abolition

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Monique Y. Wells and Fabrice Hyber at Le Cri, L'Ecrit
© Entrée to Black Paris

A painted bronze sculpture called Le Cri, L'Ecrit has graced the pathway lying between the Royer Collard gate and the esplanade of the Luxembourg Garden since 2007. Standing between Velleda, a sculpture by Hippolyte Maindron, and Le Marchand de Masques, a sculpture by Zacharie Astruc, it was inaugurated on the 10th of May of that year – the second National Day of Reflection on France’s history of slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition.

Le Cri, L'Ecrit has become a focal point of Entrée to Black Paris' Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden walking tours.

Le Cri, L'Ecrit (center) viewed from Porte Royer Collard
© Entrée to Black Paris

Over the years, my husband and business partner Tom and I have fielded many questions about this work, which was created by award-winning sculptor Fabrice Hyber. The sculpture provoked many questions in our minds as well.

Tom began photographing Le Cri, L'Ecrit to study the numerous words and images embossed on the surface, understanding that they directly related to the title of the sculpture. We prefer to translate Le Cri, L'Ecrit into English as "The Cry, The Written," as opposed to "The Cry, The Writing".

Le Cri, L'Ecrit - close-up of upper ring
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Cri, L'Ecrit - close-up of upper and middle rings
© Entrée to Black Paris

Le Cri, L'Ecrit - close-up of middle and lower rings
© Entrée to Black Paris

This June, I walked through the garden with a group of passionate educators from the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program (Fulbright TGC) and had some of the most stimulating conversation about the sculpture ever. I explained my philosophy that even when you know what an artist intended when creating a work, your thoughts about it and reactions to it stem from the sum of your personal experiences.

Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms
© Entrée to Black Paris

I also told them that I had very little information about the artist's intent and lamented that Tom and I had never gotten around to trying to contact him to ask about it.

One of the Fulbright TGC educators in this group was George Hademenos, a physics teacher from Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas. He was so inspired by the group's reaction to Le Cri, L'Ecrit that he took it upon himself to research the work and possible ways to contact Hyber. He sent us an email presenting his results, including four different avenues for reaching out to the artist.

Two of these four avenues yielded fruit, and in August, we succeeded in communicating directly with Hyber. He was gracious enough to meet Tom and me at the garden last week, and he spent 40 minutes with us, responding to our questions.

Among the many things we learned, I believe that the following points are the most noteworthy:

Hyber responded to a public, international call for submissions for a commemorative work commissioned by the French government with his proposal for Le Cri, L'Ecrit. He consulted with black people in multiple countries as he worked to formulate it.
While the sculpture appears to be fragile, it is supported by a 5-ton pedestal buried in the earth beneath it. Hyber asserted that his sculpture is more robust than the many stone statues populating the garden.
Hyber intended to portray fragility with this work – he said it reflects the fragility of the law, of societal constructs, of humanity itself.

The artist acknowledged that the use of a chain for a monument that commemorates slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition is a cliché, but he broke the cliché in a surprising way – he split the chain longitudinally, allowing the viewer to look inside at a fictional structure composed of vascular elements that evoke intersections of life.

Le Cri, L'Ecrit invites critical reflection on many levels, which I believe is what art for social causes should do.

Monique Y. Wells and Fabrice Hyber
© Entrée to Black Paris

To learn about Fabrice Hyber, click HERE.

The Dapper Is Alive and Well

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Dapper Museum - façade
© Discover Paris!

When I walked past the French antique store on rue Malebranche in the 5th arrondissement last week, I saw the African relic pictured below in the shop window.

African relic at French antique shop
© Entrée to Black Paris

Though it is not uncommon for me to see such pieces in storefront windows, for some reason, the sight of this one made me think of the defunct Musée Dapper.

The museum closed several years ago, and in 2020, I published an article called "Remembering the Dapper Museum" that presents links to several articles about exhibitions and events held there.

However, the Dapper Foundation is still alive and well. It organized an exhibition at the Dakar Biennial in May 2022 and its Website presents the work of 52 contemporary artists, most of whom are from Africa.

If you read French, you'll appreciate the wealth of information about African art, African and other artists, past exhibitions, and the Foundation itself on this site. There is a mini-dictionary called Lexidapper at the bottom of the home page, which provides definitions and brief explanations of terms encountered during the exploration of African art. You'll even find e-books that you can download at no charge.

If you don't read French, you can still lose yourself in the images of the antiques that are part of the Foundation's collection and works created by contemporary artists.

Begin your exploration at the Website's home page, which you can find HERE.

Enjoy!

Paulette Nardal at the Pantheon

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Photo portrait of Paulette Nardal
Source: FLAMME (Archives Territoriales de Martinique)
CC BY-NC-ND-4.0

Last week, I posted an article about my visit to the promenade named after Jane and Paulette Nardal, two sisters from Martinique whose pride in their Blackness served as a springboard to numerous accomplishments.

At the end of that article, I posted a link to an impressive Website devoted to encouraging the general public to learn about Paulette Nardal and support the campaign to have her inducted into the Pantheon.

Portrait of Paulette Nardal
ca. 1920s - Image in the public domain

Even though the site indicates that an English-language version of it exists, clicking on the icon of the British flag in the upper right corner of the Web pages does nothing. So, I'm providing a summary of the site here.

The home page features a banner that describes Nardal as follows:

Figure du Matrimoine National, Ecrivaine, Féministe et Précurseure du movement de la Négritude (National Heritage Figure, Writer, Feminist, and Precurseur of the Negritude Movement)

Beneath the description is an invitation to vote for Nardal's induction into the Pantheon.

The navigation bar that is superimposed on the banner at the top of the home page and multiple sections found farther down the page provide access to additional Web pages, which present the nonprofit association behind the induction movement, the latest news about Nardal and the movement, Nardal's history (including information about Martinique, her homeland), individuals and associations that support the movement, and of course, a donation page.

I found the history section of the site to be the most engaging. There is an extensive review of Nardal's maternal (Famille Achille) and paternal (Famille Nardal) lineage (including photo portraits of family members), where the reader gets to see just how illustrious her family was. The Famille Nardal page includes profiles of all the Nardal sisters.

There is also a page that features descendants of the Nardal family. I was intrigued to learn that one of Nardal's nephews lost his life in the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen and that one of her nieces, Christiane Eda-Pierre, was a renowned colaratura soprano who sang opera and contemporary music. The Website describes Eda-Pierre as France's first black singer.

Christiane Eda-Pierre, niece of Paulette Nardal
Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse - 11 January 1968
André Cros, photographer
CC BY-SA 4.0

Three articles address Nardal's irrefutable contribution to raising black consciousness and pride through the salon that she and sisters Jeanne (Jane) and Andrée hosted in Clamart, as well as the short-lived journal called La Revue du Monde Noir that she co-founded and published in 1931 and 1932.

Contents of Volume 2 of La Revue du Monde Noir
Fair use claim

If you don't read French, I recommend copying and pasting the text of these profiles into Google Translate so you can appreciate the accomplishments of this remarkable woman and all the members of her family!

The Website was created prior to Josephine Baker's induction into the Pantheon, so its reference to the number of women currently honored there is outdated. The site specifies that the association seeks to have Nardal honored with a plaque as opposed to having her remains moved to the monument.

To sign the petition in favor of Paulette Nardal's induction into the Pantheon, click HERE.

Photo portrait of Paulette Nardal
Source: FLAMME (Archives Territoriales de Martinique)
CC BY-NC-ND-4.0

Jane and Paulette Nardal Honored in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Street sign - Promenade Jane et Paulette Nardal
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jane and Paulette Nardal were two of seven sisters born into a prominent middle-class Martinican family at the turn of the 20th century. Paulette was the first woman of African descent to receive a degree from the Sorbonne; Jane followed in her footsteps soon afterward. The women are most famous for the literary salon they hosted in the Paris suburb of Clamart, where conversation over a period of months gave birth to the Negritude movement that is credited to men.

In 2019, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo presided over a ceremony that named a long strip of greenery near the lower boundary of the 14th arrondissement after these two illustrious women. I visited the Promenade Jane et Paulette Nardal for the first time just a couple of days ago. Today, I'm sharing my impressions of what I found there.

The most convenient way for me to access the promenade was via the Tram 3a. I exited at Porte des Vanves and made my way north on rue Raymond Losserand until I reached rue des Arbustes. The western end of the walkway is found here.

A colorful table with text in French and in Braille provides information about what visitors will find on the promenade: three large play areas for children, stationary reclining benches, a biodiversity area, a shared flower/vegetable garden, a book sharing area, and an installation that depicts the history of the neighborhood from 1900 to 2019.

Schematic representation of the promenade
© Entrée to Black Paris

I walked from one end to the other, snapping photos along the way.

Signage at both ends and about midway along the walkway indicate that the Nardal sisters were "women of letters," Muses of Négritude literature and politics, and militant feminists.

Signage amidst passion fruit plant and other greenery
© Entrée to Black Paris

The promenade is 540 meters (590.5 yards) long. It is flanked along its entire length by apartment buildings, a municipal nursery school, the headquarters of the French Red Cross, and medical facilities and other operations housed in reconstructed buildings that were formerly part of the old Broussais Hospital. But when you focus on the greenery and the activities along the route, you easily forget about these.

Mother and son approaching the nursery school
© Entrée to Black Paris

Storage area for chopped wood and tiles
© Entrée to Black Paris

Flowers in shared garden
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because it is September, most of the flowering plants and bushes are past their prime. I plan to return next spring to view them in all their glory!

The promenade is situated above La Petite Ceinture (The Little Beltway), an old railway that circumnavigates Paris. No longer in use, much of it has been covered over. But at the eastern end of the promenade, across rue Didot, you can still see the tracks.

La Petite Ceinture
© Entrée to Black Paris

This section of La Petite Ceinture is home to a species of bat called Pipistrelle commune. The play area near the western entrance to the promenade was created in the shape of a bat.

Salon des Petits playground
© Entrée to Black Paris

You can listen to the sounds made by these creatures at a bat detector stand located in the Salon des Découvertes.

Bat detector
© Entrée to Black Paris

For me, the most intriguing part of the promenade is the Jeu des Souvenirs, also located in the Salon des Découvertes. It is made up of triangular units, each bearing a section of a color painting that depicts one of three eras for the neighborhood - 1900, 1970, and 2019. The installation is interactive, so passersby are invited to turn the units to see what is represented on each side. It is a wonderful usage of art as a means to engage with history.

Jeu des Souvenirs
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jeu des Souvenirs - triangular mobile units
© Entrée to Black Paris

Jeu des Souvenirs - face of a mobile unit
© Entrée to Black Paris

At the eastern end of the promenade, on place Alice-Guy Blaché, lies the Maison des Pratiques Artistiques Amateurs (MPAA/Broussais). It was built on the site of the boiler room of the old Broussais Hospital, for which the original chimney still stands.

MPAA cultural center
© Entrée to Black Paris

MPAA - Chimney of the boiler room of the Hôpital Broussais
© Entrée to Black Paris

MPAA is a cultural center that hosts live performances, exhibitions, and artistic workshops for amateur artists, actors, and musicians.

The construction of Promenade Jane et Paulette Nardal was part of an urban renewal project that appears to have been successful. Watch the inaugural ceremony (in French; ~25 minutes long), which took place on August 31, 2019, HERE.

Learn about the campaign to have Paulette Nardal inducted into the Pantheon HERE (Website is in French).

Black Women in European Art

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Black woman in Manet's Olympia as depicted by Mariella Bettineschi
© Entrée to Black Paris

The Dior boutique at 30, avenue Montaigne reopened this spring after months of renovation, and its decor is heavily inspired by art. During a recent "On the Grandest of Avenues" tour, I was stunned to see artwork depicting two black women in their window and quickly snapped some photos. The work at the upper right represents Aïcha, a well-known 20th-century Montparnasse model, while the work at the lower right is inspired by Fréderic Bazille's "Young Woman with Peonies."

Window dressing at Dior, 30 avenue Montaigne
© Entrée to Black Paris

Window dressing at Dior, 30 avenue Montaigne - detail
© Entrée to Black Paris

Because of ETBP's interest in Black images in European art (which is the title of our iconic Louvre tour), I returned to the boutique last Saturday to take more photos and to inquire about the artist.

I learned that these works are part of a series called L’era successiva/The next era by Mariella Bettineschi, a female Italian artist. She launched the series in 2008, and it is still a work in progress!

Bettineschi is described as a feminist artist. The Z20 Gallery Website presents the series as follows:

The Portraits (great icons of European art, works by artists such as Caravaggio, Raffaello, Leonardo, Tiziano) are removed from their time and brought to the contemporary world through the choice of a detail, the cancellation of the background, the cut and the split eyes. These “very famous anonymous” women, objects for the gaze of the painters who painted them, through a feminist gesture, are returned to their condition as subjects.

Bettineschi represents four black women in The Next Era. See images of the original paintings next to her paintings as shown in the Dior windows below.

Left: Aïcha, Félix Valloton, 1922 Oil on canvas, Private collection
Right: Félix Valloton, Aicha, Mariella Bettineschi,
2022 Digital painting on plexiglass
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Left: Young Woman with Peonies, Frédéric Bazille, 1870 Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C.
Right: Frédéric Bazille, Ritratto (Frédéric Bazille, Portrait),
Mariella Bettineschi, 2022 Digital painting on plexiglass
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Left: Olympia (detail), Edouard Manet, 1863 Oil on canvas,
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Right: Edouard Manet, Olympia, Mariella Bettineschi,
2022 Digital painting on plexiglass
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Bettineschi has also done a rendition of Portrait of a Black Woman (Portrait of Madeleine) at the Louvre, but it is not displayed in the windows at Dior.

Portrait of a Black Woman (Portrait of Madeleine)
Marie-Guillemine Benoist
1800 Oil on canvas
Louvre, Paris
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

Multiple copies of all fifty-four (54) paintings from The Last Era were hung as a commissioned installation in a specially designed showroom for Dior's Autumn-Winter 2022-2023 Ready-to-Wear Fashion Show in March 2022. Other iconic works that inspired Bettineschi's digital paintings include Leonardo's Mona Lisa, Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Jean-August-Dominique Ingres' The Grand Odalisque.

Find images of selected works from The Last Era HERE.

Watch the video of the fashion show below.

Irresistible Africa - An Exhibition

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Artworks by Aïcha Aïdara, Yacouba Touré, and Tidjane Kante
© Entrée to Black Paris

La Galerie Africaine hosted the vernissage (opening) for its most recent exhibition, entitled Irrésistible Afrique (Irresistable Africa), on August 23, 2022. The show is being held at Galerie Art & Sociéte in the Marais.

Gathering for the opening
© Entrée to Black Paris

Galerist Aude Minart selected Rêve Bleu, a large work by Sudanese artist Islam Zian-Abeldeen, as the feature for this show. It dominates the rear wall of the gallery.

Vernissage visitors
© Entrée to Black Paris

Rêve Bleu
Islam Zian-Abeldeen
(2019) Mixed media on canvas
© Entrée to Black Paris

Zian-Abeldeen's work is inspired by the archaic writing of the Berta (Funj) people who lived along the border of Sudan and Ethiopia. They used animals to represent feelings, and Zian-Abledeen has made this symbolism an integral part of his work.

Minart has hung works by Aïcha Aïdara, Camara Gueye, and Ndoyé Dout's to complement Rêve Bleu.

I was thrilled to learn about Aïcha Aïdara, a Senegalese woman whose art is inspired by thread and fabrics. Her work is a mix of painting and weaving; at its root is the the traditional African pagne (loincloth), which was the subject of her thesis when she studied at the Ecole Nationale des Arts de Dakar. Aïdara uses collage to attach swatches of fabric and individual threads to her canvases - this is a hallmark of her work.

Untitled mixed media works by Aïcha Aïdara on wall
Sculptures on table by Yacouba Touré (left) and Tidjane Kante (right)
© Entrée to Black Paris

New portraits by Camara Gueye, whose work I discovered years ago through La Galerie Africaine, are hung next to Gueye's 2007 mixed media work on paper called Adolescents.

Works on paper by Camara Gueye on stone wall
© Entrée to Black Paris

Portraits by Camara Gueye (2022)
© Entrée to Black Paris

I discovered the work of Ndoyé Dout's through La Galerie Africaine years ago as well. At the Irresistible Africa vernissage, I learned that a South Korean African Art aficionado Jung Hae-Kwang has purchased many of his works. The Africa Museum of Art in Seoul mounted a solo exhibition of Dout's' work for its inauguration in 2008 and has acquired over 150 pieces of his art.

Chaleur by Ndoyé Dout's (hung at far left)
(2011) Acrylic on undulating cardboard
© Entrée to Black Paris

African Art, Douts catalog, Africa Museum of Art
© Entrée to Black Paris

I am partial to three-dimensional works, and I always find intriguing pieces at La Galerie Africaine shows. Below are images of a few that are on display at Irresistible Africa.

Man and Woman
Tidjane Kante
(2022) Wood
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cavalier dogon et son épouse
Traditional piece from Mali
© Entrée to Black Paris

Untitled
H. Yameogo
(2022) Bronze and rosewood
© Entrée to Black Paris

En Corps No. 9
Yacouba Touré
(2022) Bronze
© Entrée to Black Paris

Contemporary wooden masks
Left: Gouro
Right: Baoulé (2019) Alioune Diagne
© Entrée to Black Paris

A hairdresser's sign from Ghana found its place beneath the table holding the sculptures by Yacouba Touré and Tidjane Kante.

Grace Saloon - a hairdresser's sign from Ghana
© Entrée to Black Paris

A beautiful set of plates boasting a reproduction of a famous wax fabric design called "Les Fleurs de Bonheur," created by reverse glass painting, will provide a handsome dressing for someone's table.

"Les Fleurs de Bonheur" plates
© Entrée to Black Paris

There's bound to be something that strikes your fancy at Irresistible Africa. The exhibition is open every day through September 19, 2022 from 12 noon to 7 PM. On Thursday, September 1, you are invited to come by for a free cocktail beginning at 6 PM.

For more information, call Aude Minart at 06.60.24.06.26.

Irrésistible Afrique
PCF Art & Société
19, rue du pont Louis Philippe
75004 Paris
Metro: Saint Paul (Line 1), Hôtel de Ville (Lines 1 and 11), Pont Marie (Line 7)
Email: audeminart@hotmail.com
Internet: www.lagalerieafricaine.com

Table of small sculptures
© Entrée to Black Paris

Another "Soul Food" Restaurant in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Baba Zulu façade - rue du faubourg Saint-Antoine
© Entrée to Black Paris

Soul food is not a "new thing" in Paris. But none of the present-day restaurants that declare themselves purveyors of this cuisine are run by Americans.

And in fact, I find it a bit sad that soul food in the French capital has pretty much been "reduced" to renditions of chicken and waffles and mac and cheese.

Nevertheless, when we passed Baba Zulu on the way to a lovely French bistro called Sélune, we took note of the words "Soul Food" above the entrance and "Chicken and Waffles" in the window, and we decided to return to the neighborhood on another day and give the place a try. And on August 15th, we did just that.

Baba Zulu has two locations, both of which are off the tourist track. The original restaurant is in the 10th arrondissement near République, and the newer one is in the 12th arrondissement, not far from Nation. The one we discovered is in the 12th arrondissement, a block away from Saint-Antoine Hospital.

The decor is industrial with brightly colored accents. The back wall bears the name of the restaurant in neon.

Baba Zulu dining room
© Entrée to Black Paris

Baba Zulu in neon
© Entrée to Black Paris

Artwork created by Maison Château Rouge, a basketball hoop and three basketball planters (with artificial plants), old-fashioned waffle irons, and shelves bearing condiments, soft drinks, and oddly, boxes of Reese's Puffs cereal, serve as decor.

Basketball planters
© Entrée to Black Paris

Maison Château Rouge artwork and waffle iron
© Entrée to Black Paris

Cereal boxes and soft drinks
© Entrée to Black Paris

Customers who wish to pay for their meal with a credit card are obliged to order using an electronic menu near the entrance. If you want to pay in cash, you must go to the counter at the rear of the dining room.

Electronic tablet for ordering
© Entrée to Black Paris

Menu above order counter
© Entrée to Black Paris

Contrary to what the menu says, Calypso is the non-carbonated soft drink served here (not Snapple).

Soft drinks
© Entrée to Black Paris

Tom ordered a "Spike Lee," a meal consisting of chicken tenders coated with honey-flavored barbecue sauce, fries, four sections of waffle, and a choice of two condiments. He chose ketchup and barbecue sauce, both of which turned out to be individual packets produced by Heinz.

The waffle came with a small serving of maple syrup (shown in the center of the photo below).

The "Spike Lee" and Dr. Pepper
© Entrée to Black Paris

I ordered an original menu, which consisted of two pieces of fried chicken, a waffle divided into four sections, and a choice of two condiments. I chose Tabasco sauce and barbecue sauce, and received a small serving of Tabasco in a cup similar to the one in which the maple syrup was served. The barbecue sauce was the same as Tom's - an individual packet produced by Heinz.

I ordered an extra piece of fried chicken for Tom because he was afraid the portions served wouldn't be large enough. He was wrong!

Original menu with Calypso Original Lemonade
© Entrée to Black Paris

I enjoyed the flavor of my fried chicken, though the crust was a tad less crunchy than I expected. The portion was generous, and I would have been satisfied with only half the waffle (which was slightly dry). I was pleased with my selection of Calypso Original Lemonade as a beverage, and would happily try the other flavors that the restaurant offers.

Tom liked the fried chicken better than his chicken tenders, and he mistakenly thought that the chicken would have been smoked or grilled because it was labeled "barbecued." He found his waffle to be just to his liking. Though his fries had great flavor, he found them to be too greasy. He appreciated that Baba Zulu offers Dr. Pepper - his favorite carbonated beverage - and he enjoyed this with his meal.

Not wanting to stuff ourselves, we decided to take home the chicken and waffle we couldn't finish so we could order dessert. We decided to split a banana pecan waffle to finish our meal.

Banana Pecan Waffle
© Entrée to Black Paris

Both of us were quite pleased with this selection. The waffle was tender and flavorful, and the bananas and pecan halves provided lovely contrasting colors, textures, and flavors. Though the pecans were dusted with powdered sugar, the dessert was not overly sweet.

Would I go out of my way to return to Baba Zulu? No. But if I were in the neighborhood and happened to be looking for an inexpensive, tasty, and filling meal, I'd gladly stop in and try something else on their menu.

Baba Zulu
257, rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine
75011 Paris
Telephone: 09.87.50.35.57
Metro: Faidherbe-Chaligny (Line 8)
Hours: Monday through Saturday 12 noon - 10:30 PM

To read previous articles about soul food in Paris, click HERE.

Navigating the Binaries: Sequentia 3:3

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Lucy Jane, Martinique 2022
Image courtesy of the poet

This is the third part of Dr. Roseline Armange's three-part poem called "Navigating the Binaries." It is part of a collection of poetry entitled Queering My Caribbeanness, an autobiographical body of art that explores Black queerness in the French Caribbean. Dr. Armange (aka Lucy Jane) describes it as "embodying love and light as authentic truth" and considers it a "consecrated act of social change."

Find Sequentia 1:3 here.
Find Sequentia 2:3 here.

Navigating the Binaries: Sequentia 3:3

Zami

Zami - A spirit!

Zami - The Ugly!

Zami - in Trois-îlets and Carbet (mangrooving - a term I created to speak about moving within the tensions/navigating the tensions of living in Martinique in the mangrove)

For these are the spaces assigned!

Rainbow lines

Rainbow geographies

Under a silent still ignorant hate and rejection of what humaness is after all

God is Queer for I know for sure

God is I am what you say you are

But Shhht…. Crab nan trou pa ka palé (Crabs in holes don't talk).

Ti brin respect ba lè ainé! (A little respect for the elders!)

Ti brin respect ba bondié! (A little respect for God!)

Shhhht…. Denial is my praise

Unspeaking the truth is my prayer!

Days and Nights

Unveiling the truths

Univeiling family devils and Martinican’s shame to be away

Oh! I love you, My Daughter!

The truth is too hard!

The truth is tro lou (too heavy)!

Pardonare the womb of my womb (Forgive me)

The weight of Maman Makrèl is tro lou (the Mother of gossips is too heavy)

Pardonare the womb of my womb (Forgive me)

The weight of my religious songs and churchy praises

Is trop lou (is too heavy)

Kyrié Elysion, they say! (Kyrie Eleison) they say

Kyrié Elysion, they sing! (Kyrie Eleison) they sing

Kyrié Elysion, Killing the masses

Killing the unworthy of the churches

Killing the loved one under Pharisees ugly ignorant truth

Singing!

Kyrié Elysion (Kyrie Eleison)

False acceptance

Under a covering shade of disgrace and harmful death sentence and guilt!

Kyrié Elysion yo ka di (Kyrie Eleison, they say)

Loving is Pure

Loving you Impure

Get away from me Satan

You, the Devil!

Get away from me Satan

You, the Shameful!

Get away from me Satan

You, the Soils of Sodom & Gomorrah

Kyrié Elysion (Kyrie Eleison)

Some of them are praying away for the Truth to be revealed

A Truth of unwanted love and acceptance

Kyrié Elysion (Kyrie Eleison)

I say, Is my Liberation

Kyrié Elysion (Kyrie Eleison)

I say, Is my Freedom

Kyrié Elysion (Kyrie Eleison)

I say, My truth, My God

Kyrié Elysion (Kyrie Eleison)

I say, Haven, my Place, my Peace

Kyrié Elysion (Kyrie Eleison)

Queer-yrié Elysion! (Queer Kyrie Eleison)

denial

Queer-yrié Elysion!

Away the weight of traditional démesure (intemperance)

Away the weight of your uncomfortable heaviness

Queer-yrié Elysion

A Praise of Liberation

Pardonare The womb of my womb ! (Forgive me)

The weight of my cultural unacceptability is tro lou (too heavy)

Denial is my song

Cultural sadness my injunction

Cultural shame my praise

For this is what I learned to display

For this is what I learned to play

Pardonare The womb of my womb! (Forgive me)

Daughter of my womb!

For my love is

I love you, in the silence of my speech

I love you, in the silence of my word

I love you, in the silence of my kisses

Daughter of my womb

Daughter of my soul

Daughter of my light

Under the silent rule of gendered normative ways

The churches are still singing: “Praise to the Lord, Oh, Lord what a blessing to love our neighbors! How blessed is our love extended to our neighbors, foreigners of our mental binary narrowness.

Blessed is the Lord of the Lord!

Aaaaamen”

Pardonare, O, My Mother !

The mother of God’s womb

My deepest Heart did the work

My deepest Soul did the healing

My deepest Spirit did the moving

Pardonare, O, My mother !

The mother of God’s womb

For love is Love

A long way to learn it

A long way of accepting it

For Love is Love

Hearing the sounds of God speaking to my Spirit

It is time

Hearing the sound of God righting my Heart and healing my soul

Everlasting peace is what I was granted of

Everlasting love is what I was granted of

“For who are not loved, shall be called Beloved” says God

For those who are hurt shall be comforted

My comfort is in my God (Love)

My comfort is Eternal Love (God)

“For let him who accept this teaching do so” recounted Matthew a million times (Matthew 19:12)

From my love arises encompassing forgiveness

From my love arises encompassing love

From my love arises encompassing eternity

From my love arises encompassing peace

From my love arises encompassing Eternal Love

Zami

Zami….

Getting out of the Binaries

Becoming Free

03 Juin 2022 5:54 PM

“In front of the sea, Telling, voicing the fundamental I AM THAT I AM with joyful praise and joyful smile. A state of Rapha. Peace be within.”

~ Lucy Jane

27 Juin 2022 1:51 AM

“Silent rains, and thunderstorms from the outside-in, the raining night shout out the joy of my raining redemption, my raining joyful song, my raining everlasting liberation.”

~ Lucy Jane

27 Juin 2022, 10:40 AM

The Sounds of God encompassing love and setting everlasting peace. Away my pride and fears and violence. Restoration is in my womb. Restoration is who I am. Restored My Name. Liberated My Full Name. Righting my Pride. Enlighting the Prideness of my PRIDE!

~ Lucy Jane

Lucy Jane, Martinique 2022
Image courtesy of the poet

Navigating the Binaries - Sequentia 2:3

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Lucy Jane, Martinique 2022
Image courtesy of the poet

Sequentia 1:3 of Dr. Roseline Armange's three-part poem called "Navigating the Binaries" received a warm response last week! It is part of a collection of poetry entitled Queering My Caribbeanness, an autobiographical body of art that explores Black queerness in the French Caribbean. Dr. Armange (aka Lucy Jane) describes it as "embodying love and light as authentic truth" and considers it a "consecrated act of social change." Find Sequentia 2 below.

Navigating the Binaries: Sequentia 2:3

Zami

A paradox in LGBT minor dancing on Caribbean folks

An invisible space of gender-gentrification

A space for what some of them have felt of in our beingness: A Paria

Shhht… Mi Zami ka montré! (Look, Zami are coming out!)

Couri caché (Run and hide)

Maladi a vice ka kouri tout Koté (a disease of vice that is spreading everywhere)

Shhht… Mi Zami ka montré! (Look, Zami are coming out!)

Plèn lin (During the full moon)

Pa kité kow touché (Don't let yourself be touched by them)

Zami

Her body

Her body bonded to my body

My body bonded by her swing

Her hips in my hips

Her tongue in my tongue

Her voice in my voice

Smelling her body into my fingers

Letting her smile envelope me

Her chest melting into my chest

One Love

Zami

Her tongue lasciviously enrobing my body with her sweet fragrance

And a scream of Awe!

A Yawhé of bénédiksion (A Godly praise)

A Yawhé of blessed wombs and blessed tongues

A Yawhé of Love ek Kompassion (with compassion)

In Awe with the sweet melody of her body

The sweet fragrance of her lips on my lips

Covering the surface of my paysage (of my landscape)

Zami

Shhhht…. Zami pa ka montré! (Zami does not come out!)

Zami pa ka couri grand jou (Zami does not run and show her/themself in daylight)

Pou kimbé wont douvan la fanmi (to be ashamed in front of the family)

Pou kimbé wont douvan la patri (to be ashamed in front of your native land)

Zami pa ka palé (Zami does not speak too much)

Zami ka censuré (Zami practices self-censorship)

Zami ka kaché (Zami hides)

Ka maché en ba pied mango (Zami walks under the shade of the Mango trees)

Ka kaché dey roch larivè (Hides behind river rocks).

Ka serré adan foss mangrove (Hides in the pits of the mangrove)

Ka soti grand jou pou serré adan obscurité (Goes out only in daylight to hide in darkness)

Kon manikou ka chèché limiè dé zè di matin (like an opossum looking for light at two o'clock in the morning).

Zami

Zami pa ka palé! (Zami does not speak)

Zami ka pé! (Zami shuts her/their mouth)

Zami pa ni voix! (Zami has no voice)

Zami pa ni lwa! (Zami has no birthright)

Zami pa ka di! (Zami does not speak)

Zami ka maché douvan kon soukougnan douvan jou (Zami walk as Shapeshifters afore-day ).

Zami - Ka kouri kaché avant jou tombé (Zami is running to hide before the day breaks)

Zami pa ka rété (Zami does not stay)

Zami pa ka montré (Zami do not show her/themself)

Zami

Zami….

24 juillet 2021 à 3:03 AM & 03 Juin 2022 5:54 PM

“Sequence and end of a long psychological comptine (nursery rhyme) - redemptive suffering - souffrance rédemptrice - redemptive song - chant rédempteur - redemptive love - amour rédempteur.”

~ Lucy Jane

Lucy Jane, Martinique 2022
Image courtesy of the poet

Navigating the Binaries - Sequentia 1:3

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Lucy Jane, Martinique 2022
Image courtesy of the poet

Entrée to Black Paris last welcomed Dr. Roseline Armange (aka Lucy Jane) to the blog in October 2021, when we published her poem entitled "How Can You Rise Higher." Dr. Armange is currently working on a collection of poetry entitled Queering My Caribbeanness, an autobiographical body of art that explores Black queerness in the French Caribbean. She describes it as "embodying love and light as authentic truth" and considers it a "consecrated act of social change." This summer, we are pleased to publish a three-part sequentia (sequence) from the collection called "Navigating the Binaries." Find Sequentia 1 below.

Navigating the Binaries: Sequentia 1:3

Zami

An encounter

Zami - A tribe

Zami - Ancestral tribe

Zami - Unspoken history

Zami - 21st Century

Where are we now?

Zami - a word of queering Caribbean liberation

Zami - a word of queering Caribbean revolution

Zami - a word of queering Caribbean evolution

Zami - Encountering Queerness.

Zami - Meeting with sista-hood, sista-blood

Zami - Caribbean racines (Roots)

Zami - No need to voice

Zami - A gut feeling

Zami - A sensation

Zami - An impression

Zami - Queering new tribes

Zami - Conscription of multitudes

Zami - Conscription of similitude

Zami - Conscription of sufferings

Zami

Understanding a voice melting in historical denial

Violence of a religious comptine (Nursery rhyme)

Giving right to beat

Giving right to ignore

Giving right to denial

Giving right to psychological suffering

Does her soul and mind-matter of “Sa lé moun lan kè di”? (What will people say?)

“Sa yo kè di?” (What will they say?)

Queering the status quo

Of a sexual fluidity

In discordance with the laws

Queering my dissidence

Queering my blackness

Queering my Caribbeanness

Queering my Martinicanness

Queering my Sexuality

Queering my speech on a fence

A rainbow fence

Sharpening my tongue

Vocalizing more

Expressing more

Being more

Love

Noire Love

Fanm Caribéen adan Zami (Caribbean woman loving woman).

Zami - a strange zone for the heteronormative Man.

Zami - a strange disruption of an established gentrified order

Gentrifying sexuality

Gendering myths and religious curse

Zami - a rebuke of the Laws

Zami - the mercy of the Command

Zami - an racin Lanmou (the roots of love)

Zami - a grace of God

Zami - a gift of God

From Joan of Arc to Saint Augustine

A fame of Love

A grace of Love

Zami

Restoring the psyche

Embracing God’s love

One Love

A justice in Black divine

A justice in the Caribbean divine

24 juillet 2021, 3:03 AM, Paris

“My day encountering life, people, tribe, queerness, Caribbeanness, love, joy, creativity, art, passion, and something yet to become, yet to Bi. La noire, Sophie, her hips, smile, presence and artistic voice, concert and queerness discussion”

~ Lucy Jane

24 juillet 2022, 9:22 PM, Carbet

“Queering the grace of Love

Queering the grace of Love in Caribbean Folklore

A full circle of Love acceptance

Amazing Grace

Amazing Gift

Amazing Love”

~ Lucy Jane

Lucy Jane, Martinique 2022
Image courtesy of the poet

Last Days for Black Pharaoh Exhibition at the Louvre

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200

As of today (Bastille Day - July 14, 2022), only eleven days remain to see Pharaon des Deux Terres, a remarkable exhibition that presents the "before, during, and after" of the 25th Dynasty - the reign of the Black Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt.

I visited the exhibition with friends a month ago and was overwhelmed by its size as well as the density of the information presented. The Louvre estimates the length of the visit to be 90 minutes, but I felt that I had to rush through the two hours my friends and I allotted for our walk through. I had hoped to return to the show before posting this blog, but unfortunately, my schedule didn't allow it.

Years ago, I traveled to Egypt twice, and I prepared extensively for both visits by researching the history of Ancient Egypt. I was counting on Pharaon des Deux Terres to refresh my memory and add to the information I previously learned about the 25th Dynasty, and I was not disappointed.

Pharaon des Deux Terres is organized in connection with the Louvre’s 10+ year archaeological campaign in Sudan. It presents artifacts from museums around the world.

Triumphant stele of King Piankhy's 21st year - upper section
Plaster mold of original stele, which is preserved at
the Egyptian Museum of Cairo
© Entrée to Black Paris

Though many of the pieces shown are reproductions, there are some truly magnificent original works in the show!

Amon protecting Taharqa
25th Dynasty - Grey granite of Tombos - Kawa, Temple T
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
© Entrée to Black Paris

Amon's singer Diasthebsed and Taharqa's daughter Amenirdis II
25th Dynasty - Sandstone - Médinet Habou
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
© Entrée to Black Paris

Baboon in worship pose - frontal and right rear oblique views
25th Dynasty - Grey granite - Kawa
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
© Entrée to Black Paris

The curators even made the exhibition child-friendly by including "Moi Taharqa !" information cards and audio commentary that highlight events and objects throughout the show.

There is an extensive section on the numerous European expeditions organized in Egypt following Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign there. The items on display in this section are mostly drawings and maps.

The section entitled "Nécropoles" (burial grounds) delves into numerous discoveries made in the royal cemeteries of the Black Pharoahs. 3D-printed reproductions of six sculptures found at the Dukki Gel burial ground in 2003 dominate a space near the end of the exhibition.

The originals of these works are preserved at the Kerma Museum in Sudan.

At the end of the exhibition, a surprisingly large space is dedicated to Verdi's Aida - the opera about an Ethiopian princess enslaved by an Egyptian pharaoh. There is also a four-minute video that presents extracts from an animated film by Michel Ocelot called Le Pharaon, le sauvage, et la princesse (to be released in October 2022). It tells the fictional tale of Tanouékamani (last of the Black Pharoahs) and his love for Nasalsa, a princess whose mother refuses to let her marry anyone other than a pharaoh.

You can see Pharaon des Deux Terres and the permanent collections at the Louvre for 17€. An audio guide for the exhibition will cost you an additional 5€.

Purchase your tickets here: https://www.ticketlouvre.fr/louvre/b2c/index.cfm/expomuseum/eventCode/ExpoWeb/index.cfm/change.language/lang/en-GB

Art and Food Pairing™: Kadist and Carajás - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Prior to attending the opening for Nectar at Kadist, I enjoyed a lovely traditional Brazilian meal at a restaurant almost directly across the street from the gallery.

Carajás has been in business since 2001. When you enter the restaurant, you are greeted by a large (perhaps ceramic) figure of a woman who gazes pensively into the distance from her perch atop a bright yellow bar.

The simple, colorful dining room is relatively small.

I arrived an hour before the end of the lunch service on a Saturday and felt fortunate to have the place to myself. Carajás only serves lunch on Saturdays and Sundays, so I felt doubly fortunate to be able to coordinate my meal with the art opening.

I ordered my favorite Brazilian cocktail, caipirinha, and sipped it while reading about the gallery.

The menu is fairly extensive, with eight entrées, eight main dishes, and six desserts. I ordered Mandioca frita (fried manioc) as a starter and feijoada (bean and pork stew) as my main dish.

The fried manioc was served without condiments. It was crisp and not at all greasy. The portion of feijoada was a bit smaller than I'm accustomed to, but I was grateful for that because I was able to finish it without feeling stuffed and still have room for dessert.

Both dishes were served piping hot, and they were delicious!

For dessert, I selected something I'd never tried before - brigadeiro. Akin to the chocolate truffle, many say it is the most popular dessert in Brazil.

Carajás' version of these fudge balls is coated with chocolate sprinkles. I found it to be light, delectable, and quite satisfying after my copious main dish.

I wouldn't hesitate to return to this restaurant. The next time I do, I plan to try the xinxim (chicken with coconut milk and peanuts)!

Carajás
24, rue des Trois Frères
75018 Paris
Metro: Abbesses (Line 12)
Hours: Monday through Friday 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm; Saturday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm; Sunday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm – 11 pm

Art and Food Pairing™: Kadist and Carajás - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Kadist is a non-profit organization dedicated to affirming contemporary art’s relevance within social discourse and supporting systemic change alongside artists already engaged in the fight for equity and justice. Its Paris and San Francisco galleries present exhibitions and events, organize residencies and educational initiatives, and produce projects online and via social media.

I recently learned about Kadist when I met Savannah Wood, executive director of the Baltimore, MD-based nonprofit organization called Afro Charities, in Paris.

Wood and I met over coffee after she experienced the ETBP Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden walk, and as we talked, we found that we have a friend and many interests in common. She told me that she was organizing a spring-summer art exhibition in Paris that would provide a creative opportunity for the public to engage with the archives of the AFRO American Newspapers (for which Wood serves as archives director), and that she'd be sure to send me an invitation for it.

That exhibition is called Nectar. It is on display at Kadist through July 24, 2022.

Xaviera Simmons is the artist featured in Nectar. One of over 1100 artists whose work is represented in Kadist's collection, Simmons was commissioned to developed a new body of work in response to her research into AFRO American's archives. Her solo exhibition at Kadist presents photographs of the artist dressed in various costumes and holding props while also holding selected photos from the archives.

In addition to her photographs, Simmons also created a lengthy silent video of graphics that portray various aspects of the African-American experience. This is displayed on a screen in front of the gallery's main window.

In the second room of the exhibition, two screens silently present the history of AFRO American Newspapers through text and images written and selected by Wood.

One of the text screens indicates that the AFRO American archives contain close to three million photographs.

Relevant to the exhibition on display, another text indicates that the way a photographer interprets the archive collection will differ from the way other professionals do.

Wood, Simmons, and gallery director Emilie Villez were present at the exhibition opening in May.

On June 15, the gallery hosted a round table discussion on efforts to establish Black archives in Europe. Wood moderated this discussion, which examined the question "How do we make Black archives within western contexts?" Panelists were Marie-Julie Chalu (Afropea), Rhoda Boateng (Black Cultural Archives), Julian Isena (Black Queer Archives NL), and Ulrika Flink (Black Archives Sweden). The house was full and the discussion lively. Conversation continued over refreshments afterward.

Kadist welcomes visitors from Thursday–Sunday between 2 PM and 7 PM. The gallery will be closed on July 14, 2022.

Prior to attending the opening for Nectar, I enjoyed a lovely traditional Brazilian meal at a restaurant almost directly across the street from Kadist. Look for my review of Carajás in Part 2 of this article, to be published next week.

Kadist
19bis/21, rue des Trois Frères
75018 Paris
Telephone: 09 67 18 95 90
Website: https://kadist.org/paris/
Metro: Abbesses (Line 12)

Emery Baï at La Galerie Africaine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Emery Baï is a visual artist and fashion designer. Aude Minart of the itinerant gallery La Galerie Africaine has mounted an intimate show of his work that will be open through July 9, 2022.

Ne me Klimt pas is the name of the exhibition that features four of Baï's paintings and several sculptures by Yacouba Touré and other Burkina Faso bronze masters. It is derived from the inspiration Baï draws from the art of Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. A prime example of this influence is seen in Baï's work entitled Ne me Klimt pas, which resembles Klimt's Der Kuss.

Left - Ne me Klimt pas (2021) - Acrylic on canvas and gold leaf by Emery Baï
Right - En-corps 2 [front] and En-corps 6 [rear] (2019-2020) -
Bronzes by Yacouba Touré
© Entrée to Black Paris

Above - Eve à la pomme (2021) - Acrylic on canvas and gold leaf by Emery Baï
Below - La Famille à Cheval (2021) - Bronze by I Guiré
© Entrée to Black Paris

Baï is classically trained – he graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Benin, studied fashion design in Bordeaux, and continued his study of visual arts at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Montpellier. He draws on personal stories and collective memory as well as humor and drama to create works that depict the gap between the ideal world and the current state of reality. He describes his artistic practice as "the expression of a cultural mix, a hymn to diversity and openness."

In addition to Klimt, Baï draws artistic inspiration from Alma Ta Dema, Ingres, Alexandre Cabanel, Courbet, Mario Epanya, Francois Rousseau, Pierre and Gilles, and Imane Ayissi. He uses anthropomorphism, symbolism, and mannerism to create colorful allegorical works that combine scholarly culture and popular culture.

This exhibition marks the first time that La Galerie Africaine is showing Baï's work. Galerist Aude Minart is inviting the public to visit the exhibition and enjoy refreshments on the evenings of June 28 and July 7 up to 9:30 PM. For more information, contact her at audeminart@hotmail.com or 06.60.24.06.26.

La Galerie Africaine
15, rue Elzevir
75003 Paris
Metro: Saint-Paul (Line 1) and Chemin Vert (Line 8)
Hours: Every day from 12 noon through 7 PM and by appointment

Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Tyler Stovall

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Announcement for Tyler Stovall memorial event (detail)

On the evening of Tuesday, June 14, approximately 70 people gathered at Columbia Global Centers | Paris to celebrate the life and legacy of Tyler Stovall.* Twenty additional people attended the event via Zoom.

Stovall (1954-2021) was a distinguished historian and respected writer. He worked his way up through academic ranks at several colleges and universities to eventually serve as dean of the Undergraduate Division of Letters and Science at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as dean of the Humanities Division and professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. At the time of his death, he was Fordham University’s dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

First on the order of events for the evening was a screening of the video documentary Myth of a Colorblind France (Documentary Arts, 2020). Stovall figures prominently in director Alan Govenar's exploration of this topic, appearing on screen and providing audio commentary to discuss multiple aspects of the African-American presence in France.

After a brief pause, during which beverages and canapés were served, Professors Jennifer Boittin and Fred Constant called participants together for the second part of the evening. This was devoted to testimonials and performing arts tributes to Stovall.

Two virtual tributes were the first to be heard. Though Stovall's widow and son were unable to attend the live event, his widow – Dr. Denise Herd – spoke lovingly about him via Zoom. Her remembrances were followed by a pre-recorded statement by Florence Ladd, Director Emeritus of the Bunting (Radcliff) Institute of Harvard University.

Participants were then treated to a live, 10-minute reading from Stovall's Paris Noir - African Americans in the City of Light by award-winning writer and cultural critic, Jake Lamar.

Personal friends and colleagues took turns recounting anecdotes and sharing their feelings about having known and/or worked with Stovall. Many made reference to his brilliant scholarship, and all spoke of his generous spirit.

James Cohen, who simply wanted to be recognized as Stovall's ami, shared many stories about their 40 years of friendship.

Performances by Simone Lagrand (poetry), Jaj (poetry and song), and Richard Allen (song) added powerful poignancy to the event. Jaj sang one song in Kréyol, which Lagrand translated into French.

Though technical difficulties prevented virtual attendees from fully appreciating the event, those who attended live were greatly moved by it. After the last performance, the crowd repaired to the garden to enjoy more refreshments and conversation before leaving the premises.

Rest in peace, Tyler!

For me, history is the record not only of how things change, but how people make things change, how they act individually and collectively to create a better world.
~ Tyler Stovall

*The event was organized by Les ami.e.s. de Tyler Stovall (Friends of Tyler Stovall): Richard Allen, Jennifer Boittin, Fred Constant, Audrey Célestine, James Cohen, Sara Fila-Bakabadio, Franck Freitas-Ekué, Trica Keaton, Emmanuelle Sibeud, Sylvain Pattieu, and Monique Y. Wells.

Chaos and Order - An Arts Festival

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Dr. Mame-Fatou Niang
Keynote speaker for Chaos and Order

"We often fear change, but the disruption of truths, ideals and the status quo have produced some of the most transformative movements in history."

From June 7-11, 2022, the students of the University of Kent Paris School of Arts and Culture are inviting the public to join them in embracing chaos as an opportunity for personal, artistic and social growth. Their postgraduate arts festival, entitled "Chaos and Order," consists of a series of free events that will challenge normalcy — bringing chaos into order and order out of chaos.

Here is the entire line-up of events (all are in person; RSVP by clicking on the hyperlinks below):

June 7: Vernissage (art exhibition) – L'AiR Arts Association, 11 Cité Falguière, 75015 Paris
June 8: Curated film screenings – L'AiR Arts Association, 11 Cité Falguière, 75015 Paris

June 9: KEYNOTE: Arts and Poetics of Living in Times of Crisis by Dr. Mame-Fatou Niang – Reid Hall, Salle de Conférence, 4, rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris – 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

June 9: WRITE & SIP: Deconstruction - Neither Construction nor Destruction – L'AiR Arts Association, 11 Cité Falguière, 75015 Paris – 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

June 10: Short Film Screenings – Cinema de l'Epée de Bois, 100 rue Mouffetard, 75005 Paris – 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

June 10: CREATIVE WORKSHOP: Writing from Art – L'AiR Arts Association, 11 Cité Falguière, 75015 Paris

June 11: Screening of Character and Q&A with Director Paul Heintz – Cinema de l'Epée de Bois, 100 rue Mouffetard, 75005 Paris – 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

June 11: CLOSING EVENT- The Menteur Postgraduate Magazine Launch – Reid Hall, 4, rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris – 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Keynote speaker Dr. Mame-Fatou Niang is a filmmaker and professor of French and Francophone studies at Carnegie-Mellon University. Her work is on contemporary France, Sub-Saharan Africa, postcolonialism, media studies, and urban planning. Her documentary Mariannes Noires (2016), which focuses on the Afro-French identities of seven women, was selected for the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Toronto Black Film Festival, and Festival International du Film Black Montréal. Her presentation will be followed by a student-led Q&A session.

In the May 21 edition of the Les Amis de Beauford Delaney blog, I wrote about the "Writing from Art" workshop that I will host on Friday, June 10. I will present four Beauford Delaney works to participants, and they will write slam poetry or short stories inspired by these works.

See the Festival website for additional information: https://www.kentparisfestival.com/.

Joséphine Baker le musical

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Flier for Joséphine Baker le musical (detail)

On the 116th anniversary of Josephine Baker's birth, a new musical tribute to La Baker will open in the Pigalle neighborhood of Paris' 9th arrondissement.

Writer-composer Jean-Pierre Hadida's Joséphine Baker le musical tells Josephine's story "from Missouri to the Pantheon." He and producer Francine Disegni are proud to herald Josephine's life's accomplishments with this show.

Hadida wrote the libretto and orchestrated the staging for the show. He also created colorful paintings and original dance music for the musical that "trace a century of shadow and light."

Graphic designs by Jean-Pierre Hadida

Eight performers, all of whom can act, sing, and dance, have been cast in the revue. Most of them will play multiple roles. Characters include Pepito Abatino (Josephine's Italian impresario and lover), Caroline Dudley Reagan (the woman who hired Josephine to come to Paris to perform in La Revue Nègre in 1925), Jo Bouillon (Josephine's fourth husband and adoptive father of the Rainbow Tribe), and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nevedya, a singer, actress, and dancer who is also a songwriter, will play Josephine.

Nevedya
Image source: Joséphine Baker le musical press release

Brian Bouillon-Baker, Josephine's seventh adopted son, serves as artistic and historical consultant on the musical. He worked closely with Hadida and Disegni to ensure that the story told depicts Josephine's story as accurately as possible.

Brian Bouillon-Baker and Jean-Pierre Hadida
Image source: Joséphine Baker le musical press release

An actor and writer, Bouillon-Baker's birthday is June 3 - the same as Josephine's. He recently published Joséphine Baker l’universelle, a biography of Josephine's life and his personal memoir.

The 90-minute revue will be staged at La Nouvelle Ève, one of the oldest cabaret venues in Paris. Located in Pigalle, a few meters down the street from the location of the first "Chez Joséphine" night club, this recently refurbished theater seats up to 280 persons.

Performances of Joséphine Baker le musical are scheduled for June 3, 7, 15, 22, and 28. Curtain time is 8:30 PM.

To order tickets online, click HERE (Web site is in French).

La Nouvelle Ève
25, rue Pierre Fontaine
75009 Paris
Telephone for reservations: 01.42.64.49.40
Metro: Pigalle (Line 2)

First Josephine Baker Day Celebration in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Seventy-one years ago, the NAACP declared Sunday, May 20, 1951 "Josephine Baker Day" to honor Baker's work to advance civil rights.

On Friday, May 20, 2022 – for the first time – Josephine Baker Day was celebrated in Paris.

A magnificent evening unfolded at the Restaurant Le 47 at Hôtel Château Frontenac, the establishment that housed Josephine's second cabaret in Paris. Chez Josephine Baker opened at midnight on November 20 at 43, rue François I, just two doors down from the restaurant. (Number 43 no longer exists.)

The inimitable Brian Scott Bagley, founder of Le Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendents de Paris, organized this event. He was called away to the Cannes Film Festival at the last minute, so he welcomed guests and thanked them for attending via a prerecorded video.

Poet and artistic theologian Victor André Greene, who served as the event's solo Master of Ceremonies, was warm and witty throughout the evening.

Members of the Bouillon-Baker family were among the attendees who packed the house. Delphine Martins Bouillon-Baker, daughter of Luis Bouillon-Baker and granddaughter of Josephine; her husband, Jérôme Martins; and their lovely daughter, Noémie Martins; enjoyed the show from the table next to mine. I was delighted to discover that Luis Bouillon-Baker – the third adopted son of the Rainbow Tribe – is the president of Le Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendents.

Le 47 served a four-course gourmet, Baker-themed meal that began with a glass of champagne and included a surprise – a small serving of verrine bolognaise (pasta with meat sauce) that was said to be Baker's favorite dish. Greene knew that his French wasn't quite up to the task of announcing the menu, so he unabashedly asked a friend of Bagley to help him. The lovely Camille Schomoeker happily obliged.

Entertainment consisted of a mix of live music and video recordings. Lorena Masikini sang several classics, accompanied by musicians playing bass, electric piano, and electric guitar. Masikini will star in "Josephine Sings," a show that is scheduled to be performed at the Château des Milandes on Josephine's birthday this June 3.

Ms. Amanda Beauville-Diouf, director of the short film entitled "Freda," addressed attendees briefly prior to showing a clip from her production.

The audience was enthralled by video clips of Cab Calloway's daughter, Camay Calloway, and grandson, Peter Brooks. In the first clip, Brooks introduced himself and his mother, Camay. In the second video, Camay Calloway told the story of how her aunt, Blanche Calloway, and Josephine Baker performed together in Noble and Sissle's Shuffle Along. Marveling that she still remembered the words, she went on to sing France's national anthem, "La Marseillaise."

On the wall opposite the restaurant's bar, three shelves within a glass-enclosed nook were lined with artifacts from Le Musée Joséphine et des Afro-Descendants. Magazines, books, two of Baker's medals, and photos were among the items displayed.

Magnificent Harcourt photographic portraits of Baker were displayed in the dining room, and a Harcourt representative spoke about the studio's gift of these images to the Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendents de Paris in support of the museum's fundraising efforts.*

Near the end of the evening, Schomoeker read the statement Lisa Simone (daughter of Nina Simone) prepared for the inauguration of the Josephine Baker plaque at Baker's first cabaret in the 9th arrondissement. The posing of the plaque was also the result of Bagley's tireless pursuit of the preservation of Baker's legacy.

Scheduled to end at 11 PM, attendees had such a good time that several people lingered at the restaurant until after midnight. There's no better sign of a successful event!

*To purchase Harcourt photos in support of Le Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendents, contact Brian Scott Bagley:

Email - museejosephinebakerparis@gmail.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/museejosephinebakerparis

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/museejosephinebakerdeparis/

Noémie Martins - great granddaughter of Josephine Baker
Photo by Delphine Martins/Musée Joséphine Baker et des Afro-Descendants de Paris

Samuel Akins - Part 3: Black in the Paris Opera Ballet

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Samuel Akins
Image by Jess Brohier

In Part 1 of this article series, Samuel Akins told Entrée to Black Paris how he came to audition for the Paris Opera Ballet and be invited to dance with the troupe for the 2021-2022 season. In Part 2, we looked at how the season is unfolding for him.

Today, Akins talks about how he is adjusting to living in Paris.

ETBP: When you came to Paris to audition, was it the first time you had ever been here?

SA: It was! I'd always wanted to come to Paris. I studied French in high school, and the roots and vocabulary of ballet are French. I loved the language and was fascinated by the culture, and I wanted to know more.

So, when I came for the audition, it was a lot to take in at one time. My decision to come was last minute, and I remember getting out of the metro with my suitcase and seeing the blue sky and the buildings and thinking to myself, "Oh my gosh, you're here!"

ETBP: How is the city itself treating you? How are you feeling about the city?

SA: I love the city. It's so beautiful, it's crazy! Sometimes I feel like I'm in Disney movie.

Growing up in New York, living in LA, and even in Australia, everything is very modern and quite new – especially in LA. So, to see streets with cobblestones and historical architecture ... sometimes I feel that it's all not real. But it IS, and so beautiful. I appreciate how at home I feel now.

I'm not new anymore, and I have my routine. Sometimes at night, I'll just walk. I'll take phone calls, listen to my podcasts, and lose myself in the streets ...

ETBP: What is your arrondissement?

SA: I'm in the eighth now – very central – but I'm actually moving to Pantin.

ETBP: So, you'll be living far away.

SA: Yes, but I'm excited. I've gotten pretty comfortable with the city, and I have areas that I definitely like to frequent. I love the 10th and the 11th. A lot of my friends live over there, and there's the canal as well.

I found my new place through Instagram. I thought "Pantin is kind of far," but I told myself to just go and look at the apartment. When I visited, I fell in love. I enjoyed that the apartment was right by the canal and just what I needed. Visiting Pantin was the first time in a while that I felt like I could breathe.

I love the apartment I'm in now – it belongs to a friend. It is amazing, it's gorgeous, and central – it's very close to the Opera. However, I'm excited to have that little bit of distance because every day I'll be venturing into the city.

ETBP: What metro stop will you be near?

SA: Hoche and the RER (E) Pantin stop. The apartment is near the Centre National de la Danse.

Centre National de la Danse Pantin and Canal d'Ourcq
Patrick Nouhailler's...
CC-BY-SA 3.0

ETBP: So, you're going to stay at the Opera as long as your contract is extended? If you are offered a permanent contract, do you think you would stay here forever?

SA: That would be amazing!

Something I haven't had in a while is certainty. Everything has been very uncertain for the past few years, so I would really appreciate that certainty.

Like I did with the audition, I would like to take things a year at a time. I'm discovering that's how I work best and can plan for my future.

ETBP: What's your favorite thing about Paris?

SA: Wow, a good question!

There's the freedom I feel as an artist that people have here. Paris has a wonderful arts community that I'm just diving into. Creativity seems boundless and everyone is incredibly inspired. I love that!

There's an ease to the way of living that we don't have in America.

The other thing I'm learning, which is hard because I'm so American at my core (I'm always thinking "work, work, work, work" – all the time) ... I'm learning to slow down more, to enjoy life a little bit more. In America, we work so hard that we don't always find that time to give back to ourselves. Here, I find it's really important to value that rest and reflect time.

So, I guess I'm enjoying the different lifestyle of being here as well.

Samuel Akins at Place du Châtelet
Image courtesy of Samuel Akins

ETBP: And what is your least favorite thing?

SA: Oh! My least favorite thing would be...

Sometimes the food in grocery stores is hard for me. I just don't find as many options as I would like.

Food is really important to me because it fuels my body. American and Australian grocery stores are huge (sometimes too big), so not having endless options has been an adjustment. Here, a lot of the stores are super small – they’re more like corner shops.

ETBP: Where are you shopping?

SA: I just go to Monoprix or Franprix.

ETBP: That's why! Do you ever go to an open-air market?

SA: No. I need to. So, your tip is open-air markets all the time, yeah?

ETBP: As much as you can.

SA: That's good to hear. Because I do like to cook a bit and I find myself not cooking as much.

ETBP: Anything else?

SA: This is a little different, but I would like to start to connect more with Black artists in some of the major arts institutions. I would love to learn from them and hear about their pathways to success.

Stage Technician at Palais Garnier
Image courtesy of Samuel Akins

ETBP: Down the street from the Palais Garnier is the Comédie Française. It's where France's national theater troupe performs. There are currently, I believe, three black men in the troupe. And there are no black women.

I think it would be great for all of you to talk.

SA: I don't know any of them.

ETBP: I would dare say that you've all have had similar experiences. I just want you to be aware of them.

SA: Now that you mention this, I've noticed that several operas have had black leads this season. Black female leads.

They did a production of Alcina and the lead was a black Caribbean woman. And there is another production as well.

I don't know Alcina but I do know it's a very traditional work of opera, so for her to be telling that story ... it's huge! It would be like me, you know, telling the story of Sleeping Beauty ...

Screenshot of trailer for Alcina

It is wonderful to see changes happening. It's a process, but they're happening. And I think in most institutions it is not just on a surface level, it's also behind the scenes.

I believe diversity comes in many forms. It's really about experiences.

We're telling stories, right? So, our audiences have to be able to relate to the stories we're telling.

ETBP: I believe that as well.

Okay, a couple of additional questions about your life in Paris. What is your favorite place in the city?

SA: I have to say the Canal Saint-Martin. Even though it can be busy sometimes, I like that it reminds me of New York with all the different restaurants, bars, shops, and people outside. I love that kind of atmosphere. Sometimes it feels like our lower Manhattan ... not quite Brooklyn, but maybe East Village.

Canal Saint-Martin : the locks of Récollets as seen from the passerelle Bichat, Paris, 10th arrondissement
JLPC / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

I think that's why I picked my new apartment as well. It's on the Canal d'Ourcq. There's something so peaceful about seeing and being close to water.

So, the Canal Saint-Martin is my favorite area. You’ll probably also find me in the Marais and République during the day, and Strasbourg Saint-Denis or Pigalle at night.

ETBP: My last question is "What would your advice be to anyone who wants to move to Paris?" And I would like you to answer that in general and then answer it with regard to people who are creatives.

SA: In general, my advice would be to immerse yourself into the community. Do things that you wouldn't normally do at home – go out of your comfort zone. Create a life for yourself that maybe you wouldn't have had. If you didn't go to theater before, go to theater now. If you didn't go to see art, go now. Paris is such a cultural city in that way, and there is always something wonderful to see. There's so much here that you're missing out if you don't just dive right in.

I fell in love with the scooters here – they're an amazing way to see Paris! You get to know back roads, you can get lost, but then you find you know quicker routes for the future.

Samuel Akins at the Palais Royal garden
Image courtesy of Samuel Akins

Another thing I advise is to learn French. I know it scares some people – the thought of learning a new language. If you're moving to a new country, why not commit? Even if you only learn a little.

For dance artists, I found that adapting to the French style of ballet and then "re-navigating" my voice as a dancer has been the most rewarding part of this whole experience.

For all artists, I think is really important to find your community. I've met a lot of other artists, not just dancers. People are very welcoming. Something I love about artists in general is that we are passionate about the people we surround ourselves with.

So to sum things up, the important things are finding a community and creating your voice. I'm still doing these things, and it's a fun journey.

Ceiling at Palais Garnier
Image courtesy of Samuel Akins

Samuel Akins - Part 2: Black in the Paris Opera Ballet

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 12 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Samuel Akins
Image by Jess Brohier

In Part 1 of this article series, Samuel Akins told Entrée to Black Paris how he came to audition for the Paris Opera Ballet and be invited to dance with the troupe for the 2021-2022 season. Today, we'll look at how the season is unfolding for him.

ETBP: You returned to Paris from Australia in October of 2021. When was your first performance?

SA: It was November 30, I think, or the beginning of December. We had two months to prepare a piece called Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring). I would say it was the first piece that inspired modern dance. The music is by Stravinsky, and it was choreographed by Nijinsky.

Screenshot of trailer for Le Sacre du Printemps

When you start at the Opera, you have a three-month, fixed-term contract. So, I didn't know if I would be staying after January. I was cast in the ballet, so I was lucky enough to perform in every show.

The opera had a lot of trust in me very early on. I think this may be because they had seen my resume and liked my talent and my professional career. I'd come with a lot of students, or people who were just starting their professional career.

ETBP: What were these first three months like, professionally speaking?

SA: When I look back now, I didn't realize how hard things were for me, especially during my first month. I'd never lived in France or Paris, and finding an apartment and all that stuff was difficult.

Professionally, it was just enough time for me to see what the opera was like – to see if this was a track/pathway that I would like to take. If it turned out that I didn't like it, if things weren’t working for me, I would have an end point.

Obviously the opera would have the same option.

It took me a while to get to Paris, because I needed a visa. I was granted my visa on a Friday, then flew to France on the following Monday. I started work on a Tuesday. I packed up my whole life, because I didn't know if I'd be in Paris for only three months or for longer.

Adjusting was hard because I was thrown into rehearsals all day, I didn't speak any conversational French, I didn't dance in the French style – which is very important – and I also didn't know anyone!

But from Day One (just like for the audition), I kept telling myself "You just need to give it your all. And whether you stay after these three months or not, you will look back and know that you did everything you could."

I remember going to my first class and thinking "How am I here? Why am I here? Because I am definitely the darkest person in the room." Understanding that and occupying that space was a personal challenge at first.

Samuel Akins in the studio
Image courtesy of Samuel Akins

ETBP: You mentioned not dancing in the French style. Please elaborate on this.

SA: Well, there were times when I felt like a complete outsider – even through my dance. It was overwhelming, because everybody seemed very "uniform," and I just did not feel that uniformity, obviously.

We have classes called Moins de trois ans, which have helped me tremendously. If you've been with the company less than three years, you take these classes several times a week and are coached in French Technique.

The classes were a challenge at first because they are pretty intense. French technique is very precise and incredibly particular, and you have to do everything to the "T."

I'm coming from America, where dance is more focused on emotion, speed, and expression. It was different for me to wind that back a bit. However, It has been a nice challenge.

Entering the Opera at the age of 25, I'm a little bit into my career and I feel I’ve already started to find my artistic voice. I look at this process as me re-finding my voice in a way, with the addition of this new style. I think it’s important for me to remind myself that I am American and my differences are what make me special.

Yes, I'm learning the language and yes, I am moving in a more stylistically French way, I suppose. But my heart is American. I can't change that. I don't want to change that. I think that is my drawing card. It's my ... special power.

ETBP: I can see that advocacy is a huge part of your life and career. How has that impacted your work with the Paris Opera?

SA: During the Black Lives Matter uprising, it became evident that the ballet world needed an overhaul. Because of the [Covid] shutdown of the world, we had time to recognize our issues and start working toward change. However, many dance companies remained silent and chose inaction over action.

This was a huge moment in my dance career. I chose to speak about my experience being a Black dancer in Australia.

Samuel Akins
Photos by Jess Brohier

After this frustrating period, I decided that for future chapters in my dance career – wherever I go – I have to make sure the institution I dance with is actively working towards bettering itself and has progressive practices in place for racial diversity, equity and inclusion.

There is group of incredible Black dancers in the Paris Opera who came together and addressed their experiences and issues within the working environment. There is a New York Times article about this process and how it’s being resolved. Seeing these dancers' work around this issue published publicly was a huge part of why I did the audition.

ETBP: You came on a three-month short-term contract, and you were extended. Were you extended for another short-term contract or for a full-time contract?

SA: About two months into my first contract, I found out that I would be working on the upcoming production, La Bayadère. The contract was extended again after that. Now I'm staying until at least July.

Screenshot of trailer for La Bayadère at l'Opéra Bastille

ETBP: Do you want to stay?

SA: Yes, I love my job. My colleagues are incredibly inspiring and watching them everyday keeps me motived to be my best. The works we perform can range from traditional to abstract. I love the range and the push it gives you as a dancer to move in many different ways.

ETBP: Amongst the dancers, are you comfortable? Do you feel accepted and are you developing friendships?

SA: I have an amazing community of friends who have welcomed me with open arms. It honestly feels like I've been here for 10 years!

Now, when I walk into the studio, I don't feel like an outsider anymore. I put my dance bag down and talk to whomever walks by ... I feel very much at home.

Samuel Akins - Part 1: Black in the Paris Opera Ballet

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 05 May 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Samuel Akins
Image by Jess Brohier

I met Samuel Akins because of a Facebook message recently posted by Patrick Banks of Little Africa Village. Banks was inquiring about an apartment for Akins, who was "coming to a pivotal point" in his time at the Paris Opera Ballet. Though I was unable to assist with the living arrangements, I immediately offered to interview Akins for the ETBP blog and Banks introduced us by email. Akins and I had a delightful, no-holds-barred conversation last Saturday, and this post is the result! Read Part 1 below.

A Birmingham, Alabama native, Samuel Akins is a 25-year-old African-American man who has been dancing professionally since the age of eighteen. He fell in love with the art form at the age of seven and studied at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. He went on to study at the Professional Children's School and trained at the American School of Ballet in NYC before relocating to the West Coast to join the Los Angeles Ballet. He danced there for four years, and then returned to his hometown to dance as a principal in the Alabama Ballet.

From Birmingham, Akins moved to Melbourne, Australia for personal reasons, and wanted to pursue dance there. After 2 years of searching, he was unable to find work in Australia. During this time, he co-founded an advocacy organization called Diverse Dancers Australia to address the lack of diversity within the Australian dance community.

We pick up the interview here.

ETBP: When did you get the idea to pursue dancing professionally in Paris?

SA: Well, it was in the French courts and at the Paris Opera where most of the codes of ballet were created. So, when we're learning about dance and dance education, we learn about the Paris Opera. It's the first thing up for a lot of us. It's considered one of the world's best ballet companies ... and obviously the first. I never imagined myself here or with this company for a multitude of reasons ...

Around this time last year, I decided that I needed to continue with my career. I couldn't wait any longer to find an Australian company to accept me, and I sent audition applications everywhere. I was on a random Website and saw that there was a concours (competition) for the Paris Opera Ballet, which was happening in July. I knew this didn't happen frequently, and when it did, there were generally specific criteria for acceptance - certain age ranges and similar things.

But this was an open competition!

I told myself that this was a dream, but that it wasn't for me.

I was teaching in a ballet school in Melbourne at the time and I'm very close with the director. I told her about the competition and she convinced me to apply. And just as I made the decision, Melbourne went into another Covid lockdown!

Thankfully, everything kind of transcendent happened - the day the lockdown lifted was the day the application was due. I rushed to drive to the dance studio and took photos with my phone. Because of the time difference between Australia and France, I was very concerned that I might miss the deadline. So, instead of waiting until I got home, I pulled over to the side of the road and uploaded my application.

The following Monday morning, I received an email invitation asking me to come to Paris to audition in person!

At that point, I had about three weeks, four weeks, 4 1/2 weeks to decide if I was going to go and how I was going to train, because I had been in lockdown!

Samuel Akins at the barre at Paris Opéra
Image courtesy of Samuel Akins

Akins then explained how he had to petition the Australian government to leave the country because of the audition, obtain a visa, and arrange to get a Covid vaccine so he could enter France (he was not old enough to be vaccinated at that stage of the pandemic). Once all that was accomplished and he purchased his plane ticket, he had roughly 2 1/2 weeks to train. Jasmina Stevkovski, the director at the Melbourne Academy of the Arts (where he taught), saw him training alone after putting in a full day at work and volunteered to help him.

ETBP: What did the interview process consist of?

SA: The audition was on Tuesday, and I arrived late Sunday or Monday. I took a class the day before because I had heard that the Paris Opera dances on a raked stage,* and I'd never done that before. I also wanted to take a French ballet class because the French style is a bit different from how I was trained in the American style.

When I walked into the audition, I saw so many men from all over the world -- people pulled up with their suitcases and talking in Russian, Chinese, French, Italian, Brazilian, every language ...

They put us all in a dressing room, and it was like a scene from like a movie ... guys going everywhere, getting dressed ... hairspray, makeup, putting on the numbers ...

Because my name is Akins, I was Number 2 out of about 200 people!

I hadn't taken any French at the time. I understood some, but everything was in French.

Palais Garnier auditorium and stage
FHKE - Source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA 2.0

There were several rounds of auditioning. We had the barre round, and there were cuts. Then there was a center round where they gave combinations and you danced in the center, followed by more cuts. For the final round, you have to perform the variation like the solo they chose.

And the whole time, there's a jury of about 25 people from the Paris Opera watching you, including the dance director, the Director General of the Opera, dancers, teachers, étoiles - people who have been a part of the opera for more than eight years. They make the decision, and it comes down to tallying points that you score.

For the first two rounds, they called out numbers. I couldn't really understand, but I managed to make out that I had been selected to go on to the second round. After the second round, they called the dancers selected for the third round by name - including me.

There was a young woman administrator watching the audition and I told her how scared I was. A man behind me assured me that it was very good that I made it that far because usually, somebody who's not French or not even European never makes it that far. I was the only brown person in the audition.

For the final round, when they call your name, you bow and walk down some stairs. You signal for the pianist to begin playing, and then you dance. I remember that when they called my name, my nerves went away, and I just performed for my life.

When the final ranking is announced, the dancers assigned numbers 1-4 are usually the ones who are offered long term contracts. I was on the list for short term contracts. About a week later, they contacted me and told me they'd like me to work for the season.

I think I waited in France for about a week, and then things shut down because of Covid. I went back to Australia and returned to Paris to begin working in October 2021.

Watch this 5:41 minute video of Akins entitled "4 Days 'Til Paris" to see him rehearse and talk about his move to Paris for the 2021-2022 season with the Paris Opera Ballet.

*A raked stage is one that is built at an incline. The stage at Palais Garnier is sloped at a five-degree incline from upstage (the furthest point from the audience) to downstage (the area closest to the public).

Read Part 2 of Samuel Akins: Black in the Paris Opera Ballet HERE.

Entrée to Black Paris Celebrates Barbara Chase-Riboud

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0200

On Saturday, April 23, two black women artists made history at the Venise Biennale. Simone Leigh (U.S.) won the Golden Lion award for her monumental sculpture, Brick House, and Sonia Boyce (U.K.) won for the U.K. pavilion. Celebrating their well-deserved accolades inspired me to turn the spotlight on another award-winning woman artist of African descent - Barbara Chase-Riboud.

You may recall that ETBP featured Chase-Riboud last October in an article about her outstanding exhibition of sculptures, works on paper, and poetry at the Institut Giacometti. In the twelve months prior to the opening of that show, the artist received three prestigious awards.

In May 2021, the Simone et Cino Del Duca Foundation (Institut de France) approved the Académie des Beaux-Arts' nomination of Chase-Riboud for its Grand Prix Artistique. The prize, which consists of a 100,000€ endowment, was bestowed in recognition of the entire body of her sculpted work.

Watch her talk about her work in this YouTube interview (2:34 minutes).

In March 2021, the French nonprofit organization Archives of Women Artists Research and Exhibitions (AWARE) named Chase-Riboud Laureate of the AWARE Outstanding Merit Prize for lifetime achievement. The award comes with a grant of 10,000€ and a monographic publication by Mariella Editions that will be dedicated to the artist.

Eva Barois De Caevel, independent curator, art critic, and publisher, nominated Chase-Riboud for the award. This is how she describes Chase-Riboud's work in the announcement posted on AWARE's Website:

... over seventy years of prolific, intense and concentrated creation, sometimes monumental, sometimes rising to the challenge of permanence in the public space. A sculpture with its own unique lexicon, which circumvents the plinth, colours the bronze, knots the silk, engages in dialogue with the poems, summons the past and pays homage, over and over again ...

Left: Tall Woman II, 1960
Alberto Giacometti
Plaster
Fondation Giacometti

Right: Zanzibar, 1970
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Bronze and silk cords
Centre national des arts plastiques, France

Image © Entrée to Black Paris

In November 2020, Chase-Riboud was one of ten recipients of the Anonymous Was a Woman (AWAW) award. The prizes are granted annually to mid-career women-identifying artists over the age of 40. Each winner receives an unrestricted grant of $25,000. The award was established in 1996 by artist Susan Unterberg, who remained anonymous as the sole funder for the prize until 2018.

Barbara Chase-Riboud will celebrate her 83rd birthday on June 26. To read about her extraordinary career and take a close-up look at her work, as shown in the 2020 Avatars exhibition hosted by the Fondation d'Entreprise Hermès in Brussels in 2020, click HERE.

Africa Lyric's Opéra in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Eventbrite banner for Africa Lyric's Opéra competition (detail)

I'm so sorry to have missed "Les Grandes Voix Lyriques d'Afrique" at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées last Saturday!

The nonprofit organization called Women of Africa is behind this project, which was launched in 2007. Its purpose is to promote classical music - opera music in particular - and enhance diversity in the world of opera by recognizing, encouraging, and supporting the development of the talents of persons of African origin who embrace this field.

From April 7-9, the final selection of singers for the first international competition of the great lyrical voices of Africa took place at the Museum of Immigration History in the Palais de la Porte Dorée in the 12th arrondissement. Applicants needed to be African, of African descent, or be a citizen of an African nation.

Flier for international singing competition

The event was sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture and the French National Commission for UNESCO.

Twenty semi-finalists from thirteen countries - ten sopranos, two mezzo-sopranos, two tenors, four baritones, and two basses - were welcomed at the museum on April 7. They performed before a jury of fourteen opera professionals, several of whom were black. The eleven singers who were selected to advance to the finals performed at the museum on April 9.

The public attended both sessions at no charge.

Banner for Eventbrite ticketing page for finals competition

The prizes awarded on April 9 were as follows:

Opera: 1st prize - Adriana Bignani-Lesca (mezzo-soprano, Gabon; 1500€); 2nd prize - Suzanne Taffot (soprano, Cameroon; 1000€); 3rd prize - Maurel Endong Kouosseu (bass-baritone, Cameroon; 500€)

Melody and Lieder: 1st prize - Suzanne Taffot (soprano, Cameroon; 700€); 2nd prize Adriana Bignani-Lesca (mezzo-soprano, Gabon; 500€); 3rd prize - Judith Ankoué (soprano, Ivory Coast; 300€)

Young Hope Award: co-awardees - Franciana Noguès (soprano, Haïti) and Darmel Bula Tshiyoyo (bass, Congo)

African Language Aria Award: Arnaud B. Fonguen Kong-Ngoh (tenor, Cameroon)

The winners will be invited to perform in recitals in the opera houses of Montpellier, Rouen and Tours during the next season.

Women of Africa subsequently invited the public to attend a gala at the Théatre des Champs-Elysées on Saturday, April 16. Mezzo-soprano Adriana Bignani-Lesca, winner of the April 9 session of the singing competition, performed along with several additional soloists. All were accompanied by the Garde Républicain Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of the French Army.

Other operatic events organized by Women of Africa in Paris consist a lyrical recital at the Salle Cortot in September 2020 and a concert held at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in September 2016.

Urban Mythologies by Yao Metsoko

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by Togolese artist Yao Metsoko are on display in a show called Mythologies Urbaines (Urban Mythologies) in the Marais. The exhibition has been mounted by Aude Minart of La Galerie Africaine, an itinerant gallery that ETBP has featured several times over the years.

The paintings belong to a series that Metsoko started some years ago and to which he continually adds works. The title of the exhibition is drawn from his perpetual exploration of the mysteries of creation through associations between the animal, mineral, plant, and human worlds. African cosmogony influences his selection of the animals and forms he represents in his work. He constantly seeks to illustrate the relationship between live creatures and inert objects, what is visible and what is invisible, what has past and what is happening now.

When Tom and I visited the exhibition last week, Metsoko was eloquently explaining all this in a video interview with Wanda Nicot for her webtv show called ZOOM ACTU.

As usual, gallerist Minart is displaying a wide variety of lost wax bronze sculptures, crafts, miniature painted works, and fabrics at the exhibition.

She is also showing a single sculpture by Tidjane Kante.

Mythologies Urbaines (Urban Mythologies) is on display through Easter Monday - April 18, 2022. Visit the show from 12 noon to 7 PM daily or by appointment at:

La Galerie Africaine - Aude Minart
18, rue Commines
75003 Paris
Metro: Filles du Calvaire (Line 8)
Telephone: 06.60.24.06.26
Internet: https://www.lagalerieafricaine.com
Email: audeminart@hotmail.com

TC Newman - Getting Paid to Talk in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Screenshot of TC Newman
from Inside Edition video on Josephine Baker

A few weeks ago, Inside Edition published an exclusive interview that I gave to Digital Reporter and Producer TC Newman for inclusion in a reportage on Josephine Baker.*

We had such a good time during the shooting, and the interview was so well received, that I asked Newman if she'd grant Entrée to Black Paris an interview about her activities during the few months she recently spent in France. She graciously accepted my invitation and she, my husband Tom, and I got together for coffee a couple of days before she left Paris.

ETBP: Is this the first time you’ve been to Paris?

TCN: This is my second time to Paris, though I have been to other parts of France (Bordeaux and Strasbourg and Colmar in the Alsace Region).

The first time I came to France was with my mother as a teenager. This is my first time seeing it as an adult!

ETBP: How long have you been here this time?

TCN: I have been in France since December (2021), but Paris specifically since January.

ETBP: Where are you staying during this visit?

TCN: Since this is a long stay, I've rented an apartment. Besides being more economical, renting an apartment gives me a better sense of living like a Parisian. I first stayed in the 14th arrondissement near the Pernety metro stop and I'm now staying in the 9th arrondissement, near Opéra. I find that I walk a lot more since moving to the area near Opéra.

ETBP: What is different about being in Paris as a resident (even short-term) as opposed to being here on vacation?

TCN: The longer you stay, the more ingrained in the culture you are. Being in Paris allows you to live at a different speed than in the U.S. There is less pressure to see all of the monuments and tourist areas when you are in a location longer, so you have to make a concentrated effort to actually go before you run out of time.

ETBP: What has been your favorite thing about being here?

TCN: The FOOD!!! Beyond the delicious French recipes, the fresh French ingredients are stellar. I've also fallen in love with the cafe culture, where it is completely normal to take a couple of hours sipping on a latte.

ETBP: What is your favorite part of the city?

TCN: Paris has the most beautiful public gardens! The Jardin du Luxembourg and Parc Monceau are my favorite places for a morning walk to clear my head before the work day starts.

ETBP: How did you get into journalism?

TCN: Being a journalist wasn't what I planned to do, but I am grateful it worked out so well for me! I imagined being an actress, a writer, or a lawyer, and as a journalist I use skill sets from each of those professions. Like an actor, there is an element of performance when I'm on camera. I research, write, and produce all of my own stories. Because my stories often deal with legally sensitive topics, being well-informed on changing laws is very important.

ETBP: What has been your favorite assignment during your stay in Paris?

TCN: Regarding some of the stories I've done in addition to Josephine Baker - on top of everyday coverage of U.S. news - I covered Shakespeare and Company, a luxury hotel in Versailles, Marie Antoinette, and a student protest on the Ukraine War.

I travel with my own mobile studio, complete with camera, microphones, green screen, and computers for voice overs and editing, so I can be ready for anything.

Connecting with new people is always the best part of my job, no matter where I am! Most people wouldn't realize this but I am naturally quite introverted, so being a journalist gives me an excuse to talk to people and ask about their personal stories. My favorite part about interviewing people in Paris is that it reaffirms for me that people have the same hopes and dreams all over the world.

ETBP: Have you made an effort to meet black people while here?

TCN: I look to support black-owned (and women-owned) businesses wherever I travel. I reference the ABC Green Book and hashtags like #blackinparis, and I like the information that vlogger Tiffanie Davis posts.

Some of the black-owned establishments that I have frequented in Paris are restaurants - Gumbo YaYa, Adulis Café Abyssinian, and Jah Jah - a Jamaican vegan place in the 10th arrondissement that I loved!

In talking with the proprietor at Adulis, I learned about Ethiopian coffee and how the African-American experience in Paris can be quite different from the African experience.

ETBP: Tell us about your hashtag - #IGetPaidToTalk.

TCN: This represents a lot of things! I obviously get paid to talk because I'm a reporter and I also do freelance PR. I also laughingly use this when I make bloopers on air. More seriously, I use this to refer to the fact that through my work, I am able to give a voice to people who don't have a voice.

ETBP: Would you consider moving here permanently?

TCN: I am open to all possibilities! This Parisian journey has been so refreshing for me, so I certainly would not say no if the opportunity came up!

TC Newman in Paris
Image courtesy of TC Newman

*See the Josephine Baker video (8:52 minutes) here: How the Remarkable Life of Josephine Baker Is Still Inspiring Others to This Day

Julie Mehretu at the Marian Goodman Gallery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Extracted image from "Inside the Studio with Julie Mehretu," filmed and published by Galerie Magazine (March 2020)
Image credit: Galerie Magazine
CC-BY-3.0

In addition to the bookstore that was featured in our 17 March 2022 post, Marian Goodman owns an art gallery at which works by contemporary artist Julie Mehretu* will be exhibited in a show that opens on April 2, 2022.

Portrait of Julie Mehretu, 2021
Photo credit: Josephina Santos
Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery

This exhibition will be Mehretu's third at Galerie Goodman. It follows her acclaimed retrospective, which was recently presented in four major U.S. museums, featuring a new series of medium-sized paintings and two large-scale prints.

Mehretu has been reinventing abstraction for more than two decades. Her paintings, drawings, and prints are inspired by a multitude of sources that have evolved over time. In response to recent geopolitical events, she addresses international subjects of concern such as migration, revolution, social justice, climate change and the impact and repercussions of the global pandemic experienced by all nations over the past two years.

Mehretu’s examinations of contemporary events are reinforced in her recent paintings, as photographs from accredited news sources of world events serve as both the point of departure on which compositions unfold as well as the foundation for formal experimentation.

The nine paintings on view at the gallery are part of a suite of works entitled Among the Multitude. The iconic volatile black marks and shapes mingle with vibrant colors to constitute tight and dense compositions. Interacting with each other and in conversation, each of the new paintings operates like a short story or myth with an enigmatic protagonist that comes in and out of focus.

Among the Multitude V, 2021
JULIE MEHRETU
Ink and acrylic on canvas
48 x 60 in. (121.9 x 152.4 cm)
Photo credit: Tom Powel Imaging
Copyright: Julie Mehretu
Image courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery

The show also includes two monumental prints created in a collaboration with Gemini GEL, the well-known printmaking workshop based in Los Angeles.

The upcoming exhibition marks the debut of an ongoing collaboration between Mehretu and poet Robin Coste Lewis.** An audio recording of a new poem composed by Lewis will be transmitted in the gallery space, creating a subtle conversation through the intersection of art and poetry. The text written and recorded by Lewis infiltrates the stairwell leading to the vaulted lower gallery, where visitors can view an installation called Intimacy, which was created by Lewis from her family’s private photographic archive.

Robin Coste Lewis
Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery

Intimacy is a single-channel video composed of a selection of images from this archive, which Lewis discovered by chance in an old suitcase after her grandmother’s death. The sepia, tintypes, and black-and-white pictures subtly recount the history of her family who, along with millions of other African American families, fled the South as part of the Great Migration west. The video along with the accompanying poem by Lewis engages Mehretu’s own history of immigration as well her aesthetic concerns.

Intimacy, 2022
ROBIN COSTE LEWIS
Single-channel video installation, sound, 23 min 52, looped
Copyright: Robin Coste Lewis
Image courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery

The original poem and the installation were commissioned by Mehretu for this exhibition.

Julie Mehretu will be on display from April 2, 2022 - May 14, 2022. There is no charge for admission.

Galerie Marian Goodman
79 Rue du Temple
75003 Paris
Telephone: 01 48 04 70 52
Website: mariangoodman.com
Metro: Rambuteau (Line 11)
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 AM - 7 PM

*Julie Mehretu (b. 1970, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) lives and works in New York. She received a Bachelor of Art from Kalamazoo College, Michigan, studied at the University Cheik Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal, and received a Master of Fine Art with honors from The Rhode Island School of Design in 1997. She has since received many prestigious awards including the MacArthur Fellowship in 2005, the U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts Award in 2015, and the Liberty Award for Artistic Leadership, New York in 2018. In 2017, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Letters.

From 2019 to 2022, Mehretu’s mid-career retrospective was presented by the LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, which co-organized it, and also traveling to the Walker Museum of Art, Minneapolis, and to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Her work has been exhibited extensively in international museums and biennials, including the Carnegie International (2004–05); Sydney Biennial (2006); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010); dOCUMENTA (13) (2012); Sharjah Biennial (2015); Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2017); Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain (2018); Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge, UK (2019); and the 58th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia (2019).

**Robin Coste Lewis (b. 1964, Compton, California) is the outgoing poet laureate for the City of Los Angeles, where she now lives and works. In 2015, her debut poetry collection Voyage of the Sable Venus, which examined the fraught history of art, gender, and race, won the National Book Award in poetry––the first time
a poetry debut by an African American had ever won the prize in the National Book Foundation's history, and the first time any debut had won the award since 1974. Lewis is at work on a new collection, To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness (Knopf, 2022). She teaches in NYU’s low-residency in Paris and is writer-in-residence at the University of Southern California. Currently, she is the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome.

Lewis received her Bachelor of Art from Hampshire College in creative writing and comparative literature; a Master of Theological Studies degree in Sanskrit and comparative religious literature from the Divinity School at Harvard University; a Master of Fine Art in poetry at New York University; and a PhD from the
University of Southern Creative Writing and Literature Program.

Ozier Muhammad - Beyond Reportage

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0100

I had the pleasure and privilege of spending the better part of an hour talking with Ozier Muhammad when I visited his exhibition at the Galerie Sophie Scheidecker last week.

We arranged to meet in the early afternoon and had the space pretty much to ourselves. I got to listen to this Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer tell the fascinating story of the unfolding of his education and career, as well as have him present many of the works on display in the show.

Though it was the first time we ever met, I felt as though I were reuniting with an old friend.

The display in the first room of the two-room exhibition consists of a variety of images (many in black & white) from various stories that Muhammad was assigned to cover over the years. Two that I particularly appreciated were Emotions Rise at Levee Wall, taken during the Memorial Day commemoration of the breech of the Industrial Canal levee in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and APP Supporters of Felae, taken in Lagos during the first democratic election held in Nigeria since the 1993 coup.

Two of the photos in this room depict scenes from Harlem, where Muhammad and his wife, Lisa Redd, currently reside.

The second room of the exhibition is devoted to Muhammad's photo portraits of several children who were orphaned as a result of the 2010 earthquake in Haïti. All of these works are in color.

Muhammad covered this story when he worked for the New York Times. He recounted how he and the rest of the journalist team could not fly into Port au Prince after the quake because the few airstrips that were functional were reserved for flights devoted to rescue missions.

Several days after entering Port au Prince, Muhammad learned of orphans being housed at a camp in the nearby town of Croix des Bouquet. He ventured there and found that though there was much destruction in the area, some structures had at least partially survived. He chose to photograph the children against a standing wall - a physical representation that not everything was crumbling around them. He photographed siblings together.

Haitian Children Orphaned after the Earthquake, 2010
Digital inkjet print
Image of detail of framed photo © Entrée to Black Paris

The facial expressions of the children in these photos say everything you'd want to know about their situation.

I asked if there might be a way that this photo series could be used as a way to reunite the children (who are now adults) who inhabited this camp. Muhammad did not know if they were able to stay connected after the adoption agencies who came to Haïti in the aftermath of the quake finished their work, whether individually or through an organization of some kind.

After walking through this room with Muhammad, I asked him whether he considers his photography to be art. He responded that he always strives to show works that go "beyond reportage" - that say something meaningful, indeed inspiring, about the human condition. Though he has taken thousands of photos as a photojournalist to document horrific conditions of war, natural disaster, and other forms of tragedy , there are relatively few that meet this self-imposed criterion for exhibition.

Ozier Muhammad is on display through March 26, 2022 at:

Galerie Sophie Scheidecker
14 bis, rue des Minimes
75003 Paris
Telephone: 01.42.74.26.94
Internet: https://www.galerie-sophiescheidecker.com
Metro: Chemin Vert (Line 8)

Learn more about him here: http://oziermuhammad.com/background/.

Black Artists Featured at the Marian Goodman Bookstore

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Dagny Corcoran, Director of Books and Multiples at the Librairie Marian Goodman in the Marais, invited me to see this bookstore's impressive collection of catalogs of works by black artists as well as to view an exhibition of works by Los Angeles artists that she curated there.

I was intrigued and impressed by both!

The catalogs were displayed on a long table on the left side of the store. They represent a veritable "Who's Who" among black contemporary artists, from Alma Thomas to Mark Bradford.

Additional catalogs were displayed on stands on a table across the aisle.

One of the individually displayed catalogs presents works by Ed Bereal, one of four artists whose works were featured in the controversial War Babies exhibition at the Huysman Gallery in Los Angeles in 1960.

War Babies is featured in the exhibition that is displayed at the rear of the store. Works subsequently created by the artists who contributed to this show are held in contrast with works created by another "breed" of contemporary artists, the Ferus Gallery "Studs."

Photo © Jerry McMillan; Design © Joe Goode
Image of graphic displayed at Librairie Marian Goodman
© Entrée to Black Paris

"The Studs" Group Show at Ferus Gallery, 1964
Exhibition Poster
Image of graphic displayed at Librairie Marian Goodman
© Entrée to Black Paris

War Babies was one of the earliest racially integrated exhibitions shown in postwar America. Bereal and his fellow contributing artists - Joe Goode, Larry Bell and Ron Miyashiro - were all born in the late 1930s and grew up during the Second World War. The works they submitted for the show forcefully challenged the stereotypical attitudes of the era.

The signature poster that advertised the show incited significant controversy because of its exaggerated ethnic and religious clichés. Curator Corcoran describes it as follows:

It depicted the four friends seated at a table, covered with an American flag littered with crumbs and cigarettes. Each of the artists posed with a stereotypical prop: Ed Bereal (African American) held a watermelon, Larry Bell (Jewish) was eating a bagel, Joe Goode (Catholic) held a mackerel, and Ron Miyashiro (Japanese American) was using chopsticks ...

Liberals and conservatives alike criticized the poster, and Hopkins' backers refused to continue to support the gallery. Huysmans Gallery closed in the summer of 1961.

Corcoran has devoted a table to the display of photos and documents that present the evolution of Bereal's artistic practice through the 1960s, including his shift to boycotting art shows and creating art for social justice after the 1965 Watts riots. In her communication with me, she quotes him as saying "The deeper I got into the ghetto the further the art scene started to fade."

The table display includes information about Bodacious Buggerilla, the guerrilla theater troupe that Bereal founded. Corcoran states that the troupe performed "on street corners and church steps, in laundromats, prisons, and nightclubs" and that it "attacked the status quo and its institutional racism and capitalism while also teaching Black youth how to empower and defend themselves."

In contrast to the War Babies artists, Corcoran indicated that the Ferus Gallery Studs "came to be known for their clean, apolitical aesthetic of meticulous object-making."

Works by all four War Babies artists and works by Billy Al Bengston, Vija Celmins, Edward Keinholz, Ken Price, and Ed Ruscha of the Studs are on display at the bookstore through Saturday, March 26, 2022. These works include two framed self-portraits of Ed Bereal.

Libraire Marian Goodman
66 rue du Temple
75003 Paris
Telephone: 01 42 77 57 44
Website: mariangoodman.com
Metro: Rambuteau (Line 11)
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 AM - 7 PM

View of Librairie Marian Goodman
Crédit photo : Rebecca Fanuele
Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery

Black African Photographers Featured at the Maison Européene de la Photographie

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Through March 13, 2022, Paris residents and visitors can see two fantastic exhibitions of contemporary photography by black African artists at the Maison Européene de la Photographie (MEP).

PAMELA TULIZO - FACE TO FACE

Pamela Tulizo (born in the Democratic Republic of Congo) is the winner of the third edition of the Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents (2020).

Works from two of her recent shows are currently on display in the MEP studio: Double Identité, which defies the international portrayal of Africans in general, and African women in particular, as victims living in a perpetual state of hopelessness, and Enfer Paradisiaque, which was inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic.

An eight-minute video reveals what took place "Behind the Scenes" when Tulizo collaborated on Enfer Paradisiaque with fashion designers from CM Class in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo to create the gowns worn by her model.

A third series of four works that have no titles represents Tulizo's musings about the reaction of the citizens of Brussels to the first lock down of the Covid-19 pandemic, when people descended on stores in hordes to purchase toilet paper. (She found herself stranded in Brussels at the beginning of the pandemic.)

The images in Double Identité would be compelling at any time, but I found them to be even more so because March is Women's History Month. The artist made the following statement (translated from French) about the photos she created for this series:

"Too often women who are vulnerable or are victims of rape or are refugees are those who get the media's attention rather than women who are full of hope. I wanted to bring this contrast to light, to show something beyond the poverty, violence, and misery."

SAMUEL FOSSO

This retrospective of Cameroon native Samuel Fosso is the major attraction at MEP. Two entire floors (the galleries) are devoted to this artist's work, which includes an incredible number of self-portraits that evoke wide ranging themes. A few of them are presented below.

I was particularly intrigued by an educational session being given to high school students by an MEP guide in the section of the exhibition entitled African Spirits. The guide passed out documents that displayed photos of African Americans who were instrumental in advancing civil rights in the U.S. alongside self-portraits in which Fosso emulated these figures.

Color self-portraits in the section called The Black Pope are stunning.

Fosso pays tribute to the African soldiers who fought on behalf of France in both World Wars in a show called Allonzenfans (2013).

The final room of the exhibition contains 666 large format Polaroid self-portraits of Fosso, each bearing a slightly different facial expression.

Tulizo's and Fosso's shows are intriguing and compelling, and well worth the visit to MEP.

Maison Européene de la Photographie
5/7 rue de Fourcy
75004 Paris
Metro: Saint Paul (Line 1), Pont Marie (Line 7)
Hours: Wednesday and Friday - 11 AM-8 PM
Thursday - 11 AM - 10 PM
Weekends - 10 AM - 8 PM
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
Entry fee: 10€ (full price)

What has become of the Café Tournon?

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The iconic Café Tournon is in a state of flux.

The 1950s gathering place for African-American writers, artists, and performers, including Richard Wright, Ollie Harrington, and Gordon Heath, closed for renovation several months ago. It has done an astonishingly poor job of keeping customers – regular and potential – informed of its plans.

On November 8, 2021, I published the following post on the Entrée to Black Paris Facebook page:

The Historic Café Tournon is Closed!

The last several times we've walked by the Café Tournon, it has been closed. The site is clearly under renovation, but for whom? There is no information posted on their Website or on the windows of their façade. And the name of the restaurant has been removed from the façade. Only time will tell if the café is completely changing its look or if another business will move in!

By January 2022, the façade of the restaurant had been completely transformed, and the name "Tournon" reappeared there.

However, there is still nothing posted at the café about the reopening date.

I can find no reference to the reopening on the Website, and negative reviews continue to be posted on the Website about the online reservation system allowing people to reserve for a meal when the café remains closed.

I have not been able to determine if the Tournon is under new management.

Follow the Entrée to Black Paris Facebook page for updates.

Click on the following link to read Entrée to Black Paris' August 2010 article about the history of the establishment: Café Tournon

Black History Month 2022 at the American University of Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Motse Kuswani and Monique Y. Wells at
Myth of a Colorblind France screening
© Wells International Foundation

Black and Abroad is a student group at the American University of Paris. Founded in 2020, its purpose is to provide a community that prioritizes the voices and needs of Black students, faculty, and alumni of AUP. Motse Ntloedibe - Kuswani currently serves as president.

The organization hosted a robust series of events in celebration of Black History Month, beginning with a discussion entitled "Black Lives Matter - Intersectional Justice."

The intent was to create a safe space for students to share their understanding and experiences of intersectionality at AUP and outside the AUP community.

President Kuswani invited members of L'ACICS (L'Association pour la Connaissance, l'Intégration, et la Cohérance Sociale) to attend the event. L'ACICS secretary Abdoulaye Lah Sidibe represented the organization and shared the following about what he experienced:

"The 'Black Lives Matter - Intersectional Justice' event was the discovery of black identity. Most of the discussions were centered around what it meant to be 'black' in this day and age and what actions need to be taken to tackle social justice issues. It was a wholehearted exploration of the issues which we face as a community, especially as black youth.

"The discussions strongly resonated with our association's mission as we want to guide these young minds to find inspiration in the achievement of the various black people from around the world who achieved great things even in the face of the adversity of their times. This event was full of young, talented and ambitious young minds which stand to gain immensely from learning about the shoulders of the giants they stand on.

"We would like to thank Mr. Kuswani of Black and Abroad for inviting us and also to Dr. Wells of the Wells International Foundation for the introduction to Black and Abroad. We sincerely hope that more events like these could be organised, especially taking care to foster connections between young black people in Europe and the United States."

Following on the heels of this auspicious opening event were two discussions on "Inclusive Academia," a screening of the film The Harder They Fall, and an evening poetry workshop and performance centered on creative writing, self-appreciation, Black and intersectional feminism with poet Yazmin Monet Watkins.

To accommodate Spring Break (which began on February 19), Black and Abroad hosted its final Black History Month events during the third week of February. In collaboration with Documentary Arts and the Wells International Foundation (WIF), it screened the video documentary Myth of a Colorblind France at a hybrid event on Wednesday, February 16.

I was physically present for the Q&A session held after the viewing. Director Alan Govenar of Documentary Arts participated virtually.

On Thursday, February 16, the group invited Dr. Matifadza Hlatchwayo Davis, a Zimbabwean-American physician and public health expert in Missouri, to speak about global health and the Black community at an online event.

Anyone accessing in-person or hybrid events through the Combes building was treated to an exhibition of paintings by AUP professor Elodie Barthélemy, a French-Haitian artist. The show, entitled Haiti, was mounted with the intent to "force each viewer to reconsider important figures and places from the period of slavery."

Contact Black and Abroad at blackandabroad@aup.edu.

American Runaway Author Featured at the American Library in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Cover of American Runaway (detail)

Audrey Edwards' February 2022 visit to Paris to promote her book, American Runaway - Black and Free in Paris in the Trump Years, has been anything but mundane. Her well-publicized hybrid feature event at the American Library in Paris, which took place on the evening of February 15, drew 69 attendees on Zoom in addition to the people who came to the library to see the author be interviewed in person.

However, Covid-19 had other ideas.

Live and virtual attendees were surprised to see an empty chair next to interviewer Ellen Wright Hervé as the event got started. Co-hosts Alice McCrum, programs manager at the library, and Patrick Banks, the library's Black History Month curator from Little Africa, introduced Wright Hervé as author Richard Wright's granddaughter and explained that Edwards would join the session from her Paris apartment because she had contracted the virus.

Ellen Wright Hervé
Screenshot from Zoom

The fully vaccinated and boosted Edwards explained that after months of crisscrossing the U.S. and never testing positive for Covid, she boarded a plane for her beloved Paris to promote her book here and caught the virus after her arrival here.

"Paris, how can you do me like this?" she quipped.

Audrey Edwards
Screenshot from Zoom

Experiencing only mild symptoms, Edwards responded to Wright Hervé's questions enthusiastically and in great detail. She explained that her book is as much the story of African Americans in Paris as it is her story, and she said that these stories provide her with great comfort.

I read American Runaway when it was first released several months ago and the American Library's event provided me with this opportunity to revisit the book and share my observations about it on this platform.

Though the impetus behind the writing of this book is political and there are plenty of stories rooted in politics throughout, American Runaway is in many ways a love story about Paris.

It was heartwarming for me to read anecdotes about several members of the African-American community who I know / have known over the years and gratifying to read summaries of events that are important for black history and contemporary life here. Bob Tomlinson, Pat White, and the legendary Patricia Laplante Collins are among the people about whom Edwards regales her readers with amusing and sometimes poignant stories.

The events described range from the experiences of African American soldiers during World War I to the groundbreaking Le Modèle Noir exhibition mounted at the Musée d'Orsay in 2019.

I loved Edwards' personal and family stories as well. Readers learn about her trials and tribulations in renting a Paris apartment, her concerted effort to learn French at the famed Alliance Française, and her amazement at being treated for alarmingly high blood pressure at a neighborhood pharmacy.

We learn how Edwards' mother, a captain in the American Woman's Auxiliary Corp, maneuvered her way into a Birmingham, England rally to hear General Charles de Gaulle speak shortly after the end of World War II. We are a proverbial "fly on the wall" as we observe how a conversation with an Ivoirian driver during an Uber ride caused Edwards to ponder her African origins.

Many would disagree with Edwards' statement in the chapter entitled "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" about France being a place where people are "literally taken at face value - no race judgments, no race burdens..." She makes this and similar statements in other areas of the book based on her personal experiences, and those who are interested in comparing and contrasting the experiences of African Americans and other black people in France will find these declarations thought provoking.

If you're looking for stories that provide a U.S. perspective on French culture, you'll find plenty of them in American Runaway. As an example, look for the anecdote about Edwards' landlord introducing her to his mother over lunch at the mother's apartment. Edwards not only provides a wonderful description of the encounter, but also uses this story as an opportunity to share her observations about interracial relationships in France and how the French don't like to talk about money.

American Runaway is an easy and entertaining read through which you'll get a stimulating, multifaceted view of life in Paris. Many in-person attendees at the library event purchased the book on site. Find it on Amazon HERE.

Learn about additional February events at the American Library in Paris HERE.

"Paris Here I Come" by Ollie Stewart

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Paris Here I Come book cover and 1940 visa photo of Ollie Stewart
Collage by Entrée to Black Paris

On February 1, 2022, Marsha Simms and Savannah Wood took our "Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden" walk. They graciously allowed us to post their photo on Facebook.

Ms. Wood is the director of Afro Charities, a U.S. nonprofit organization that "builds bridges across generations and socioeconomic divides through artistic and educational projects inspired by the AFRO American Newspapers' archives." The book she is holding in the photo above -- "Paris Here I Come!" by Ollie Stewart -- was published by the Afro-American Company in 1953.

Ms. Wood was kind enough to allow Tom to view a copy of the book, whose subtitle is "A Travel Guide to Europe." Thirty pages long with no illustrations, it is a quick and fascinating read.

Ollie Stewart signed on as a journalist for the Afro-American in New York in 1940 and received his first foreign assignment in 1941. He covered WWII for the paper beginning in 1942, including the Liberation of Paris.

Ollie Stewart - visa photo
Source: World War II on Deadline
Fair use claim

Post-war life in the U.S. that remained steeped in racism proved intolerable to him, and he relocated to Paris in 1949 and wrote weekly columns for the Afro-American until he returned to the U.S. in 1977.

In May 1952, Stewart wrote a three-part article series called "So You Plan to Go to Europe" for the paper. It seems likely that "Paris Here I Come!" was inspired by the series, especially since the last seven pages in the book present information about "Other Countries," including the rest of France, Italy, Germany, and England.

Stewart's writing is unpretentious and breezy, and as a seasoned traveler in Europe, he speaks with authority on each topic he addresses. He begins with advice on how to obtain a passport, provides extensive travel tips on packing, changing money, and what to expect during the transatlantic voyage by ship, and then dives into what to expect upon arrival in Paris.

About a third of the way into the book, he describes the types of activities one can enjoy in Paris and gives advice on appropriate comportment for various circumstances, including tipping.

I found several of his statements to be amusing:

"Even if this is your first trip and you're scared to death, try to act casual about the whole thing."

"The French you learned in school didn't scoot past your ears like this."

"If you can't read the menu, you will at least be able to read the check. Figures are figures the world over."

"Unless there is a traffic light you never stop at an intersection. You go faster, if anything."

He also gave sage advice:

"If they [the French] seem slow or indifferent to your wishes, remember that they are in their own country; you are the foreigner. And it will not help Franco-American relations if you criticize everything that's not like the 'good ol USA.'"

I was surprised to read in one section that Stewart offered personal services for travelers -- things like answering questions and guiding them around town -- at no charge. In this section, he put his proverbial foot down, saying that this activity had placed a severe strain on his financial resources and that he would only continue to offer services to those who would cover his expenses.

Savannah Wood is interested in finding individuals who have seen or used Stewart's travel guide. Contact me at paris [at] entreetoblackparis [dot] com if you would like to connect with her.

Read about Ollie Stewart here.

Myth of a Colorblind France at the American Library in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Flier for Myth of a Colorblind France (detail)

On February 9, the American Library in Paris is hosting a Black History Month event that will feature the video documentary Myth of a Colorblind France.

This is the library's description of the event:

The term ‘colorblind’ is complicated and frequently ambiguous, carrying with it both negative and positive connotations. Historically, France has been celebrated for its colorblind ethos, which favors equality over difference. However, recent discussions have highlighted the ways the colorblind approach ignores sociopolitical structures and undervalues the particularities of the Black experience. Alan Govenar’s documentary, Myth of a Colorblind France, arrives at a pertinent moment in this debate. Detailing both historical African American artists who saw France as a place of refuge from American racism, and the experience of immigrants and people of color in present-day France, Govenar offers a rich picture of Black history in France while also criticizing oversimplified narratives depicting France as a racial utopia.

Ultimately, the film invites us to reflect on the nature of myth: what myth is, how it can be put to use, and how we can simultaneously find truth and falsity in it. From figures such as Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, and Richard Wright, to contemporary artists such as musician Karim Toure, Govenar’s tone is neither naïve nor damning, but rather celebratory of Black life and art.

The screening will be followed by conversation and Q&A with director Alan Govenar and me. This will be led by Jacqueline Ngo Mpii, whose organization, Little Africa, is a co-sponsor of the event.

Interested parties may attend live or via Zoom. Mpii and I will be present at the library, while Govenar will participate via Zoom. The library will stream the event on Zoom and in-person and online attendees will be able to ask questions.

Click HERE to RSVP for the event.

I hope to see you there!

Art and Food Pairing™: Galerie Lelong & Co. and L'Afrodisiac - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0100

If you've decided to visit Galerie Lelong & Co. to see the haunting works of Alison Saar, why not plan to have a meal at L'Afrodisiac as well?

This unusual African restaurant is approximately a 10-minute walk from Galerie Lelong. It is unusual because of its location - it is the only African restaurant I've been able to find in the 8th arrondissement - and because of its menu.

Most African restaurants in Paris feature cuisine from Senegal. I have also found establishments that offer cuisine from Cameroon or the Ivory Coast. But it is rare to find a restaurant that presents dishes from several African countries on the same menu.

L'Afrodisiac at 3, rue de Courcelles opened in December 2021. Its sister restaurant of the same name has operated in the Bonne Nouvelle quarter (2nd arrondissement) for about five years.

My husband Tom and I were excited by the prospect of relaunching Entrée to Black Paris' Art and Food Pairing™ article series by dining at this restaurant. Because we don't publish reviews of restaurants that we don't enjoy, we were hoping that we'd like the food and service here.

We were not disappointed!

Upon entry, we were greeted by Yolande, the young woman who would serve us throughout our meal. She gave us the choice of dining on the main floor or the first floor of the restaurant, and we chose the latter.

The black façade of the restaurant foretold the color scheme of the interior decor, which is dominated by somber tones accentuated with gold and bronze.

We conquered our impulse to order a three-course meal, knowing that the portions served at African restaurants are larger than we're accustomed to eating in a single sitting. We congratulated ourselves when we received our main dishes: Capitaine braisé for Tom and Thiebou Guinar for me.

Capitaine (Nile perch) is freshwater fish that is widely consumed in several African nations. Tom received an entire fish, smothered with diced, sauteed vegetables and decorated with two rings of raw, red onion and a slice of lemon. He chose plantains as his side dish and received a heaping mound of sliced savory banana cultivar topped with a halved cherry tomato and accompanied by a small cup of stewed onions and tomatoes. A dusting of minced parsley, a leaf of lettuce, and three pansies added additional color to his plate.

Because I have become intolerant of onions and garlic, it is difficult for me to find things to order at African restaurants. Yolande was quite helpful in responding to my questions about the vast menu which, in addition to a robust listing of starters, salads, vegetarian dishes, and grilled dishes, includes several main dishes from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Cameroon, and Congo. We finally determined that I should order a chicken dish from Senegal called Thiebou Guinar. It consisted of a grilled chicken leg, two types of stewed eggplant, half a carrot stick, a leaf of slightly sweet cabbage, and a large portion of yam. A huge mound of riz wolof (jollof rice) topped with a halved cherry tomato was served alongside. A slice of lemon, pansies, and minced parsley also decorated my plate.

I ordered my favorite soft drink, bissap, to accompany my meal. Tom began with a Guinness Foreign Extra Stout beer and finished with a bissap as well.

(In case you're not familiar with bissap, it is an infusion made from hibiscus flowers.)

Tom cleaned his plate and decided he wanted dessert. Even though we did not order a starter, I still found my main dish too copious to finish. I ate half the chicken leg, half the rice, and all the vegetables, and happily took the leftovers home.

Tom opted for a serving of thiakry (déguê) for dessert. This is made from millet couscous that is traditionally topped with a slightly sweetened dairy product such as yogurt or buttermilk. I believe the one we were served was made with fromage blanc (a soft white cheese).

Yolande brought us two spoons in case I wanted to sample the dish, which I did!

I'm not fond of desserts made from grains such as millet and rice, but I enjoyed the dairy part of this dish. I ate one spoonful and Tom had the rest.

L'Afrodisiac is well worth a visit if you're interested in exploring African cuisine beyond the standard offerings of yassa and mafé. It also happens to be located in the proximity of two 8th arrondissement galleries that are dedicated to showing the works of contemporary African, Afro-descendant, and other artists of color, so I encourage you to organize your own private Art and Food Pairings™ in the neighborhood going forward!

L'Afrodisiac
3, rue de Courcelles
75008 Paris
Telephone: 09.54.58.48.49
Metro: Miromesnil (Lines 9 and 13)
Internet: https://lafrodisiacrestaurant.fr/
Hours: Monday through Thursday - 12:00 PM - 3 PM; 6:30 PM - 11:30 PM
Friday through Saturday - 12:30 PM - 12:30 AM
Sunday - 6:30 PM - 11:30 PM

Art and Food Pairing™: Galerie Lelong & Co. and L'Afrodisiac - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Backwater Blues invitation card (detail)

Whenever I've visited Galerie Lelong & Co. in the past, it has been to see exhibitions of works by Barthelemy Toguo.

Today, I'm excited to share news of the gallery's hosting of works by Los Angeles-born Alison Saar.

Saar is the daughter of two prominent artists – ceramicist Richard Saar and visual storyteller and printmaker Betty Saar. She has developed a body of work consisting of sculptures, engravings and paintings focused mainly on black female identity in the United States.

Backwater Blues invitation card
Black Bottom Stomp, 2017
Engraved wood and linocut on bedspread, edition of 18
45,5 x 30 cm
© Alison Saar / Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co.

Saar's work reflects multiple influences, including African-American culture, Haitian folklore, and art brut. You can find them at many prestigious American museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum, the MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim and, the Studio Museum in Harlem.

The Galerie Lelong show, which is entitled Backwater Blues, focuses on Saar's prints. She mainly uses etchings on wood to produce them, and she prints her works not only on paper but also on unusual materials such as handkerchiefs, tea towels and jute bags.

All the works in this show are hung in the gallery's bookshop.

Though there is no catalog for this exhibition, you can find details about several of the works in Backwater Blues here: Alison Saar (Tandem Press).

The catalog for Mirror Mirror: The Prints of Alison Saar, an ongoing exhibition that has been mounted at Washington State University's Jordon Schitzner Museum of Art, is available for consultation in the front room of the bookshop.

Below are images of a couple of works that I found particularly striking.

Reapers, 2021
Linoleum cut on hand-dyed found sugar sacks, varied edition of 18
15 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches
© Entrée to Black Paris

Backwater Blues will be on display through March 12, 2022.

L'Afrodisiac, the restaurant that is the subject of Part 2 of this article, is only a 10-minute walk from Galerie Lelong. Look for our description of the meal Tom and I had there in next week's blog.

Galerie Lelong & Co. Bookshop
13, rue de Téhéran
75008 Paris
Telephone: 01 45 63 13 19
Metro: Miromesnil (Lines 9 and 13)
Hours: Tuesday to Friday: 10:30 AM - 6:00 PM; Saturday: 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Two New Art Galleries in the 8th Arrondissement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Avenue Matignon in Paris' 8th arrondissement recently welcomed two hot new spaces into its repertoire of fine art galleries. Both are champions of contemporary artists of color.

Through her Paris and Chicago locations, Mariane Ibrahim is dedicated to cultivating strong connections between art scenes in the U.S. and Europe. The French-Somali gallery owner launched her 400-square-meter Paris facility in September 2021 with a group show (15 artists) inspired by Josephine Baker's iconic song, "J'ai deux amours, mon pays et Paris." In the exhibition catalog, Ibrahim explains that this tune echoes her vision for representing artists from multiple countries and cultures.

The gallery is now exhibiting the work of Carmen Neely and Ferrari Sheppard in a show called Where to Begin.... Both artists have contributed large scale abstract works and consequently, the show is comprised of relatively few pieces.

Carmen Neely is an African-American woman based in Chicago, IL. Her Abstract Expressionist works are displayed in the exhibition room at the rear of the ground floor.

Ferrari Sheppard is an African-American man based in Los Angeles, CA. The gallery describes his work as "celebrating the humanity of Black people in the Americas and within the diaspora." His One Way Ticket greets visitors at the door, while the rest of his works are displayed on the first floor.

Where to Begin... is on display through January 15, 2022.

Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
18, avenue Matignon
75008 Paris
Telephone: 01.81.72.24.60
Metro: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Lines 1 and 9); Miromésnil (Lines 9 and 13)
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 AM - 6 PM

Cécile Fakhoury opened her gallery at 29, avenue Matignon in October 2021. Here, and at sites in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (opened in 2012) and Dakar, Senegal (opened in 2018), she showcases the work of contemporary African artists.

Fakhoury's current exhibition, entitled Guiss Guiss (The Vision), features the work of Senegalese artist Kassou Seydou.

Seydou lives and works in Keur Massar, Senegal. His allegorical works are instantly recognizable due to the delicate lace-like marks that virtually cover his canvases.

Eight paintings, three of which are diptychs, are displayed on the gallery's two floors.

Though the information in the window indicates that Guiss Guiss was to have ended on January 8, the Website shows the final day of the show is January 29, 2022.

Cécile Fakhoury
29, avenue Matignon
75008 Paris
Telephone: 06.62.42.74.54
Metro: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Lines 1 and 9); Miromésnil (Lines 9 and 13)
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 AM - 6 PM

Visiting Josephine's Cenotaph at the Pantheon

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The fanfare surrounding Josephine Baker's induction into the Pantheon continues!

The metro station Gaîté (Line 13) now bears Josephine's name.

The station is at the end of the street where Josephine gave the last performance of her life at the Bobino Theater in the 14th arrondissement.

The Mairie (town hall) of the 5th arrondissement, located across the square from the Pantheon, has hung a photo of her on its gate.

The Pantheon itself is honoring Josephine with huge banners bearing multiple images of her on the portico.

A 26-panel exhibition of Paris Match photos featuring various aspects of her life is being displayed on the gate through February 13, 2022.

When I visited the Pantheon a few days ago, a Spanish-speaking tour guide was standing in front of the title panel with a large group of people gathered around him. He talked about Josephine for about 15 minutes BEFORE going on to talk about the history of the square and the building!

Inside the Pantheon, Josephine's cenotaph can be found in Vault XIII in the crypt of the building. Access the crypt by descending the spiral staircase to the lower level of the building.

To find the cenotaph, follow the visual guide provided at the "Visiting the Crypt" table near the crypt entrance.

Walk straight down the center aisle until you get to a flight of four stairs in front of you and a curved flight of eight stairs to the right. Take the curved stairs up and turn right into a large semicircular aisle.

Cross the aisle, which houses a small collection of books and a reading area.

Enter the corridor in front of you. There will be an opening at the right.

Enter this hallway and look for Crypt XIII (the first room on the right). You will see the names "Maurice Genevoix" and "Josephine Baker" engraved in the wall to the left of the door.

When you enter the crypt, Josephine's cenotaph is on the right. On the day I visited, a single red rose and a second bunch of flowers lay atop it.

Before leaving the Pantheon, be sure to stop by the bookstore, where you'll find a huge display of publications and other items that feature Josephine.

To learn more about the Pantheon, read our 2014 blog post entitled "Black Pantheon."

Happy Holidays from Entrée to Black Paris!

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Tom and I spent Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day in the Bourgogne town of Joigny, where we joined a couple of friends who have traveled there ten times over the years for a Christmas Eve birthday celebration!

This was our first time visiting the town and we were thrilled to enjoy good weather and lovely views of the town as we walked from the train station to our hotel, La Côte Saint Jacques.

We took a brief stroll through the old town at dusk and got to see the Christmas decorations and a couple of historic sites ...

... before joining our friends for a SUPERB dinner, complete with wine pairings, prepared by Michelin-star chef Jean-Michel Lorain and his team.

We found the town residents to be extremely friendly and the service at the hotel to be flawless!

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year.

Happy Holidays from Entrée to Black Paris!!!

Face to Face and Idris Habib at 193 Gallery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100

The 193 Gallery continues its tour of the contemporary art world with a solo exhibition of works by portraitist Idris Habib and with Face to Face, a new exhibition curated by AKAA's Victoria Mann, which highlights the new generation of African-American artists.

I visited the gallery yesterday. Just a block away from Place de la République in the 3rd arrondissement, its glass façade provides an excellent view of the exhibition that entices you to enter and explore it further.

Works by Idris Habib are interspersed with those of five other artists downstairs, while the first floor is devoted entirely to Habib.

The artists whose works are displayed in Face to Face are Felandus Thames, Latoya Hobbs, Christa David, and Danae Howard.

Thames contributed installations fashioned from hair brushes and portraits made from beads and wire.

African Kings of Dubious Origin #2 (Green)
Felandus Thames
2021 Beads on coated wire on an aluminum rod
© Entrée to Black Paris

Denae Howard contributed collages and a sizeable mixed-media tapestry.

Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today (detail)
Denae Howard (aka #ArtSchoolScammer)
2021 Tapestry with mixed media
© Entrée to Black Paris

Christa David also contributed collages.

Collage by Christa David

Latoya Hobbs contributed splendid wood carving prints.

Upstairs, Idris Habib's mixed media portraits reigned.

The Kehinde Wiley work entitled After John Singer sargent's "The countess of Rocksavage" that was loaned by a private collector to be part of the show is no longer being exhibited, but don't let that stop you from visiting!

Face to Face and Solo Show by Idris Habib will be on display through December 31, 2021.

193 Gallery
24 rue Béranger
75003 Paris
cesar@193gallery.com
Metro: République (Lines 3, 5, 8, 9, and 11)
Telephone: 06 03 70 78 26

Open from Tuesday to Saturday - 10 AM to 7 PM.

Entrée to Black Paris Remembers Tyler Stovall

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Tyler Stovall in Myth of a Colorblind France
Screenshot from video documentary Myth of a Colorblind France

On December 13, 2021, a colleague sent an email announcing the death of Fordham University Professor of History and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Tyler Stovall. She did not know the cause of his death, and mentioned that she had spoken to him less than two weeks ago.

The news was a great shock to all of us.

I had the pleasure of meeting Stovall years ago at a dinner party in the Paris suburb of Antony. He is legendary for having written Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light (Houghton Mifflin, 1996) a "bible" of sorts for those for those interested in black Paris.

Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light
Book cover

Stovall's passion was the history of modern and 20th-century France, and he described himself as being "particularly interested in questions of race and class, blackness, postcolonial history, and transnational history." He and artist and writer Barbara Chase-Riboud are the most prominently featured persons in the 2020 video documentary entitled Myth of a Colorblind France.

Entrée to Black Paris owes a tremendous debt to Stovall for the trail he blazed with his research on the African-American presence in France. He will be missed.

Black Paris Potpourri

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Roy Ayers at 2019 Glastonbury Festival (detail)
Photo by Edwardx - CC-BY-SA 4.0 International

This week, I'm sharing links to three Black Paris happenings - one (recently) past, one present, and one future.

Navigating "Noir"

Emily Monaco recently interviewed me about the French aversion to referring to black people as "noir." We talked about lots of other things as well, from why Josephine Baker is so revered in France to the movement for justice for Adama Traoré.

Click here to listen! https://www.spreaker.com/user/14498309/navigating-noir-with-dr-monique-y-wells

Face to Face and Solo Show by Idris Habib

193 Gallery in the 3rd arrondissement is currently running two exhibitions that will be on display through December 31, 2021.

Face to Face has been mounted with the intent to "showcase a new generation of African-American artists." Works by the five artists featured in this exhibition speak to the necessity to confront the realities of racial inequality in the U.S. and in France. This group show also featured a large work by Kehinde Wiley.

Upstairs, the gallery has mounted a solo show of works by Idris Habib. They consist of portraits of anonymous black people that the artist says convey no particular context:

"My painting does not concern any theory or any -ism. There is no other content than the image and what it shows. There is no need for political messages. The lines themselves are visual proof of the energy and process we go through as people of color. "

193 Gallery
24 rue Béranger
75003 Paris
cesar@193gallery.com
Metro: République (Lines 3, 5, 8, 9, and 11)
Telephone: 06 03 70 78 26

Open from Tuesday to Saturday - 10 AM to 7 PM

Nubiquity of Roy Ayers

Roy Ayers at 2019 Glastonbury Festival
Photo by Edwardx - CC-BY-SA 4.0 International

The legendary jazz club New Morning is hosting a concert that pays tribute to vibrophonist Roy Ayers. They have invited the Parisian jazz funk combo Aldorande and his friends to celebrate "the craziest and most prolific period of King Ayers, between 1970 and 1985."

The concert will take place on Tuesday, December 14. Doors open at 8 PM and music begins at 9 PM. Tickets are 19,80€ - get them by clicking HERE.

New Morning
7 & 9, rue des Petites Ecuries
75010 Paris
Metro: Château d'Eau (Line 4)

Josephine’s Glorious Entry into the Pantheon

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Collage - Place du Panthéon and Josephine Baker
Image of Place du Panthéon © Entrée to Black Paris; Image of Josephine Baker - Public Domain

In a splendid ceremony planned by the Elysées Palace, Josephine Baker took her place among France’s greatest citizens as she was inducted into the Pantheon on November 30, 2021.

Six Air Force personnel transported a coffin containing soil from St. Louis (her hometown), Paris, the Dordogne region of France (where she owned the chateau called Les Milandes), and Monaco (her burial place) and draped in the French flag down a red carpet that had been laid along the entire length of rue Soufflot. Thousands of people, including many youth, lined the route to watch the ceremony.

Various recordings of Josephine’s music played as the procession moved along the street, which leads directly to the Pantheon. The pallbearers stopped in front of the monument and images from Josephine’s life were projected on its façade. The central doors opened, and the coffin was taken inside and placed beneath the dome. President Macron then delivered a powerful and eloquent speech punctuated with information about the key dates of Josephine’s life.

The discourse was followed by the playing of the French national anthem, which was followed in turn by Macron and his wife greeting Josephine’s children who attended the event.

Watch France 24 English’s broadcast of the entire ceremony (with simultaneous English-language translation) and commentary by Annette Young, Curtis Young (no relation), and me here: https://youtu.be/CdLQsVqHiaE

The Joséphine en Rose event planned by Maison Noire Américaine, the Brian Scott Bagley Company, Little Africa, and Treize au Jardin, took place after the official ceremony. Held in the lobby of the Casino de Paris theater where Josephine sang “J’ai deux amours” for the first time, it was magnificent! Several members of the Rainbow Tribe and their children attended.

Maison Noire Américaine partnered with the black-owned champagne house Marie Césaire to create a commemorative bottle of "Joséphine en Rose" Cuvée Rosé Sec to mark this special occasion. Bottles could be reserved prior to the event and picked up during the evening.

Other events, activities, and locations that recently honored or continue to honor Josephine are as follows:

PARIS FOLLIES par LA BÂRONNE DE PANAME à LA COUPOLE – November 27, 2021

Paris Follies graphic

CEO Mom Empire Meet and Greet - November 29, 2021

A private reception hosted by Devon Moody-Graham and Little Africa.

Mom CEO Empire flier

U.S. Ambassador's Residence - November 29, 2021

A private reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy in the presence of Josephine's Rainbow Tribe, preceded by a concert with Nicolle Rochelle, Brian Scott Bagley, Daniel Gassin, and the Harlem Drivers.

Josephine Baker - Celebrations of her induction into the Pantheon - Saturday, December 4, 2021

A private online wrap-up of events celebrating Josephine's Pantheon induction will be hosted by Sistah Circle Paris.

Joséphine B. - a musical revue that will run through January 2, 2021.

Joséphine B. flier

Théâtre de Passy
95, rue de Passy
75016 Paris
Metro: La Muette (Line 9)
Reserve your tickets here (French-language site): https://www.billetreduc.com/280279/evt.htm

Art in the 13^th arrondissement

Sculpture by Christian Guémy (aka C215) - 169, bd de l'Hôpital (across the street from the Mairie du 13ème arrondissement)- https://www.parissecret.fr/2021/10/23/josephine-baker-c215/

This street artist painted several murals of Josephine in her hometown city of St. Louis (https://villa-albertine.org/videos/footsteps-josephine-baker-st-louis-c215).

Joséphine Baker, Au fil de l’eau – a free art exhibition at the Josephine Baker pool that will run through December 31, 2021 - https://parissecret.com/paris-une-expo-gratuite-dediee-a-josephine-baker-au-sein-de-la-piscine-qui-porte-son-nom/

Au fil de l'eau flier

Piscine Josephine Baker
Quai François Mauriac - Port de la Gare
75013 Paris
Metro: Quai de la Gare (Line 6), Bibliothèque François Mitterand (Line 14 and RER C)

Joséphine Baker by Demoiselle MM – mural at rue de l’Espérance, Butte aux Cailles - https://www.yala-photo.com/album-photos/peintures-murales-paris-13/en-2020/jbbac.html

Honoring Josephine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Detail of flier for Joséphine en Rose

As the "pantheonization" ceremony for Josephine Baker draws near, news about a number of celebratory events is emerging. In today's post, I'm sharing the most recent information I have.

In chronological order:

Joséphine Baker, Lumière Noire (past event)
Tuesday, November 16, 2021 from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM

This French-language event was hosted by the Musée National d'Immigration in partnership with L’Obs Magazine, la Fondation pour la mémoire de l’esclavage (Foundation for the Memory of Slavery) and the U.S. Embassy in France.

A round table discussion, co-chaired by Doan Bui, a journalist at L’Obs, et historian Pascal Blanchard, co-founder of the Achac research group, explored Josephine's career - from her artistic presence to her activities as a member of the French Resistance and a civil rights activist. The following individuals made up the panel:

Brian Bouillon-Baker, one of Josephine's adopted sons and author of Joséphine Baker, l'universelle,
Lisette Malidor, the entertainer who created and performed in a show entitled Hommage à Joséphine Baker in 2010,
Brian Scott Bagley, entertainer, former artistic director of the Parc de Josephine Baker, and first black MC at the Crazy Horse de Paris,
Sylvie Chalaye, specialist in African / African diaspora theater and professor at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris),
Rokhaya Diallo, journalist, writer, filmmaker, and inaugural Researcher in Residence at Georgetown University (Washington),
Olivier Sultan, artist and owner of the contemporary African art gallery Art-Z (Paris), and
Amanda Beauville, student at Kourtrajmé cinema school (Clichy sous Bois / Montfermeil).

Josephine Baker dans Toutes Ses Couleurs / In All Her Colors
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
A private event at the Hôtel Mona Bismarck

Joséphine Baker - Un destin Français
Thursday, November 25, 2021
A private avant-première screening of the film entitled Joséphine Baker - Un destin Français

U.S. Embassy Celebrates Josephine
Monday, November 29, 2021
A private event at the U.S. Ambassador's residence

Joséphine en Rose
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Maison Noire Américaine, The Brian Scott Bagley Company, Little Africa, and Treize au Jardin have partnered to host this champagne cocktail celebration in honor of Josephine's induction into the Pantheon. It will take place at the Casino de Paris, the theater where Josephine sang "J'ai Deux Amours" for the first time.

Covid safety precautions will be strictly upheld at this event, and masks and a pass sanitaire/proof of vaccination will be required for entry. Tickets range from 21.17€ to 65.15€. A discount is being offered for groups of 10 or more persons.

For details about the program and to purchase tickets, click HERE.

Sistah Circle Paris online wrap-up of events celebrating Josephine Baker's Pantheon induction
Saturday, December 4, 2021
A private virtual event

Richard Wright Waxes Poetic about Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Wright in his Paris living room (c. 1949) - detail
Fair Use claim

My husband Tom unearthed an amazing find as he was researching Richard Wright for our Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden walking tour - a roughly five minute segment recorded by Richard Wright for New York Public Radio. In it, Wright waxes poetic about the beauty and virtues of living in Paris.

I contacted New York Public Radio to inquire about the recording and received the following information from Andy Lanset, Director of Archives:

The recording is part of the New York City Municipal Archives WNYC collection of lacquer discs and originally aired on WNYC during the first WNYC Art Festival in held in October 1950. It was part of a program called "The Art World of Paris" and included (according to the old catalog card entry) interview segments with "Jacques Jesal, Director of Museums in France, and Ausibe Sabkin, sculptor."

Lanset was not able to tell me who approached Wright about participating in the show or whether he was paid to do the recording.

I learned from the WNYC Website that their archive department is digitizing and making over 1300 hours of historic WNYC recordings accessible through funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

I have listened to this recording several times. To hear Wright say that he "never had a moment of sorrow for having lived in France" and to hear him describe Paris as a "work of art" only begins to help the listener understand why WNYC entitled it "Richard Wright's Love Letter to Paris."

Wright goes on to praise the landscape and architecture of the city and observe that no part of town is left neglected, regardless of the wealth (or lack thereof) of the inhabitants. He espouses the qualities of French artists and talks about how deeply the atmosphere of the city has affected him.

He goes on to say that in this atmosphere, there is "no race tension or conflict," and that he "never heard a Frenchman tell anybody to 'Go back to where you came from.'" He ends by saying that "Soit raisonable" ("Be reasonable") is the French motto.

One has to wonder what Wright would say about living in France today!

Read WNYC's article and listen to the recording here: https://www.wnyc.org/story/192767-richard-wright/

Three Art Exhibitions

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: DOFF (aka Appolinaire Guidimbaye) with one of his works
Image (cropped) from Galerie Art-Z press release

Contemporary art by African and African diaspora artists are / will be available for viewing at three shows this month: Would do Again at the Fondation des Etats-Unis, AKAA Art and Design Fair at the Carreau du Temple, and Habiter la Terre at Galerie Art-Z.

Would do Again

ETBP featured artist Arthur Haywood in July 2021 when we wrote about the murals he created with French high school students as the winner of a Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship. This month, Haywood is one of six international and French artists in residence who are showing their work in a contemporary exhibition featuring multidisciplinary techniques, such as film, animation, photography, illustration, painting, and writing.

The theme "Would do Again" refers to each artist continuing on a chosen artistic path. All six artists in the show seek to embody the experience of reality and fantasy, as well as the duality of life abroad.

Dragon in the Sky
2021 Arthur Haywood

Dragon in the Sky depicts readers watching a fantasy story coming to life. A dragon appears in the sky surrounding the Château of Fontainebleau. Haywood created this piece as part of the 2021 centennial celebration of The Fontainebleau Schools of Music and Fine Arts. It will be part of the permanent collection of Harriet Hale Woolley at Fondation des Etats-Unis.

Would do Again opened on November 3rd. Viewings are scheduled for November 14, November 28, and a few additional dates that have yet to be announced.
Register for free at fondationdesetatsunis.org/would-do-again/

Haywood has works for sale. Contact him at ahaywoodstudio@gmail.com to inquire.

Fondation des Etats-Unis
15, boulevard Jourdain
75014 Paris
Public transportation: RER B - Cité Universitaire; Tram T3a - Cité Universitaire

AKAA Art and Design Fair

The sixth edition of the Also Known as Africa (AKAA) Art and Design Fair will open at the Carreau du Temple in the 3rd arrondissement on November 12.

Promotional flier for AKAA

One hundred thirty-two contemporary artists will show works at the three-day exhibition. A cultural program entitled Against the flow of time, consisting of multiple conferences and book signings, will enhance the event.

A VIP preview of the artworks will take place on November 11 from 2 PM - 6 PM and the public preview will begin at 6 PM that day.

Regular viewing days are November 12-13 from noon - 8 PM and November 14 from noon - 6 PM.

Purchase tickets here: AKAA 2021

Habiter la Terre (Inhabit Earth)

The two-man exhibition called Habitez la Terre opened at Galerie Art-Z on October 28.

The featured artists are DOFF (aka Appolinaire Guidimbaye) from Chad and Christophe from France.

DOFF (aka Appolinaire Guidimbaye) with one of his works
Image from Galerie Art-Z press release

Both artists create their works from discarded materials ranging from insulation materials and bullets (DOFF) to old tools (Christophe). Both seek to turn our attention to the environment through their sculptures.

Habiter la Terre will be on display through November 20.

Galerie Art-Z
27, rue Keller
75011 Paris
Metro: Bastille (Lines 1, 5, and 8)
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 2 PM - 6:30 PM

How Can You Rise Higher

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Portrait of Lucy Jane (detail)
Image courtesy of the poet

A clinical and health psychologist by training, Dr. Roseline Armange (Lucy Jane), earned her doctorate in cognitive psychology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne, Paris) with summa cum laude distinction (mention très honorable et les félicitations du jury). Her scholarship exploits the intersection of politics, race, gender, literature, philosophy, and psychology. "How Can You Rise Higher" is the third poem by Lucy Jane to be published on the Entrée to Black Paris blog.

How can you rise higher where the racist’s acid attack of the White fragile male mind wants to make you feel small?

How can you rise higher when your spiritual consciousness calls you to be firm on who you are in color, culture, and all that makes up who you are ?

Certain people will say to me, "You just have to remain silent."

Is silence enough to help a fellow sister or brother in need of authentic help?

Do we have to close our eyes every time the threat of the Other makes the fool racist one turn himself into a Satan dance?

Do we have to silence our mouths every time a racist one makes his voice loud in order to reverse onto you his own racist fear of himself?

Do we have to remain inanimate objects of a fragile mind that needs more therapeutics than the oppressed one for which the use of majestic silent treatment is the given response to this 21st century modern racial colonial pressure to preserve his spiritual honor and human dignity?

For we will never remain silent

Never remain silent against the threat of smallness’ conception of humanity

We will never remain silent in front of the oppressed’s threat that has long seeped into my mind.

My rage is not a common rage

My rage is part of a human rage

An emotionally intelligent rage, as all emotions serve the cause of rising higher

A rage that descends from on high, as all emotions contain the cure for rising higher.

For in my rage, I find Answers.

For in my rage, I find Peace.

For in my rage, I find Love.

For in my rage, I find Power.

For in my rage, I find Sounds and Words,

Ways and Truths,

Liberation and Freedom.

For the master’s tools will never conquer my Higher House.

For the master’s tools will never destroy my Higher Heart.

For the master’s house will destroy itself in my Higher Heart.

For in my rage, I found Higher.

From Algeria to Martinique

A shared suffering

Between my clients and me

The world is thin.

Encompassing Love through words

Encompassing Love through healing

Encompassing Love and building strengths to repress silence

Encompassing Love and sociopolitical thoughts to extend thinking and critical healing.

From Martinique to Algeria

My heart is the sound of a broken heart on the cross dying in repentance for them all.

From Martinique to Algeria

The revolution of Fanon’s radical Love and colonial war

As a taste of shredded bones and fresh blood, dismantling Western Egos.

From Algeria to Martinique

Empowering cultural rights as the taste of endless freedom of beingness

Empowering cultural rights is my birthright onto my certificate

Empowering cultural rights is my birthright onto my civil rights

Empowering fairness is my birthright until death die and life rise and rises again.

Paris, 26 octobre 2021 at 1:00 AM

Between my thoughts and me, decluttering spiritual confusions of an Egotism alliteration.

Between my thoughts and me, midnight and silence as the smell of God’s grace in disguised Peace.

Lucy Jane

Portrait of Lucy Jane
Image courtesy of the poet

To read additional Lucy Jane poems on the Entrée to Black Paris blog, click on the links below.

In Memory of the Past, Present, and Future

My Soul, God, & the World

Josephine Baker at the Pantheon

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Josephine Baker - 1940 Harcourt photo portrait (detail)
Image in the public domain

It's pretty well known by now that the French government will "pantheonize" Josephine Baker on November 30, 2021.

The announcement was made on August 22, 2021, after an initial evaluation of a dossier, including a petition with 38,000 signatures gathered over a period of two years, earlier this summer.

Details about the ceremony have not yet been made public. The U.S. Embassy (which is not involved in the planning of the official affair) and other U.S. organizations are working as quickly as possible to organize commemorative events that will mark this auspicious occasion.

Many articles have indicated that Baker will be re-interred at the Paris monument, but this is not the case. Her family has stipulated that her grave in Monaco remain intact. Instead, she will be honored at the Pantheon with a cenotaph and a plaque.

Josephine Baker - 1940 Harcourt photo portrait
Image in the public domain

Baker will be the first African American, the sixth person of African descent, and the sixth woman to "enter" the Pantheon.

Barbara Chase-Riboud at the Institut Giacometti

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Barbara Chase-Riboud with her Malcolm X steles
Image by Nikitag94
CC-BY-SA-4.0

For the first time since 1974, a museum exhibition dedicated to Barbara Chase-Riboud's art has been organized in Paris. Through close collaboration with the artist, the Institut Giacometti is presenting a selection of Chase-Riboud's works in conversation with works by the Swiss sculptor, Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966).

The exhibition consists of fifteen (15) sculptures of various sizes and twenty (20) drawings juxtaposing sculptures and drawings by Giacometti, as well as photographs of both artists.

The Institute draws attention to the similarities in the artists' creative practice — both Giacometti and Chase-Riboud express(ed) themselves through sculpture, drawing, and writing. Both drew inspiration from Henri Matisse; both were/are inspired by African art, including that of ancient Egypt.

Chase-Riboud met Giacometti in Paris in 1962. His work influenced hers, without defining it.

The name of the exhibition — Standing Women of Venice / Standing Black Woman of Venice — is drawn from the Standing Women of Venice series of plaster and painted plaster sculptures created by Giacometti in 1956 and the single black stele entitled Standing Black Woman of Venice (1969-2020) created by Chase-Riboud.

Femme noire debout de Venise, 1969-2020

Standing Black Woman of Venice
Bronze
246 x 46 x 69 cm
Collection of the artist
© Barbara Chase-Riboud
Image courtesy of Institut Giacometti

Standing Women of Venice / Standing Black Woman of Venice will be open to the public from October 20, 2021 to January 9, 2022. The invitation-only vernissage (opening reception) will be held on the evening of October 21, 2021.

Institut Giacometti
5, rue Victor Schœlcher
75014 Paris
Metro: Raspail or Denfert Rochereau (Lines 4 and 6)

Three Black Classical Music Composers

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Screenshot of promotional frame for YouTube video of A Cry for justice op 20

I recently learned about an African-American classical music composer and concert pianist who lives in Paris. Will Bedi wrote A Cry for justice op 20 "in honor of all the blacks pioneers and victims of injustice around the world." Listen to his beautiful work by clicking on the image below.

When I found out about Bedi, I immediately thought of two other black men who composed classical music and spent time in Paris.

Howard Swanson (1907-1978) was a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He studied piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in music theory.

Portrait of Howard Swanson
Photograph © Carl Van Vechten Trust
Gravure and compilation ©Eakins Press Foundation
Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Swanson received three awards that allowed him to move to Paris: a Rosenwald Fellowship In 1939, and a Guggenheim award and a grant from the National Academy of Arts and Letters in 1952. His first stay, during which he studied with renowned instructor Nadia Boulanger, was interrupted due to Germany's invasion of France in 1940. His second sojourn lasted for 14 years; he returned to the U.S. in 1966.

Swanson is best known for his compositions based on the poetry of Langston Hughes and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. He became widely recognized for his work when Marian Anderson first performed his composition for Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" at Carnegie Hall on January 15, 1950.

Anderson subsequently included this work in her repertoire and performed it during her farewell concert tour in 1964-65. Listen to her (remastered) performance HERE.

Centuries earlier, Joseph Boulogne, AKA Chevalier de Saint-George (1745-1799), made a name for himself in Paris.

Portrait of Joseph Boulogne de Saint-George
1788 Engraving by William Ward (inspired by the painting by Mather Brown)
Image in the public domain

Boulogne was the son of a French aristocrat and an enslaved African woman. He was born in Guadeloupe and educated in France. In addition to being a gifted violinist, prolific composer, and orchestra leader, he was also a superb athlete who excelled at fencing. He was the first colonel of African descent to serve in the French military and he created a regiment of black and mixed race soldiers called the Légion St.-Georges. Alexandre Dumas père's father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, served as an officer in this brigade.

Boulogne wrote numerous operas, symphony concertantes, violin concertos, sonatas, and more. He was nominated to take over the Paris opera, but withdrew his name from consideration when three women singers refused to work under him because of his race. He hobnobbed with royalty and the aristocracy, being favored by Queen Marie Antoinette, the Marquise de Montesson, and the duc d'Orléans.

A French association called Le Concert de Monsieur de Saint-George has undertaken the task of preserving and promoting Boulogne's legacy. Find its Website (in French) HERE.

To read a detailed biography about Boulogne, click HERE.

To read the 2020 NYTimes article about him and to listen to several recordings of his music, click HERE.

The Ella Fitzgerald Garden

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Last weekend, Paris celebrated the 25th edition of the Fête des jardins et de l'agriculture urbaine - the Garden and Urban Agriculture Festival.

To mark the occasion, Tom and I set out for the 19th arrondissement to visit one of the city's newest green spaces - the Jardin Ella Fitzgerald (Ella Fitzgerald Garden).

We were delighted to learn that the garden is located at 12-14, rue Ella Fitzgerald - a street bordering the Canal de l'Ourcq that was baptized in Fitzgerald's honor in 2009. The nearest public transportation stop to the garden is also named after Fitzgerald. It is on Tram line 3b, one stop from the Porte de la Villette tram stop (3b) and metro station (Line 7).

Residents of the neighborhood began cultivating this space in May 2021. Over the summer, these amateur gardeners planted over 21 species of vegetables and flowers in approximately one-third of the space allocated for the garden. On Saturday, September 25, they invited the public for the official inauguration.

We were warmly welcomed by the group and had the run of the space as two of the first visitors of the day.

Hugues, one of the gardeners was busily watering plants when we arrived.

Another gardener proudly showed us several of the vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers that the group is successfully growing in this urban space.

The gardeners harvested the fruits of their labor and prepared a spread for visitors to enjoy. In addition to providing raw vegetables such as tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and radishes, they prepared pickled vegetables and a pesto made from plantain leaves (which grow wild in the uncultivated space) that everyone agreed was delicious.

Our hosts graciously posed for a group photo before we left them for the day.

Find Jardin Ella Fitzgerald on Facebook (in French) here: https://www.facebook.com/jardinellafitzgerald/.

Abolition of Slavery at the Hôtel de la Marine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200

"In February 1848, Victor Schœlcher was appointed under-secretary of state for the colonies and for measures concerning slavery by François Arago, minister of the colonies during the French Second Republic. Over the two months that followed, he [Schœlcher] worked on drawing up the abolition decree, which was signed in the minister’s office on the first floor of the Hôtel de la Marine at the building’s corner where Rue Royale meets Place de la Concorde."

~ Hôtel de la Marine Web site

During last weekend's Journées de Patrimoine, the newly renovated Hôtel de la Marine was opened to the public. Tom and I took the opportunity to visit the former home of the French naval ministry to see the space where the decree that definitively abolished slavery in the French colonies was drafted and signed.

We entered the courtyard at Place de la Concorde and were able to skip the long line of people waiting to enter because we had reserved in advance.

We collected our headphones in the ticketing area, went through security, and entered the building for the Grand Tour.

The building is absolutely splendid!

The only décor that presents images of black people are two Gobelins tapestries. One is called Le Chameau (The Camel) - it is signed Cozette fils. The other, the name of which I have not been able to find, is signed Gs. Cozette. They are in the Salon de Jeux, which is one of the last stops on the ~90-minute tour.

After visiting the Salon de Jeux, you come to the Salon Arago, where the abolition decree was drafted and signed. It is resplendent!

Four emblems displaying anchors enhance the ceiling at the base of the enormous chandelier that lights the room.

At the end of the tour, a digital display on a large round table in the former office of the chief of staff presents the story of famous French sailors who made history with the French navy. (Unfortunately, considerable glare diminishes the viewer's experience of this and other digital displays on the tour.)

One of the videos shown on this table presents the French slave trade and the abolition movement.

The final stop on the tour is the loggia, from which you have a sweeping view of Place de la Concorde, the Jeu de Paume museum in the Tuileries Garden, and of course, the Eiffel Tower.

Hôtel de la Marine is found at 2, place de la Concorde. The place is the starting point for Entrée to Black Paris' On the Grandest of Avenues tour, which is one of our most popular private walking tours. If you'd like to experience this tour (which does not include a visit to Hôtel de la Marine), write to me at paris@entreetoblackparis.com least six weeks in advance of your trip so we can organize one for you and your party!

Nancy Cunard at the Fondation Giacometti

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Nancy Cunard and Henry Crowder on the cover of the
Lost Generation Journal - Summer 1979 (detail)

The École des Modernités (School of Modernities) at the Fondation Giacometti supports original projects for the study of the art of the modern period (1905-1960). Over the past five years, the school has hosted numerous lectures that explore this topic, with an explicit focus on the exchanges that the Paris environment fostered among artists from around the world.

Several of these lectures have presented the experiences and explored questions about Africans and people of African descent. They include:

Un Autre Paris (Another Paris) - Simon Njami - 2019

Irma Stern et le Paradox Racial de l'Art Moderne Sud-Africain (Irma Stern and the Racial Paradox of Modern South African Art) - LaNitra M. Berger - 2020

Loïs Mailou Jones et le "Black Paris " (Loïs Mailou Jones and Black Paris) - Rebecca VanDiver - 2021

On Tuesday, September 21, the school is hosting a conference about Nancy Cunard, the British writer and political activist who created Negro: Anthology Made by Nancy Cunard. This book of over 800 pages is described as an "exploration of black achievement and black anger (that) takes the reader from life in America to the West Indies, South America, Europe, and Africa." The talk will address the intellectual and artistic milieu that enabled Cunard to create the anthology.

A large part of Cunard's story, which was essential to the cultivation of her interest in the U.S. civil rights movement, was her relationship with African-American jazz man Henry Crowder. Crowder helped her run her publishing company, Hours Press, which operated in rue Guenégaud in Paris' 6th arrondissement.

Sarah Frioux Salgas is the speaker for the September 21 event. As the person responsible for the archives and documentation of the collections at the media library of the Quai Branly museum, she curated the museum's Atlantique Noir (Black Atlantic) exhibition in 2014.

Salgas will present "Nancy Cunard - La Passeuse" ("Nancy Cunard - The Facilitator") in French from 6:30 PM to 8 PM at the Giacometti LAB, 9 rue Victor Schoelcher, in Paris' 14th arrondissement. Attendance, whether in person or online, is free; registration is required.

To sign up, click here: https://www.fondation-giacometti.fr/fr/evenement/205/nancy-cunard-la-passeuse

Barthélémy Toguo - Two Shows in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200

I am a huge fan of Barthélémy Toguo's work and have written about him several times over the years. I had the pleasure of meeting him in person during his Strange Fruit exhibition at Galerie Lelong & Co. in Paris in 2017. Today, I'm pleased to report that he has two exhibitions running simultaneously in town!

Today is the first day of Galerie Lelong & Co.'s exhibition of Partages, which is an extension of work Toguo conceived for the 2020 International Biennial in Busan, Korea. It consists of an ensemble of blue paintings created in 2020 and 2021 and an interactive installation through which he invites the public to make a donation or send him a paper or electronic message.

Screenshot from Galerie Lelong & Co Website

The show is inspired by Toguo's study of the works of Edmond Jabès (1912-1991), an Egyptian poet who was forced to leave his homeland when Egypt expelled most of its Jewish population as a result of the Suez Crisis. Jabès moved to France, became a French citizen, and became renowned for his writings. Toguo's particular interest in Jabès' Book of Shares (Livre de Partages), led him to create a series of works that borrows the idea of sharing and blends it with the legend of a deity worshiped by the Bamiléké people of Cameroon.

Partages will be on view through October 23, 2021 at

Galerie Lelong & Co.
13, rue de Téhéran
75008 Paris
Tel: 01.45.63.13.19
Metro: Miromesnil (Lines 9 and 13)
Internet: http://galerie-lelong.com

Désir d'humanité - Le Monde de Barthélémy Toguo (Craving for Humanity - The World of Barthélémy Toguo), the other exhibition that is currently on display, can be found at the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac. Curator Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau, who is Director of the Dapper Foundation, has studied the museum's collections and selected numerous pieces to which she juxtaposes works created by Toguo.

Flier for Désir d'humanité exhibition

To get an idea of what is in store for visitors to the exhibition, view a sample of the catalog here: Désir d'humanité

Désir d'humanité will be on display through December 5, 2021.

Musée du quai Branly
37 Quai Branly
75007 Paris
Entry fee: 12€ (includes admission to the permanent collection)
Purchasing your ticket online is strongly recommended: https://quaibranly.tickeasy.com/en-GB/home

Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 10:30 am-07:00 pm
Thursday: 10:30 am-10:00 pm

See other ETBP articles about Toguo below:

Urban Renewal in La Goutte d'Or

Barthélémy Toguo's "Strange Fruit" in Paris

Expo: The Lost Dog's Orchestra - Barthélémy Toguo

Art by African / Diaspora Women at Saint-Denis Museum

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0200

AfricaSeason 2020 will culminate with the Un.e Air.e de Famille exhibition at the Musée d'art & d'histoire Paul Eluard in Saint-Denis. This show, which features the work of several African and African diaspora women artists, will be on display through November 8, 2021.

Un.e Air.e de Famille juxtaposes the exploration of the push by French and other surrealists against colonization with contemporary artworks created by fourteen African and African diaspora women that explore themes of (forced) migration, cultural memory, and women's empowerment:

Nadia Kaabi-Linke

Tuli Mekondjo

Malala Andrialavidrazana

les soeurs Chevalme (Delphine and Elodie)*

Otobong Nkanga

Euridice Zaituna Kala

Owanto

Kapwani Kiwanga

Much of the exhibition consists photos, journals, books, and illustrations that speak to the anti-colonialist movement spearheaded by surrealists such as Paul Eluard, André Breton, and Jacques Viot.

Not surprisingly, the curator included images of Josephine Baker, who was nominated as "Queen of the Colonies" for the 1931 Colonial Exhibition that the surrealists so vehemently opposed.

But my primary interest centered on the fine art created by the women listed above.

The exhibition is displayed in three distinct spaces, two of which are in the former Carmelite cloister that houses the museum. I especially liked the works shown in the Salles du Chapitre.

They included a series black and white photos by Eliane Aïsso that represent Beninese mortuary rites

and color photos from an multidisciplinary installation by Laeïla Adjovi that spotlights the celebration on both sides of the Atlantic of rituals tied to the West African divinity named Yemoja.

The third exhibition space is in the chapel.

My favorite works in this space are by Owanto. Her Flowers VII was selected for the promotional flier for the exhibition.

Flowers II, La jeune fille à la fleur (2019) by Owanto
UV print on aluminum; flowers in cold porcelain
© Entrée to Black Paris

To get from Paris to the museum by metro, take Line 13 to Porte de Saint-Denis and use Sortie 3 to exit the station. It should take no more than three minutes to walk to the museum. The city has placed markings on the ground to show you the way.

Musée d'art & d'histoire Paul Eluard
22 bis, rue Gabriel Péri
93200 Saint-Denis
Website: https://musee-saint-denis.com

Hours:
Monday - Wednesday - Friday 10 AM - 5:30 PM
Thursday 10 AM - 8 PM
Saturday - Sunday 2 PM - 6:30 PM

*I have not been able to ascertain whether the Chevalme sisters are of African descent.

Joseph Langley's Premonition Paintings

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Joseph Langley with Notre Dame Illuminated (c. 2010) and Arc de Triomphe (c. 2010)
© Entrée to Black Paris

As mentioned in last week's blog post, Joseph Langley was one of two additional artists whose works were displayed at Ealy Mays' Open Air Gallery during the weekend of August 14-15, 2021. If you look carefully at the painting called Notre Dame Illuminated, you'll see that Langley replaced the cathedral's spire with a flame.

Notre Dame Illuminated
Joseph Langley
(c. 2010) Oil on wooden board
Image courtesy of the artist

Langley painted this work nine years before the devastating fire that destroyed the spire on April 15, 2019.

“This is the third time I created a work that was like a premonition," Langley said. "Several years ago, I created a piece called Tempête au Zoo. This was before the big storm that damaged the zoo in Vincennes. I have been told I have a gift of premonition, but never took it seriously.”

Tempête au Zoo
Joseph Langley
(c. 1999) Watercolor and gouache on paper
Image courtesy of the artist

"Tempête au Zoo was purchased and now hangs in the collection of one of my collectors," he added.

I was intrigued by this revelation and asked Langley for an interview about these "premonition paintings." Find it below.

ETBP: You mentioned a third work that resulted from a premonition. Tell me about it.

JL: I created a third painting before the attack on the World Trade Center. I painted an earthquake in New York. It too was acquired by someone, and unfortunately, I have no pictures of it. I will add that before the 911 attack, I had several ongoing nightmares and was afraid to go to America that year. I knew something was up – I had planned to travel around that period but cancelled my journey.

ETBP: Did you visit Notre Dame and/or the Vincennes Zoo before you created these premonitory works?

JL: No I didn’t. I usually just sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper or canvas and let the muse invade me. Then I begin by sketching and create the work. I create what comes to mind at that moment.

ETBP: Did you feel anxiety when you painted them, the way you did when you painted the NY earthquake prior to the attack on the World Trade Center?

JL: I am usually very calm when I create. I actually was very peaceful when I created these works. Painting or drawing makes me very at ease and peaceful.

ETBP: Have you ever thought about trying to refine your gift?

JL: it is not something I can control -- I just follow my instinct. I often can foresee bad situations and do all I can to avoid them, but as far as the gift goes, I just let providence guide me. I often have premonitory dreams and I listen to them and even sometimes I ask for something and it comes. A few days ago, I shot a video in the park and before I left the house I did something I rarely do, I took two business cards with me because I had a premonition. After the video shooting, two young rappers came to me and asked me if I knew someone to shoot their videos. I had the two cards in my pocket and I gave them to them, and they said they would call me. I knew then why I had that premonition...

Joseph Langley has created his own gallery in his 11th arrondissement apartment in Paris. Click on the image below to watch him present it during this YouTube interview by Beraat Gokkus.

Joseph Langley is one of 24 persons featured in Black Paris Profiles (2012). Contact him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joseph.langley1/ or by email by clicking HERE.

Ealy Mays' Open Air Gallery

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Contemporary visual artist Ealy Mays is taking advantage of a construction site near his home to create a pop-up, weekend open air art gallery. When weather permits, he hangs a selection of his paintings on a wooden barrier, painted black and adorned with graffiti, in front of a building at 2, rue Christine.

Mays is a prolific artist whom ETBP has featured multiple times. So when I received his email invitation to come to an exhibition on Sunday, August 15, I didn't hesitate to accept.

The weather was glorious and the artwork was as vibrant and colorful as ever!

Most of the paintings were Mays' creations, but there were a few works by two additional artists as well: Joseph Langley and Lev Bourliot (aka Willie Wangle Jangle).

Joseph Langley with his oil on wooden panel paintings:
Notre Dame Illuminated (c. 2010, left) and Arc de Triomphe (c. 2010, right)
© Entrée to Black Paris

Paris is Burning (2021)
Lev Bourliot and Ealy Mays
Analog photo transfer and acrylic on canvas
50 cm x 50 cm
Image courtesy of Ealy Mays Atelier

Langley created a YouTube video of the event that features Mays and Bourliot. You can view here:

Ealy Mays Exposes rue Christine Paris 6

Two of the works that Mays displayed during Sunday's exhibition have been sold: (Star Trek) Fired While Cloaked and Gunslinger Mammie.

I am particularly partial to his Price of a Ticket, Revisited, which is a new rendition of his 2012 piece entitled Beauford, What is the Price of a Ticket?

A previous version of Price of a Ticket, Revisited was sold earlier this year.

Mays has created a podcast called Ealy Talks Art, through which he shares backstories about his works. Learn more about him and find his podcast HERE.

Disney+ French Mini-series to Spotlight Fatal Case of Police Brutality

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0200

On February 16, 2021, the Walt Disney Company announced its line-up for ten new original projects, four of which are being created in Europe. One of them, called Oussekine, is being developed for Disney's new entertainment brand, Star.

From the press release:

Oussekine, an ambitious four-part Star Original mini-series, examines the terrible true events of December 5, 1986, that led to the death of a young student, Malik Oussekine. Centred on his family’s fight for justice, the series will explore the enormous impact this high-profile case had on French society. Oussekine is created and directed by Antoine Chevrollier (Baron Noir, Le Bureau des Légendes) and co-written by Faïza Guène, Julien Lilti and Cédric Ido.

Malik Oussekine was a French-Algerian man. He was 22 years old when he was beaten to death by members of the French anti-riot squad in a building at 20, rue Monsieur le Prince in the 6th arrondissement, not five minutes away from the address where Richard Wright (1908-1960) and his family lived for eleven years (1948-1959). He did not participate in the demonstration that took place on December 5-6, 1986, for which the police had been sent on patrol. He was on his way home from a concert when they stopped him.

A plaque embedded in the sidewalk in front of the building commemorates him.

The English translation of the words on the plaque read as follows:

In memory
of
MALIK OUSSEKINE
Student
22 years old
Beaten to death
during the protest
of 6 December 1986

Someone has written "Par la police français" in marker at the bottom of the inscription. This means "By the French police." Two of the three officers implicated in the attack were sentenced to prison for 2 and 5 years, both of which were suspended.

The plaque was installed 20 years after Oussekine's death. I have walked past it many times and always intended to look up Oussekine's name "when I had a moment." A conversation with a fellow tour guide prompted me to do so a few days ago. Serendipitously, I found myself on rue Monsieur le Prince a couple of days later, and I took the photo that is shown above.

If you've seen or heard of the award-winning French film entitled La Haine, which was released in 1995, you may know that it was based on Oussekine’s story.

Flier for La Haine

The writing team for the Oussekine Disney+ mini-series includes Cédric Ido, a French-Burkinabé born in Stains, a small northern Paris suburb. Ido is an actor, director, screenwriter, and producer of films.

The release date for Oussekine has not yet been announced.

Saison Africa2020 Coming to a Close

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Banner from Saison Africa2020 Website

The following quotes from the Saison Africa2020 (Africa2020 Season) Website succinctly state everything that is important to know about the mission and vision of this project:

"The Africa2020 Season is a platform for sharing questions about the state of contemporary societies which, beyond Africa, are in resonance with France and the rest of the world."

"The Africa2020 Season is an allegory of the cultural, spiritual, commercial, technological and political networks that have linked the nations of the African continent throughout history."

"The Africa2020 Season is a meeting space where we can talk about our fears and our desires, our failures and our achievements, and our future."

Conceived as a 6-month multidisciplinary project featuring innovation in the arts, sciences, technology, entrepreneurship and the economy, Saison Africa2020's debut was delayed by six-plus months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So, instead of ending last December, most activities will be winding up between the end of July and the end of September 2021.

Paris has two headquarters for the project - Espace Pierre Cardin in the 8th arrondissement and Institut des Cultures d’Islam in the 18tharrondissement.

Espace Pierre Cardin is offering Eté du Cinéma African (Summer of African Theater) on July 30 and 31. Attendance is free; reservations can be made here: https://www.theatredelaville-paris.com/fr/spectacles/saison-estivale-20-21/africa2020/qg-paris-champs-elysees

The Institut des Cultures d'Islam is offering a free art exhibition called La Zone Franche (The Free Zone), a collaboration among three art organizations in France, Morocco, and Cameroon that "explores the movement of travellers, goods and imaginary worlds beyond material or invisible limits." Individual visitors must reserve online at the following link: https://www.billetweb.fr/visite-de-libre-de-lexposition. Groups can reserve for a guided visit here: https://www.billetweb.fr/visites-et-ateliers-hors-programmes

Banner from Institut des Cultures d'Islam Website

As mentioned in the ETBP blog dated July 1, 2021, The Power of My Hands exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris (MAM) displays works by sixteen female artists from several English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking African countries, as well as from the diaspora. Through August 22, 2021, visitors can purchase tickets (7€) online here (Web page in French and English): https://www.billetterie-parismusees.paris.fr/selection/timeslotpass?productId=101668823953>mStepTracking=true&lang=en

The Paris suburb of Saint-Denis also has a Saison Africa2020 headquarters. Its Paul Eluard Art and History Museum is presenting an exhibition called Un.e Air.e de famille - a show that examines the anti-colonial commitment of the surrealists and other artists in the museum's collections. It also presents contemporary works by thirteen female artists from Africa and the African diaspora.

Un.e Air.e de famille is scheduled to run through November 8 and the museum has scheduled associated programming through October. See the full program (in French) here: https://musee-saint-denis.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MAHPE-programme-juin-novembre-2021.pdf

The exhibitions at MAM and Paul Eluard Art and History Museum are part of Saison Africa2020's Focus Femmes (Focus on Women) theme, which explores the views of African women on the challenges of the 21st century.

Fine Arts Meet Superb Craftmanship in the 17th Arrondissement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200

If you've ever debated whether sewing is an art or a craft, a visit to the Studio des Acacias art gallery between now and July 28 may help you decide.

Soukhos is the creation of Raphaël Barontini, a French artist of mixed parentage who was selected for the 2020 LVMH Métiers d’Art Artist-in-Residence program. He depicts historical or fictional subjects from Africa and the Caribbean in his work with the intent to shine a spotlight on under-represented narratives in the history of art.

Barontini spent a year at the Heng Long tannery in Singapore, an establishment that is renowned for its expertise in tanning and finishing of crocodilian leather. Using this leather, silks, and other materials, he crafted the works that are presented at the gallery.

Visitors enter the front room of the exhibition from the street. This area showcases artworks and scarves (foulards) that combine elements from divergent histories and cultures into powerful images that are described as "creolized."

There are no information cards posted next to the items displayed at this exhibition. You are expected to access the names, media used, and other information about the works using the QR code that is posted on the information panel on a wall in the front room.

Two extraordinary saddles and numerous garments make up the bulk of the exhibition. You will find these works on the ground and first floors in the three-story building on the courtyard.

Dominating the room on the ground floor is an enormous blue crocodile skin displayed on a bamboo and caning frame against a cloth backdrop that evokes thoughts of a river. (Soukhos is the Ancient Greek name for Sobek - the Egyptian God with a crocodile head who was believed to have created the Nile River.)

While perusing the works on the ground floor, you will periodically hear the melodic voice of hip-hop icon Mike Ladd. You'll need to mount the stairs to the first floor to find out why.

When you get there, you'll encounter four "cosmic ruffs" (see cover image) and a screen displaying a short, subtitled video that features "players" at Saint-Denis Cathedral in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. In the video, Ladd recites his poignant poem entitled "Saint Maurice" as dimly lit scenes inside the cathedral are displayed in succession. The words of the poem are displayed on a wall to the right of the screen.

If you pay close attention, you'll recognize that the players are wearing garments that are on view at the exhibition and that one of these garments is the "Saint Maurice and the Dragon" cape displayed on the ground floor.

The exhibition catalog is displayed on the third floor. The Legion of Thebes (silkscreen and digital prints on fabrics and crocodile leather) welcomes you to the landing.

The Studio des Acacias has mounted this exhibition in partnership with Reiffers Art Initiatives and Mariane Ibrahim Gallery. It is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday, 11 AM to 7PM, through Wednesday, July 28, 2021. Entry is free.

Studio des Acacias
30, rue des Acacias
75017 Paris
Telephone: 01 58 05 49 83
Metro: Argentine (Line 1)

Access the exhibition virtually by clicking here: https://studiodesacacias.com/en/soukhos

Artist Creates Murals for Paris-area High School

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Detail of promotional flier for The World of Reading mural created by Arthur Haywood

On Tuesday, July 13, Tom led a group on our "Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden" tour. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that one of the participants - Arthur Haywood - is an artist who came to Paris last fall as the recipient of the 2020-2021 Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship awarded by the Fondation des Etats-Unis. He came to develop murals that "inspire a love of learning and cultural appreciation."

Creating murals and illustrations to inspire others and engage youth in reading is Haywood's passion. Through the Woolley scholarship, he worked with high school students at the Lycée Paul Lapie in Courbevoie to create murals based on their favorite stories. They chose The Chronicles of Narnia, Les Chevaliers d'Émeraude, and Star Wars as their subjects, and they worked on the murals alongside Haywood.

The paintings, which celebrate learning as a unifying link for students of multicultural backgrounds in France, depict Paul Lapie students looking at scenes from these stories.

Click HERE to see an image of the mural based on Les Chevaliers d'Émeraude in progress.

The Fondation des Etats-Unis displayed Haywood's murals during an exhibition called Renaissance of Reading from June 2-25.

On July 14, the Château de Fontainebleau hosted a vernissage to showcase the works.

Haywood earned a B.F.A in Illustration from The Maryland Institute College of Art before furthering his study of classical drawing and painting at Cambridge Street Studios in Philadelphia and Grand Central Atelier in New York. He wrote and illustrated a book about scholars from the ancient library of Alexandria, Egypt called The Great Library. He has created murals for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, the Harrisburg Mural Festival (Sproket Mural Works), and the SEPTA Suburban Station at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard in Philadelphia.

Watch Haywood talk about the Lycée Paul Lapie mural project by clicking on the image below.

See his work here: Arthur Haywood Portfolio

Zadie Smith at the American Library in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Zadie Smith announcing the five 2010 National Book Critics Circle finalists in fiction (detail)
Image by David Shankbone - January 2011 - CC-BY-3.0

The American Library in Paris has announced that Zadie Smith will be its 2021 gala speaker.

The British writer and tenured professor of creative writing at New York University was described as "peerless" and "fearless" in an article penned by Sophie Elmhurst for the Autumn and Winter 2016 edition of The Gentlewoman, an online publication based in London.

The article is fascinating! I highly recommend it - especially Section 7 on being black in the U.S.: https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/zadie-smith

During the summer of 2015, Smith taught at the NYU Low Residency Writers Workshop in Paris. She and her lawyer-turned-writer husband, Nick Laird, gave a joint reading at Shakespeare and Company, the famous English-language bookstore that's a stone's throw away from Notre Dame Cathedral on July 9.

The event drew a huge number of attendees. It was so well received that Shakespeare and Company invited Smith to return for an event held on July 16, 2016 and the couple to return for a second joint event that was held on July 16, 2018.

Watch Smith read an excerpt from her then unpublished novel, Swing Time, at the 2015 Shakespeare and Company event here: https://youtu.be/dS5F4PFKiJM

Swing Time book cover
Fair Use claim

In March 2021, the American School of Paris welcomed Smith to its virtual Visitor Writing event. The school published an in-depth summary of the discussion held with Upper School students and an Upper School English teacher:

https://www.asparis.org/about-asp/newsarchive/details/~post/zadie-smith-speaks-to-asp-20210304

So Smith will be no stranger to Paris when she returns to the City of Light to attend the American Library's live fundraising gala in September.

Find a list of her books, which are available at the library, here: https://americanlibraryinparis.overdrive.com/collection/1219911

France Is Open to International Travelers - What You Need to Know

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0200

As of yesterday (June 30), France has lifted 99% of its Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. International travelers are welcome again!

Here's what you need to know if you're planning to visit in the near future.

From the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in France:

As of June 17, fully vaccinated travelers coming from the United States (as well as minor children under 17 accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent or guardian) can enter France with proof of vaccination and a sworn statement they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 nor contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19. Currently only the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are accepted. Full vaccination occurs two weeks after the second dose of the Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca vaccine, and four weeks after the single dose of Johnson & Johnson. No pre-departure COVID test or quarantine is required.
Travelers coming from the United States who are not fully vaccinated may also enter France and will need to present a negative COVID-19 test, either the PCR test or the antigen (rapid) test conducted within the 72 hours prior to departure and a sworn statement they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 nor contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19. Children under 11 are exempt from testing.
French entry requirements are determined by the country where the trip originated; travelers coming from countries other than the United States should review the information under Entry and Exit Requirements at the following link: https://fr.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/.

Once you're "on the ground," you should be aware of the following:

According to Our World in Data, only 30% of the French population is fully vaccinated.
Curfews have been lifted.
Depending on where you're going and what you're doing, you may still be required to wear a mask. Therefore, it's best to keep one with you at all times.
Many public places still require some element of social distancing.
For indoor and outdoor events that anticipate having 1,000 or more attendees, proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test is required for admission.

Here is a brief list of activities you may want to check out if you plan to come to Paris within the next 30 days:

OTHELLODirected by Patrick RameauPatrick Rameau (left) and flier for Othello (right)
Patrick Rameau © Entrée to Black Paris

Second-year students at the National Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Arts will perform in Othello, directed by Patrick Rameau. The July 2 and July 3 performances will be in English. Tickets must be purchased in advance at the links shown below.

Friday, 2 July 2021 at 8 PM
https://site.evenium.net/ryj8cb82

Saturday, 3 July 2021 at 8 PM
https://site.evenium.net/6lypcb83

Théatre du Conservatoire
2 Rue du Conservatoire
75009 Paris
Metro: Grands Boulevards (Lines 8 and 9)

20th ANNIVERSARY OF CARNAVAL TROPICAL

After its cancellation in 2020, the Paris Tropical Carnival returns this year and will take place on Sunday July 4 from 1 PM to 6:30 PM.

But due to the health crisis, the carnival will not host its traditional parade through the city. Instead, it will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the Stade Sébastien Charléty in the 13th arrondissement.

Over the years, Carnaval Tropical has become an essential part of Parisian cultural life. This festive and convivial gathering celebrates the cultures of the Antilles, French Guyana, and Latin America. It has brought together no less than 200,000 people in the streets of Paris, making it the 3rd largest event in Paris in terms of attendance.

Carnaval Tropical is free and registration is required. Attendees must present a Covid-19 vaccination certificate or proof of a negative Covid test dated no more than 72 hours before the event.

Click here to reserve your place (Website in French): www.weezevent.com/ctp2021

Stade Sébastien Charléty
99, bd Kellerman
75013 Paris
Tram: T3A

THE POWER OF MY HANDS

Suzana Sousa, an independent curator based in Luanda, Angola, and Odile Burluraux, curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris (MAM), have organized an exhibition of works by sixteen female artists from several English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking African countries, as well as from the diaspora.

The Power of My Hands is part of the Africa 2020 initiative. Billed as offering a glimpse of a contemporary African art scene that is rarely presented in France, it runs through August 22, 2021.

Tickets are 7€. Purchase them here (Web page in French and English): https://www.billetterie-parismusees.paris.fr/selection/timeslotpass?productId=101668823953>mStepTracking=true&lang=en

Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (MAM)
11, avenue du President Wilson
75116 Paris
Metro: Iéna (Line 9)

ENTREE TO BLACK PARIS

Entrée to Black Paris looks forward to providing you with private guided tours and activities as soon as you're able to get (back) to Paris!

Check out our Website for our offerings here: https://entreetoblackparis.com

And get Entrée to Black Paris t-shirts for you and your crew here: https://wingedlionprinting2.com/entree-to-black-paris/

Bon voyage!

Espace Martin Luther King in Creteil

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Image of Dr. King in foyer at Espace Martin Luther King Grand Paris
© Entrée to Black Paris

Yesterday, thanks to an unusual appointment, I found myself in the Parisian suburb of Creteil.

I took the opportunity to visit the new Espace Grand Paris Martin Luther King, which I mentioned in my April 1, 2021 blog post about Dr. King.

Though the day was overcast, I was pleased to be able to make my way to the facility from the Creteil Pointe du Lac metro station (Line 8) without having to deal with rain.

I was surprised to find that there is no signage to indicate the presence of the building, whether at the metro, on the streets leading to the building, or at the building itself.

I was also surprised to find that the rue Martin Luther King, on which the center is located, is a brand new street rather than a pre-existing street that had been renamed.

As I approached the center, a DHL vehicle turned into its driveway. I continued to walk around part of the building to get my bearings and to determine if there were any landmarks that might be useful in directing people who are on foot and not approaching the site from the metro.

There were none.

Retracing my steps, I began taking photos of the façade and the property's landscape, which was apparently newly planted.

I made my way to the entrance and pulled on one of the doors, only to find it locked. The DHL delivery person was on his way out of the building and kindly held a door open for me, so I was able to enter.

A young black woman sitting at a large desk stood up and skirted the desk to greet me, asking if I had an appointment with someone.

When I replied that I did not have an appointment and simply wanted to see the facility that I'd been following in the news for the past several months, she told me that Espace Martin Luther King is not yet open to the public on weekdays. Public access to the worship area (located upstairs) is currently available only on Sundays, and only through reserving a space on line for the evangelical services that take place at 10 AM and 2 PM each week.

She explained that other than the crèche (children's nursery) and the worshiping area, the scheduled June 15th opening of the building has been delayed due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions. Theoretically, it will welcome visitors during the week beginning in July.

The woman allowed me to take a photo of the reception area, which you see below.

The quote, "Vos rêves ont leur espace," means "Your dreams have their space."

From the exterior of the building, I was also able to take a photo of a quote displayed on the wall of the first floor: "Be, Better and More."

Espace Martin Luther King is outfitted with a 1000-seat auditorium, a sports center, rooms dedicated to youth activities, a café, and a rooftop restaurant. I plan to return when it is fully operational.

Find additional photos of the façade and interior of what looks to be an exquisite space HERE.

Rue Bessie Coleman

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Street sign for rue Bessie Coleman
Image by Chabe01 - CC-BY-SA-4.0

Ever since I discovered that the City of Paris named a street after Bessie Coleman, I've wanted to take a photo of the signage that marks the street.

Rue Bessie Coleman is in the 20th arrondissement, near the Porte des Lilas metro station (Line 11) at the eastern edge of the city. I'm not often in that part of town and the few times I found myself nearby, I was disappointed to find that no sign had been erected.

In thinking about the 100th anniversary of the awarding of Coleman's pilot license (June 15, 1921) ...

Bessie Coleman - aviation license
Public domain

... I decided to Google "rue Bessie Coleman" to see what images I could find of the street.

Lo and behold, I found two of them on Wikimedia Commons! Both were taken in May 2021.

Rue Bessie Coleman
Image by Chabe01 - CC-BY-SA-4.0

Street sign - rue Bessie Coleman
Image by Chabe01 - CC-BY-SA-4.0

The neighborhood, which I've always found to be a bit desolate, is in the throes of a major transformation. Rue Bessie Coleman is the southern boundary of a plot of land that is being developed into an apartment complex called Paris Venelles, whose official address is 13, rue des Frères Flavien.

The developers are touting several benefits for this new complex, which will offer studio to 4-bedroom (5 pièces) apartments. It is to be constructed from biodiverse materials, is close to two metro lines and the T3 tramway (which has stops named after Ella Fitzgerald and Rosa Parks), and is less than 10 minutes walk from a nursery school and an elementary school. It will therefore be desirable for couples with small children.

Construction is scheduled to be completed during the first trimester of 2022.

To see images of the designers' concept for the complex, click HERE.

As for Bessie Coleman herself, I published an in-depth article about her on June 18, 2015. Find it HERE.

Bessie Coleman - photo used for her aviation license
Public domain

A Lovely Testimonial by a Fellow Travel Professional

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200

A few weeks ago, Tom had the pleasure of providing Laura Moore and her friend Amanda Williams with our "Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden" tour.

Based on Laura's email address, we learned that she is a Paris tour guide and writes a blog called Story of a City. We never imagined that she'd write such an enthusiastic review of our walking tour!

Laura has graciously allowed us to publish an excerpt from her post, which was published on Tuesday, June 8. Read it below:

Paris may have re-opened last month, but France’s borders remained closed. However, that’s all about to change. Starting tomorrow, travel will be allowed for fully vaccinated tourists from select countries. No quarantine required. This is incredible news for the tourism industry, as we are all ready and waiting to welcome visitors back to Paris. Especially us tour guides. There are so many incredible tour companies and guides who are just waiting to tell you the stories of Paris, so if you plan on visiting in the coming months, I hope you will consider taking a tour of the city. Today, I’d like to talk about one of your incredible options: Entrée to Black Paris.

Entrée to Black Paris was originally called Discover Paris! (love the emphasis!), and was founded in 1999 by husband and wife Monique Y. Wells and Tom Reeves [sic]. Discover Paris! was a travel planning business catering primarily to Americans. However, over the years, they received so many requests for Black history in Paris, Monique and Tom eventually decided to re-brand the company and focus on the history, culture, and contemporary life of African Americans and the larger African diaspora in Paris. Thus, in 2018, Entrée to Black Paris was born.

I was thrilled to take a tour with this company last month after a chance visit to their website revealed that they were already offering walking tours, despite the still-closed borders. Entrée to Black Paris had been on my list of tours to take for a while, so naturally, I emailed them right away. To my delight, they had an English tour available the following week. A friend and I signed up, and when we arrived at the scheduled starting point, we discovered that we were incredibly lucky to have one of the company’s founders, Tom, as our guide.

The tour that we took was Black History in and Around the Luxembourg Garden, but Entrée to Black Paris offers many more, including several private tour options if you’re not quite ready to mingle with others just yet. I can’t speak for the rest of the tours, but ours was fantastic. Tom was a veritable encyclopaedia of knowledge, and I loved how the tour focused on the stories of people. People like Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Chester Himes. Black Americans who moved to France to escape the racism of their home country.

Read the entire story on Laura's Website here:
Around Town - An Exploration of Black History with Entrée to Black Paris

Mazie Mullins: A Forgotten Pioneer of Early Jazz - Part 2

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: L to R: Passport photos - Frank Withers, Mazie Mullins, and Joe Boyd
Images in public domain

This two-part article was contributed by Bob Tomlinson, a Jamaican-American artist, retired French professor, and long-time Paris resident who made the City of Light his home “by accident.” He and I share a burning passion for investigating the history of African-American Paris, particularly regarding “Black Montmartre” during the interwar years. To read Part 1, click HERE.

The Tempo Club served as the unofficial headquarters of the visiting Southern Syncopated Orchestra, and more generally, was a haven for Black musicians working in Paris.

A white teenager, Léo Vauchant, was one of the first Frenchmen to learn the new music at the feet of Black musicians. One day he found Mazie seated at the piano in the front room, Frank (Withers) at her side with his trombone, and another trombone on the floor at her feet.

Frank Withers - Passport Photo 1919
Image in public domain

Frank called out, “Hey, we’re going to play.”

So, he gave me the notes and I played … and we would write each other stuff you know, to play for three trombones. There was always a pianist and a drum set and so we played …. I loved those Black guys. I used to stay up at night because I enjoyed their company and playing with them .…

In this sanctum sanctorum, they were able to perfect their art, far from the frivolous demands of the often-undiscriminating public of the Montmartre cabarets that was more interested in dancing and romancing than appreciating the emerging musical form. A syncopated heart, beating secretly among the frenetic night cafés, the Tempo Club functioned as a breeding ground of musical talents – one that would nurture almost all the major Black musicians who were to make the fame of Montmartre.

Tragically, on October 14, 1921 Mazie died suddenly of appendicitis at the American Hospital in Neuilly. She had only six short months as co-director of the Tempo Club, but it was enough to leave an indelible mark on the musical history of Montmartre. Her Parisian career was as evanescent as that of the Club—a brief effusion of gaiety and joy. “She laughed, one might say, as one breathes,” wrote surrealist poet Philippe Soupault. Yet his memoir of Mazie (Terpsichore, 1927) begins on a mournful note: “I cannot remember without a certain sadness a Black woman that I knew in former days in Paris.”

Mazie Mullins - Passport Photo 1919
Image in public domain

After Mazie’s death, Joe Boyd continued to run the club, but it all came to a sudden end with a police raid in the early hours of April 29, 1922. Boyd had been seduced by the lure of easy money. In the last months of its existence the character of the club underwent a marked change; as the New York Herald derisively commented: “the tuneful saxophone and traps, so conspicuously active in the front room, were only an accompaniment to the more subtle melodies of rattling ‘bones’ in the inner shrine.”

Joe Boyd - Passport Photo 1919
Image in public domain

All the newspapers commented on this drift towards illegal activities, but the emphasis on gambling was at the expense of the club’s function as a retreat that allowed black jazz artists to develop their craft free of the commercial constraints imposed by a dance-mad public, and it discounted the Tempo Club’s role as an inspiration not only for Black performers but for white musicians, writers and visual artists.

(As an example, Léo Vauchant - né Leo Arnaud - emigrated to the U.S., worked for Metro-Goldwin-Mayer, and went on to compose "Bugler's Dream," the theme music for the Olympic Games.)

In an elegiac note, Soupault described the Tempo Club’s fleeting existence as “ephemeral smoke on the waters,” but symbolically, it would rise from its ashes. Mazie’s legacy was perpetuated in the new Black clubs of the mid-twenties such as those run by Louis Mitchell, Florence Jones, and the mythic entertainer Ada Smith, better known as Bricktop.

Mazie Mullins: A Forgotten Pioneer of Early Jazz - Part 1

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 27 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Southern Syncopated Orchestra on a London stage in 1920
Image in public domain

In the aftershock of the Great War, at a time when what we know as jazz was evolving out of the blues and ragtime, a cluster of jazz clubs sprang up in the spider web of streets south of the Place Pigalle. These nightspots replaced the traditional artists’ studios and cafés of the Impressionist era; within their walls, far from the racist shores of America, a small group of Black American musicians and performers established a cultural utopia.

But in the annals of what has been labeled “Harlem in Montmartre,” a name has been largely forgotten.

Mazie Mullins was one of the pioneering women who brought jazz to Paris. (Read "Library #5: Where Are All the Heroines?" for an interesting account of women jazz musicians from Mullins' era.)

Mazie Mullins - passport photo
Image in public domain

Like most women musicians at the time, Mullins was married. Her husband, trumpeter Frank Withers, was a member of the Jazz Kings - the famous band led by legendary drummer and cabaret owner Louis Mitchell. While Withers entertained dancers at the chic Perroquet night club above the famous Casino de Paris, Mullins carved out her own equally influential space at the Tempo Club, an intimate mezzanine secreted above the large night club owned by colorful Italian-American cabaret king Joe Zelli on the rue Fontaine.

Mazie had met Frank as a young woman in her hometown of Denver, Colorado. He was eight years her senior. Charming, pretty, and extremely talented, she received her first trumpet from the man who became her husband. For a number of years, they toured in vaudeville before moving to New York, where they rapidly gained recognition.

Mazie was considered one of the most versatile instrumentalists in the city, mastering the saxophone, piano and trombone with equal facility, not to mention playing in a “ladies orchestra,” and accompanying silent films at the Lincoln Theatre in Harlem where a young Fats Waller was her protégé. Though she was timid by nature, one critic nevertheless wrote that “her tone, ringing and triumphant in heroic phrases, is tender and velvety in the purely melodic. Miss Mullins is the possessor of that most difficult of all trombone effects—the true legato.”

In 1919, Mazie accompanied Frank to Paris with the newly formed Jazz Kings. When he took a leave to lead the Orchestra at the Portman Rooms in London that fall, she went with him and played sax in the band. In December, they toured with the fabled Southern Syncopated Orchestra, a group that was primordial in introducing jazz to Europe.

Southern Syncopated Orchestra, London 1920
Photographer unknown
CC-BY-SA-4.0

Sometime after April 1920, Frank rejoined Mitchell’s Jazz Kings during a residency in Brussels, and when the band returned to Paris in March of 1921, he and Mazie were with them. Frank began his long tenure at the Casino, and Mazie initiated her lamentably brief involvement with the Tempo Club, founded in collaboration with a Black banjoist, Joe Boyd. Little has been written about this quasi-clandestine, yet seminal institution, but its dramatic downfall was widely covered in the newspapers.

Come back to the blog next week to read about the Tempo Club in Part 2 of “Mazie Mullins: A Forgotten Pioneer of Early Jazz.”

Remembering "The Color Line"

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 20 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Europe, Smith, and Pippin - Three African-American Artists from the Great War to Modernity
Screenshot from Fondation Giacometti Website

When I read the title of the upcoming conference offered by the Fondation-Giacometti in Paris:

"Jim Europe, Albert Alexander Smith, and Horace Pippin - Three African-American Artists from the Great War to Modernity,"

and learned that art historian and curator Daniel Soutif would deliver the presentation, I was immediately transported to November 2016 and the opening of the gigantesque exhibition The Color Line at the Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac.

Soutif curated this show, about which I wrote a two-part blog post:

The Color Line - Part 1

The Color Line - Part 2

Numerous works by Smith and Pippin were included in the exhibition.

The Ending of the War, Starting Home
Horace Pippin
Oil on canvas, 1930-1933
Philadelphia Museum of Art
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Europe, Smith, and Pippin all served in World War I.

Europe and Smith were musicians. Smith and Pippin were visual artists.

Europe and Pippin were part of the famous 369th Infantry Regiment, better known as the Harlem Hellfighters. Smith was part of the 807 Pioneer Band, one of many African-American units that did not see combat.

James Reese (Jim) Europe is the most legendary of the African Americans to serve during World War I because of his role in the recruitment and leadership of the Harlem Hellfighters military band and his tragic death after returning to the U.S. from France.

Horace Pippin was permanently disabled by a sniper's bullet during combat in 1918 and retroactively awarded a Purple Heart in 1945. He created many works based on war themes well after his return to the U.S. in 1919.

Smith created numerous drawings of the daily life of soldiers serving in the European war theater. The Musée du Temps Besançon acquired 65 of these works in 1981 and loaned several of them to The Color Line.

"Jim Europe, Albert Alexander Smith, and Horace Pippin - Three African-American Artists from the Great War to Modernity" will be the fifth conference featuring black artists or addressing race and racism through the lens of visual art that the Institut Giacometti's Ecole de Modernité has hosted since September 2019.

To register for this French-language conference, which will be held on May 26, 2021 at 6:30 PM, click HERE.

Sculptures & Photographies - A New Art Exhibition

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 13 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Flier for Flash Black du Congo
Courtesy of Aude Minart

Today I'm sharing information from long-time colleague Aude Minart, proprietor of La Galerie Africaine, regarding a brief art exhibition that will serve to whet your appetite for the return to normalcy regarding the ability to visit galleries and museums!

Dear friends and art lovers,

Cultural & artistic life can finally resume ...

It is with great pleasure that La Galerie Africaine in association with Studio Pellosh will welcome you during an exhibition which will be of short duration from

MONDAY 31 MAY TO SUNDAY 6 JUNE

in a nice space of 190 square meters near the Canal St Martin.

In its relentless quest for the full recognition of the art of bronze and its traditional technique, that of the lost wax, La Galerie africaine will present a selection of 20 pieces, creations of 12 master bronziers from Burkina Faso.

It will be associated with other wooden pieces by anonymous sculptors from Congo, Ivory Coast & Kenya.

Also on display - for the first time - will be some fifty photographs of Congolese sappers and chic families in Pointe-Noire, a joyful society of the 1970s, captured on film by Maurice Bidilou. Known as Pellosh, Bidilou is Congolese photographer in the lineage of Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keïta.

This is the first Paris show for the 69-year-old Pellosh, who opened his studio in Pointe-Noire at the end of 1973 and whose negatives had never left Congo until now. The artist currently lives in the outskirts of the city.

The exhibition will take place at:

Espace Beaurepaire
28, rue Beaurepaire
75010 Paris
Metro: République (Lines 3, 5, 8, 9, and 11)
Contact (telephone): Aude Minart - 06.60.24.06.26

The vernissage will be held on Tuesday, June 1 from 5 PM to 9 PM.

Perhaps I'll see you there!

Two African-American Artists Represented in Upcoming Contemporary African Art Sale

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 06 May 2021 00:00:00 +0200

PIASA is a modern and contemporary art gallery in Paris that sells paintings, sculptures, furniture and decorations in its stores and online.

Catalog Cover for PIASA Art Auction
Image from PIASA Website (fair use claim)

On May 29, 2021, for the first time in the context of a Contemporary African Art Sale in Paris, the gallery will present the work of two major African-American artists at auction: Beauford Delaney and Kehinde Wiley.

In its press release about the sale, PIASA describes Beauford as "the great African American painter of the post-war period," and Wiley as "a rising figure on the western side of the Atlantic who, among other achievements, painted the portrait of American President Barack Obama."

If you've read my blog entitled Les Amis de Beauford Delaney, you know that I am the ultimate champion of Beauford's legacy. I was thrilled to learn that one of his brilliant portraits, that of Greek artist Vassiliki Pikoula, is being offered for purchase during the auction. This portrait hung in the 2016 Paris monographic exhibition Beauford Delaney: Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color.

I was also intrigued by the offering of an oil on canvas portrait called Ivelaw I (From the world stage: China), 2007 by Kehinde Wiley. (A detail of this work appears in the cover art for the PIASA catalog shown above.) I well remember Lamentation, the monographic show of his work that was mounted at the Petit Palais in 2016-2017.

From PIASA's statement about the upcoming auction:

Beyond the presence of these two artists, the sale is marked by the inclusion of artists from North to South and from East to West, from the School of Dakar in Senegal to the historic Hangar Studio in Congo, bringing together an overview of nearly a century of African Art. While questioning the term and preconceived ideas about what African art is today, this sale aims to put the continent in dialogue with its diasporas and various other related scenes. The vision of a cosmopolitan African continent, open to the world, underlines the desire for openness announced by the two directors, Olivia Anani and Charlotte Lidon, as they were appointed to the head of the department last January.

To read more about the exhibition (in French), click HERE.

PIASA
118 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris France
Telephone: +33 (0)1 53 34 10 10
E-mail: contact@piasa.fr

Paris Street Art Commemorates George Floyd

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Last July, as protests continued to be organized around the world in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, Tom and I came across this graffiti on the façade of the Universite of Paris III on rue Censier in the 5th arrondissement.

The artwork remains in place today.

On Wednesday morning, in perusing Facebook after the announcement of the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Floyd's murder, I found a post that pointed to the article cited below.

Click on the link to view several additional examples of vibrant street art that comments on police violence in the U.S. and France.

May the family of George Floyd find some measure of solace in the unanimous verdict of guilty on all charges in the Chauvin trial.

Rest in peace, George.

The Museum Goes Live

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0200

A multidisciplinary cultural institution, the National Museum of the History of Immigration's mission is to enhance and make accessible the history of immigration to France and to promote and recognize the role of immigration in the (re)building of the nation. The museum functions as an exhibition space, resource center, meeting and debate venue, and research and dissemination center. Housed in the Palais de la Porte Dorée, it organizes cultural programming that includes live shows and concerts, colloquiums and conferences.

The museum and the U.S. Embassy in Paris are partnering on a four-part series of virtual presentations called "France / États-Unis : regards croisés" ("France / US: Crossed Viewpoints") as part of a program entitled "Le Musée part en live" (The Museum Goes Live).

Screenshot from "Le Musée part en live" video - Part 1

The partnering institutions have invited philosophers, sociologists, writers, directors of scientific and cultural institutions, and French and American activists to exchange and compare their points of view on society and culture. In the face of the ever-increasing impact of U.S. culture on France, particularly with regard to views on integration and diversity, the goal of the series is to take a step back and openly reflect on this influence.

Part 1, which took place of February 10, 2021, was a round table discussion called "Culture : concepts américains, réalités françaises ?" (Culture, American Concepts, French Realities). Four scholars debated the "appropriateness" of the ideas coming to France from across the Atlantic regarding the questioning of historical narratives as a reaction to current sociopolitical events.

Watch the YouTube video (in French) here: https://youtu.be/pGkxFLM1MI0

Screenshot from "Le Musée part en live" video - Part 1
Adam Shatz, Journalist and Visiting Professor at NYU

Part 2 of the series, entitled "L'idéal démocratique à l'épreuve de l'égalité ?" ("The Democratic Ideal – a Litmus Test for Equality?"), will take place on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 at 6 PM. Four scholars will examine the struggles for equality in the U.S. and France and debate whether the democratic ideal is threatened by or strengthened by movements such as Black Lives Matter. They will discuss whether "French-style republican universalism" and "American-style multiculturalism" are in crisis.

0n June 9 and July 7, respectively, the series will present "Cinéma et séries : une jeunesse sous influence ?" and "Les défis de la diversité dans les musées ?" ("Cinema and [TV] Series: Youth under Influence?" and The Challenges of Diversity in Museums).

All encounters are being moderated by Dominic Thomas, Madeleine L. Letessier Professor and Chair of the Department of French and Francophone Studies at UCLA. They are free to attend.

To register for Part 2 of the series, click here: https://www.eventbrite.fr/e/billets-lideal-democratique-a-lepreuve-de-legalite-150021908567

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr - 6 November 1964
Image in public domain

On April 1, 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. granted a press interview in conjunction with a well attended event that took place at the Palais des Sports in Paris' 15th arrondissement.

Organized by the Committee of French-American Support for Racial Integration, the event was designed to raise support for the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

Catalog page advertising the sale of a flier for the Palais des Sports event
Image from Swann Auction Galleries

Ina.fr has published this brief interview, during which Dr. King spoke of the broad congressional support for a bill that made the murder of civil rights workers a federal crime, the Watts riots, and the then-current state of affairs in Chicago. He declared that racial injustice in the U.S. was the country's greatest problem.

Listen to the interview (with simultaneous translation into French) here: https://www.ina.fr/audio/P13198905

1966 was not the first time Dr. King visited Paris. He also came in March 1957, February 1959, and October 1965.

I wrote about the latter trip in a previous blog post (http://entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com/2015/10/50th-anniversary-of-dr-martin-luther.html).

There seems to be no danger of Dr. King being forgotten by citizens in the Paris region. At least three municipalities in the area have honored him through construction and landscaping.

The City of Paris boasts the magnificent Parc Clichy-Batignolles Martin Luther King in the 17th arrondissement, created on land that was designated for the Olympic Village, had Paris won its bid for the 2012 summer games.

A neighborhood in the same arrondissement was baptized Quartier Martin Luther King in 2019.

The town of Bussy Saint Georges named a high school after him.

In the Paris suburb of Creteil, a Protestant evangelist church called Eglise MLK was founded in 2004. The organization raised funds to build a massive sociocultural center that also bears Dr. King's name. Located on a new street called rue Martin Luther King, Espace MLK Grand Paris is scheduled to open this year.

To see images and read about this structure (in French), click here: https://www.ville-creteil.fr/equipement-lespace-martin-luther-king-ouvre-ses-portes

Paris Tourist Office Collaborates on Virtual Black Paris Experience

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover Image: Claire, Monique, and Léa at Carpeaux Fountain
© Entrée to Black Paris

On Tuesday, March 16, Entrée to Black Paris (ETBP) and the Paris Tourist Office (aka Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau) took a stroll through black Paris!

ETBP has been a member of the Paris Tourist Office (PTO) for a couple of years, and we're listed under "Guided Tours" on their Website. The office functions to welcome and provide visitors with information; to promote the capital’s attractions, in France and abroad; and to provide assistance to Paris tourism professionals.

Because European Union borders are largely closed to overseas travelers as a result of the pandemic, PTO is diligently working to provide whatever support it can to its members whose livelihood depends on those absent travelers.

ETBP is one of these members, and Tuesday's event was our first "on the ground" collaboration.

When we contacted PTO to suggest collaborating on a virtual walking tour that would feature the contributions of people of African descent to the fabric of Parisian life, we told them of the enthusiastic responses we received from four previous clients who booked the Virtual Black Paris Experience. The office accepted our proposal, and on Tuesday, March 16 at 4:00 p.m. Paris time, PTO staff members Léa Fernandes and Claire Jean joined me at the garden to video the walk.

The event was broadcast over Facebook Live and reached over 300 Facebook followers in real time.

Our ~30-minute walk included three of the fifteen (15) stops presented during the full Virtual Black Paris Experience.

First, we visited the area of the Luxembourg Garden that is dedicated to France's formerly enslaved peoples. I presented Le Cri, L'Ecrit, the sculpture that was inaugurated there in 2007, as well as the plaque erected in the space in 2011.

We then made our way to the southern gate of the garden and exited to view the bust of late Gaston Monnerville (1897-1991), who served as the president of the French Senate for over 20 years. The bust is positioned such that Monnerville's gaze is directed toward the Luxembourg Palace, where the French Senate meets.

We continued our trek in the direction of the Montparnasse district, ending the tour at the Carpeaux Fountain.

Between the Facebook livestream and the recording, which is posted on Facebook, over 5500 people from around the world have now had a taste of the Experience. Their response was overwhelmingly positive!

View the livestream recording at the following link: https://fb.watch/4i7ELFPEQt/.

Three Black Mariannes

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100

In celebration of International Women's Day (March 8, 2021), Marlène Schiappa, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Interior, in charge of citizenship, inaugurated the exhibition 109 Mariannes on the square in front of the Pantheon.

Marianne is the symbolic figure of the French Republic. In 2021, the Ministry of the Interior is promoting the "new blood" of the Republic through 109 portraits of women representing France and its diversity.

Several black women were invited to participate in this celebration of French diversity. This article features three of them.

Clarisse Agbegnenou is a French and Togolese judoka. With five European championship titles 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, and 2020), four world championship titles (2014, 2017, 2018, and 2019), two silver world championship medals (2013 and 2015), and a silver medal won at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, she is the most decorated French athlete in the sport.

Agbegnenou has dual nationality, being born in France of Togolese parents. In addition to being selected as one of the 109 Mariannes for International Women's Day, she was asked by Minister Elisabeth Moreno, who is responsible for male-female equality, diversity, and equal opportunity, to write a letter to a baby born on March 8, 2021.

Fanny Glissant

Fanny Glissant is a documentary producer and director, who is best known for the 2018 production of Les Routes de l'esclavage (Slave Routes). This four-part series traces the history of slavery from 476 to 1888. Her first documentary, Bienvenue dans la vraie vie des femmes (Welcome to the real life of women), released in 2009, was an exposé on domestic violence suffered by women.

Glissant is the niece of the deceased Martinican poet, novelist, and philosopher, Eduoard Glissant.

Fatoumata Kébé

Fatoumata Kébé is an astrophysicist who specializes in space debris. She is internationally known, has won multiple awards and fellowships, and has been featured by Vanity Fair and Glamour.

Kébé has delivered two TEDx talks on astronomy. In 2014, she founded Epheremides, a French nonprofit association whose mission is to make astronomy accessible to underserved youth. This includes a program called Claudie Haigneré, which is named after the only French woman to visit space and which encourages young girls to consider physical sciences as a career path.

109 Mariannes will be on display through March 15 on the square at Place du Pantheon in the 5th arrondissement.

See all the women featured in "109 Mariannes" here: https://youtu.be/7XSukcbyW1w

"Panama" Al Brown - Boxing in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: "Panama" Al Brown 1926 (detail)
Image in the public domain

In October 2019, I published an article entitled "Gene Bullard's Athletic Club," in which I mention bantamweight/featherweight boxer "Panama" Al Brown as one of the professional fighters who trained at Bullard's establishment.

Born in Colón, Panama, Brown began boxing professionally in 1922. He fought in Paris in October 1926 and January 1929 prior to becoming the first Latin American boxing champion of the world after winning a fight against bantamweight Gregorio Vidal in NYC in June 1929.

"Panama" Al Brown 1926
Image in public domain

Brown won the NYSAC and lineal bantamweight titles in his fight with Vidal and captured the NBA bantamweight title in a fight against Johnny Erickson in NYC in February 1930. He won the IBU bantamweight title in Paris in October 1930 by defeating Eugène Huat by unanimous decision in a bout held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver (aka Vél d'Hiv' and Palais des Sports [de Grenelle]) in Paris' 15th arrondissement.

Falling in love with the city, Brown decided to make Paris his home. He lived a flamboyant life and enjoyed a romantic relationship with French writer, visual artist, and filmmaker, Jean Cocteau.

Brown lost his title in a match against Baltasar Sangchili in Spain in June 1935 and decided to retire from boxing. For a couple of years, he performed as a singer, dancer, and band leader as he struggled with substance abuse. It was during this difficult time that he met Cocteau, who convinced him to get treatment and return to the ring.

He regained his title in a rematch held at the Palais des Sports in Paris on March 4, 1938 (83 years ago today). He fought and won an additional match in Paris before retiring from the ring a second time.

Brown was popular in France in his time and his story continues to capture the French imagination. The Institut Français hosts an interactive graphic novel about him, which is available for viewing in English and French, on a platform called futurimage. It is a collaboration between Camille Duvelleroy, a screenwriter and creator of interactive stories; Jacques Goldstein, an author whose work frequently focuses on interactions between black and white cultures; and Alex W. Inker, a cartoonist who has written about the relationship between cinema and comic books.

Through Editions Sarbacane, Goldstein and Inker published a hard cover book containing the French-language graphic novel in 2017.

In 2016, a biopic entitled Panama Al Brown was shown at the IFP Film Week in NYC. It was written by Grégory Boutboul and produced by Storner Productions.

Black HIstory Month at the American University of Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover Image: Advertisement for African Film Festival
Screenshot from American University of Paris Website

The American University of Paris (AUP) is hosting the last of a robust series of online events for Black History Month this week.

The African Film Festival has been organized by the Southern African Student Committee of Black and Abroad, a student organization whose mission is "to create and establish a sense of community for all Black students attending the American University of Paris."

The goal of the festival is to "teach us the culture, history, and traditions of Africa through films."

The festival runs for five days, from February 24-28.

The films scheduled for viewing during the remainder of the festival (beginning today) are:

February 25 - Black Girl by Ousmane Sembène

February 26 - Inxeba by John Trengove

February 27 - Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema by Ralph Ziman

February 28 - A Cemetery of Doves by Adé Sultan Sangodoyin

The entire month of Black History Month activities was organized by Black and Abroad. Other events included a discussion on the impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities on higher education, a "paint and sip party" to enjoy music and art, a discussion of the culture, history, and traditions set around food in East African countries, and a conversation with members of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the topic of environmental justice.

Additionally, the club co-hosted Black History Month events with other student groups, such as RESISTERS (an organization that focuses on intersectional feminism), and the newly formed Black Alumni at AUP group.

Black and Abroad was founded by A'mari Bing-way, an AUP senior who took matters into her own hands when she could not find an organization on campus that focused on the needs and concerns of black students. She created a club whose purpose is to provide a safe space solely for Pan-African students, including those identifying as African-American, Afro-Latino/a, African, Afro-Caribbean, and biracial.

Black and Abroad's main objectives are to educate, advocate, and represent the Black student population at AUP. Its activities consist of weekly closed meetings and open public events.

Bing-way currently serves as AUP's first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Communications Intern for university President Celeste M. Schenck.

Caribbean Take-out - La Créole

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Boudin créole and achards
© Entrée to Black Paris

More and more Paris restaurants are offering take-out (vente à emporter) to keep their doors open and their cuisine "top of mind" for their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yesterday, Tom and I decided to order take-out from La Créole, an iconic Caribbean restaurant on the boulevard du Montparnasse.

We went to the Website to see what the restaurant had included on its take-out menu. We were delighted to find that most everything that is on the regular menu was available.

At 12 noon, I phoned the restaurant to inquire about how to place my order. A man cheerfully told me that I could do this while on the line with him or that I could come to the restaurant and place my order there.

I elected to order by phone so as to reduce / eliminate the wait time once I got to the restaurant. I asked for one serving of each of the following menu items:

Boudin créole (Creole blood sausage)
Colombo de cabri (goat stew)
Colombo de poulet (chicken stew)

Tom and I immediately left home to collect our meal. We arrived at the restaurant about 30 minutes later and were delighted to find that everything had already been dished and bagged. All we needed to do was pay and go.

When we left the restaurant, our eyes were drawn to the colorful display of beers in the window. Tom decided he wanted to sample a Guadeloupian beer called Corsaire - La Soufrière. So we went back inside so he could purchase a chilled bottle before we made our way home.

When we got there, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the two orders of Colombo, which were our main dishes, were secured by generous portions of plastic wrap. Not a drop of the precious sauce was lost in transport!

Once again, we were reminded of how copious La Créole's servings are. The restaurant gave us four pieces of boudin créole instead of the usual three, and the servings of colombo were quite generous. We easily had enough food for two complete meals to be consumed another day.

Though we don't eat at La Créole often, we always enjoy their food. Yesterday was no exception.

The servings of boudin créole are a bit larger than bite-size - they are nowhere near as large as the lengths of boudin we've been served as a first course at other restaurants. This is far from being a rebuke - we find that the delicate perfume and fine texture of these blood sausages are to be savored slowly in anticipation of the main dish to come. A larger portion would be fine for a one- or two-course meal, but if you want to enjoy a main course afterward without feeling stuffed, we think you'd agree that the size of the appetizer portion is appropriate.

The obligatory achards (pickled vegetables, lettuce, and radicchio) and a dab of sauce piquante (hot sauce) complimented this dish nicely.

The colombos were as we remembered them - rich with perfumes and gentle spiciness that we accentuated with the contents of the small container of sauce piquante that is traditionally served at La Créole. Tom had the goat and I had the chicken. The sides of long-grain white rice, red beans, and sliced plantains added perfect touches of color, flavor, and texture to both dishes.

As a beverage, I elected to drink a fruity white wine that we already had at home. Tom enjoyed his Corsaire beer, which is made from barley malt. It was a fresh, light accompaniment for both courses.

Our bill was a mere 39.50€.

If you're in Paris' Montparnasse area and have a hankering for authentic Créole food, consider calling on La Créole for a meal. If you don't live too far away, you may even be able to have your food delivered (livraison à domicile) by UberEats or Deliveroo (ask about this when you call or look up these delivery sites on line).

La Créole
122, boulevard du Montparnasse
75014 Paris
Metro: Vavin (Line 4)
Telephone: 01 43 20 62 12

Black History Month at the American Library in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Display of books written by African-American women during Black History Month 2015 at the American Library in Paris
© Discover Paris!

When I spoke at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History's 2021 Black History Month in France Virtual Festival on February 4, 2021, one of the things I emphasized was the assuredness that African Americans living in Paris would see each other at certain places and events.

One of these places is the American Library in Paris.

For several years, Naida Culshaw served as the library's External Relations Manager. During her tenure, she curated several exhibits that highlighted little-explored aspects of African-American history and culture, displaying books and related objects in the large display case that was affixed to the wall in the library's main reading room. In conjunction with each exhibit, she coordinated an evening event that was always well attended.

"Images of Blacks in Western Art with Cheryl Bolden," "Swoosh! Crack! Roar! - Celebrating the Negro Leagues and the All-American Girls Baseball League," "Black and (Re)Imaging America's Wild West," "Blue, Grey and Black: African Americans in the Civil War," "Brothers in Exile: Richard Wright, James Baldwin and Chester Himes with Jake Lamar," as well as "Interactions and Connections: Following the Flavors of the African Diaspora" are all exhibition titles that invited visitors and members of the library to explore more.

Library display case - Reimagining Blacks in the West
Image courtesy of Naida Culshaw

After she left the library in 2012, Ms. Culshaw volunteered her time for a few additional years to continue supporting Black History Month, proposing themes, curating the exhibits, and coordinating related evening events.

Naida Culshaw
Image courtesy of Naida Culshaw

I have written about several of these events in previous blog posts:

Black History Month at the American Library in Paris

Black History Month 2014 at the American Library in Paris: Reimagining Blacks in the American West

Brothers in Exile: Three African-American Writers in Paris

What's On in Paris for Black History Month 2016

When the library was renovated, the display case in the reading room was not reinstalled and the focal point for the Black History Month exhibits was eliminated.

Evening events have continued, though not as regularly. After a two-year gap, the library hosted a panel discussion on mixed race and identity in February 2019 and a follow-up discussion entitled "Black ou Noir(e): A Public Panel on Black Expats and Belonging in Paris" in 2020.

Due to scheduling difficulties, the adult program planned for Black History Month this year will be held in March. Author and award-winning sports broadcaster Nita Wiggins will present her book entitled Civil Rights Baby: My Story of Race, Sports, and Breaking Barriers in American Journalism.

The event will be held on Zoom on March 2 at 7:30 PM Central European Time. To register, click HERE.

In February, the library is offering "Stars of Children's Literature: Black History Month" - a virtual event for children aged 6-12 years.

I look forward to seeing what they organize for 2022.

Black History Organization Seeks to Establish a Chapter in France

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Banner for the 2021 Black History Month Virtual Festival

Carter G. Woodson in 1915
Image in the public domain

In 1915, Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH, originally called the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History).

In 1926, he launched Negro History Week, which, 50 years later, was expanded to become Black History Month. 2021 marks the 95th celebration of this acknowledgment of the invaluable contributions of people of African descent in the United States.

On February 1, 2012, France held its first Black History event at the French Overseas Ministry in Paris. The following is a Google Translate translation of the first paragraph of an article that describes the occasion:

"The Félix Eboué room at the French Overseas Ministry was packed yesterday to welcome Kathleen Cleaver, former communications officer for the Black Panther Party. The American activist was the guest of honor at French Black History Month. The event was organized by the music label Dooinit and the communication agency H2A Com, modeled on the American Black History Month (BHM), which commemorates the culture and history of African Americans every February."

Month-long Black history celebrations have emerged in France since then. Mémoires & Partages has organized festivities based in Bordeaux and other municipalities since 2018, and is offering a four-city observance this year.

During a visit to Paris in late 2019, Professor Gloria J. Browne-Marshall - an ASALH executive board member - contacted me to express the organization's interest in starting a Paris chapter. I referred her to two individuals whom I believed would be able to assist with this process.

Although a Paris chapter has not yet been formed, this year, a Black History Month in France Virtual Festival has been organized in conjunction with ASALH's 95th Black History Month celebration. Professor Browne-Marshall will open the event with greetings, and ten speakers will present their research and comments on the celebration theme, which is "The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity."

The festival will take place from 8 AM - 1 PM Eastern Time / 2 PM to 7 PM Paris time on February 4, 2021. Most of the speakers are African American Studies scholars. Author, educator, and former journalist Nita Wiggins and I round out the list. I'll be speaking on "'Family is what you make it' - The African-American Presence in Paris from 1990 to Present" at 4:30 PM.

To register for the French Virtual Festival, click HERE.

To learn more about the entire ASALH festival, click HERE.

Herb Gentry and Chez Honey

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Herb Gentry (right) and friend on rue de la Grande Chaumière
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

I reconnected with Mary Anne Rose, widow of painter Herbert Gentry, a couple of weeks ago when Rose reached out to inform me about an exhibition of Gentry's work in NYC. She shared an image of Gentry's painting entitled Chez Honey, which was named after the art gallery / night club that Gentry and his first wife, Honey Johnson, owned in Montparnasse.

Chez Honey
1949 Oil on masonite
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

I have been fascinated by the story of Chez Honey since I began researching the African-American presence in Montparnasse to create our "Montparnasse, the Artist's World" walking tour in the late 1990s. The references I've found about the establishment contain scant, inconsistent information.

Therefore, I was thrilled when Rose was able to provide me with the most important piece of information that was lacking in all the references I've been able to find to date - the address! She generously shared images of the location and the surrounding neighborhood and invited me to publish them in this blog post.

Herb Gentry and Honey Johnson opened Chez Honey at 17, rue Jules Chaplain in the 6th arrondissement.

17, rue Jules Chaplain in 1984 - Address of Chez Honey
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

Described by Michel Fabre as "one of the first places American jazz musicians performed after the long break caused by the war," it operated as a café during the day and a club at night. It was also known as the Club Galérie.

Honey Johnson was a white American painter and singer. Also known as Tadea Werfelman and Tadea Gentry, she was Gentry's first wife.

In the Oral History Interview that he gave for the Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art in May 1991, Gentry says Tadea's given name was "Evelyn." He describes her as "a singer and dancer, a singer and a painter," and explains how they married in London and settled in Paris.

He describes the club-gallery as follows:

It was a place in Montparnasse where people met in the cafes during the day and evenings we had music, a lot of so-called musicians, mostly Americans but also we had French musicians and a lot of them were studying Classical music at Ecole de Musique and a lot of them were playing jazz. But all of them came to play jazz, even the Classical students. “We love Classical music and it is great and everything but it’s not free as jazz!” So they would come in and jam -- the word “jam” as that was used, playing together.

And then we had paintings that were hung in the club-galerie because a lot of the young artists were in Montparnasse -- not only Americans, foreign artists. Honey was a painter, she studied with Orozco in Mexico but she also sang, so she sang in the club. It was like the place in Paris for Americans, she was loved. And it was a very special club because we felt -- it was not a place where you drank and only briefly met. It was in Montparnasse and as I said before our clientele was mostly American students or maybe those who maybe just had finished their schooling. A lot of the painters and even the top musicians.*

Most references that I've found indicate that Gentry and Johnson opened Chez Honey in 1947. Once source says that the club closed after a year and a half of existence and another says it operated until 1949.

Gentry's own reflection in the oral history interview could be interpreted to mean that the club was open much longer:

"We opened our first show in 1949, [reflecting] ‘48, ‘49, ‘50, ‘51."

He says that the owner of the building invited the couple to purchase the building but that they declined for several reasons, one of which was that he intended to return to the U.S.

Gentry and Rose explored Gentry's Montparnasse haunts during a visit to Paris during the summer of 1984. (The two artists met at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 1978 and spent the next 25 years together in Paris, Malmo, Sweden, and New York City.) Rose told me that Gentry and Johnson lived at 4, rue Jules Chaplain, only a few steps away from Chez Honey.

Herb Gentry at 4, rue Jules Chaplain in 1984
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

Gentry attended classes and taught at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière on rue de la Grande Chaumière, one street away from rue Jules Chaplain. He frequently took meals at the Restaurant Wadja, a few doors down from the school. He and Rose visited this street during their Montparnasse visit as well.

Herb Gentry with friend, Lucien, in 1984
Académie de la Grande Chaumière in the background
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

Herb Gentry in front of Restaurant Wadja in 1984
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

Sadly, Rose does not know if any period photos of the façade or interior of Chez Honey exist. She says that Gentry did not have any when they met.

*Oral history interview with Herbert Gentry, 1991 May 23, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Two Stays in France: A Review

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Walter James III (detail)
Image courtesy of Walter James III

Two Stays in France: A Review
by Tom Reeves

Walter James III made his first trip to France in 1987. He had been awarded a scholarship for a five-week stay to pursue studies at a language center at the University of Clermont in Vichy. The award was the culmination of nine years of study of French, which began in the 9^th grade, when he first became interested in learning the language.

Walter James III - Student ID card
Image courtesy of Walter James III

In 1988, he returned to France for a nine-month stint as an exchange teacher of English at a middle school in the same city. This time the trip was the culmination of his graduate studies in French at the University of North Carolina.

Ten years later, James wrote and published a memoir, entitled Two Stays in France, about both experiences. The narrative is a fascinating account of his desire to learn French and his observations about some of the salient differences between French and Americans. For example, he says that in the United States, friendships are formed quickly and often easily abandoned, whereas in France, friendships take longer to form, but when they bind, they are often more durable.

Food is one of James’ favorite subjects. During his first trip to France, he lived with a French family and had the opportunity to dine with family members at breakfast and dinner. During his second trip, he dined with teachers in the cafeteria at the middle school at which he taught, and he found the food to be quite good. He gives descriptions of several of the dishes that he tried. Examples include beef tongue, fish with rice, and crêpes with cider.

Perhaps the most important insights that James gained were the changes that he observed in himself. He states, for example, that while living in France he found himself becoming more self-confident at making purchases and more disposed to expressing disagreement when engaging in conversations. He had to tone down this latter trait, which he learned from the French, to avoid appearing contentious when he got back to the United States.

Walter James III
Image courtesy of Walter James III

Regarding making progress with his French language skills, he was pleased that, during his first trip, he could understand 90% of the words of a church sermon and that he could successfully assert his views during a discussion around a point of theology with the head of the household in which he was staying.

Regarding race relations in France, James states the following: “I found that France loved black Americans; in fact I was respected and treated better than in the United States.” He mingled easily with the French, enjoyed excursions with fellow students (at the language center) and fellow teachers (at the middle school), and formed lasting friendships.

James’ testimonial to the value he derived from firsthand exposure to French culture is confirmation that travel and study abroad yield positive mind-opening and awareness-building experiences. Young people who are pondering whether to incorporate a program of language study into their school curriculum will find a good deal of insight and inspiration in this book.

Two Stays in France is available as a paperback at the following link: Two Stays in France - Amazon

It is available as an e-book at the following link: Two Stays in France - lulu

Bonne lecture!

Two Stays in France - book cover
Image courtesy of Walter James III

Herb Gentry: Paris and Beyond 1949-1978

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Cover Image: Herbert Gentry in Paris - 1950 (detail)
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

Herbert Gentry was one of the many African Americans who settled in Paris after the Second World War. He benefited from the GI Bill and attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Montparnasse. He studied with George Braque and was significantly influenced by CoBrA, a group of artists whose founding members came from Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam.

Herbert Gentry in Paris - 1950
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

In cooperation with Gentry's estate, the Ryan Lee Gallery in Manhattan is currently hosting a monographic exhibition entitled Herbert Gentry: Paris and Beyond 1949-1978. The show surveys works that Gentry created during his European years, which included considerable time in Copenhagen and Stockholm. (The latter city is where Gentry died in 2003.)

My favorite work in the show is Chez Honey, an oil on masonite painting dated 1949, which evokes the short lived gallery / night club that Gentry and his wife, Honey Johnson, owned in Montparnasse.

Chez Honey
1949 Oil on masonite
Image courtesy of Mary Anne Rose

Ryan Lee Gallery describes Gentry’s art as reflecting the cultural crossroad on which he built his career. It cites Gentry's role as a significant cultural and community leader among expatriated artists, poets, philosophers, musicians and writers in Paris, and, later, in Scandinavian capitals. These influences shaped Gentry's artistic outlook, which followed the principle that an artist, as an inherently social being, produces work that is subconsciously molded by the social impulses surrounding him or her.

Herbert Gentry: Paris and Beyond 1949-1978 is Ryan Lee Gallery’s first exhibition of Gentry’s work, in cooperation with the artist’s estate. It will be on view through January 23, 2021, by appointment only.

To see images of all the works in the show, click HERE.

Gwendolyn Bennett - Travel Writer

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0100

Bennett was an African-American poet, fiction writer, painter, and educator. She spent a year in Paris beginning in June 1925, during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, and she wrote two short stories ("Wedding Day" and "Tokens") for which Paris was the setting.

Portrait of author and artist Gwendolyn Bennett, circa 1920s.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. (1920-1929).
Retrieved from
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/370048f0-0c0f-0131-bd26-58d385a7b928

Bennett kept a diary for the first several months that she lived in Paris and many who write about the African-American experience in Paris quote her extensively. Her flair for poetic expression is evident in her descriptions of places she visited and encounters she enjoyed with friends and acquaintances:

"Saint-Sulpice with its marvellous organ is a veritable stage for romance..."

"All of this beauty packed into the wonderful Opera. One simply sighs to remember the gorgeously gowned women going to and fro on the beautiful marble stairs. L'Escalier del Opera [sic]."

Few know that Bennett's diary includes a mini travel guide about Paris. Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting devotes several paragraphs to it in her book entitled Bricktop's Paris.

Sharpley-Whiting explains that Bennett wrote hotel reviews, shared advice that she received from Rayford Logan to prepare her for her Paris sojourn, and recommended bookstores and restaurants. She compares Bennett's guide to Messenger, the English-language daily published by Galignani, and Paris travel books.

Bennett's diary is available for consultation at the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture in Manhattan.

Another Symbol of French Colonialism Defaced

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0100

It's been almost two years since I walked down rue des Petits-Carreaux in the Montorgueil quarter of Paris' 2nd arrondissement. Tom and I strolled through Châtelet and Les Halles on Christmas Day and decided to make our way up this nearby market street before taking the metro home.

At Number 10-12, there is a vestige of colonial France affixed to the façade on the first floor (2nd floor in U.S. terms) - a ceramic painting signed "Crommer" that depicts a black man serving a white man seated on bags of what are presumably coffee beans harvested and packaged in a French colony. The façade of the building, which dates from 1890 and housed a shop that sold "exotic products" (principally coffee), was classified an historic monument on May 23, 1984.

I immediately noted that the painting has been defaced with black paint balls.

When I saw this, I thought of the similar fate of another colonial image and its accompanying signage - Au Nègre Joyeux - that was once located in a similar position at a building in the 5th arrondissement. This has been permanently removed.

Above the painting on rue des Petits-Carreaux, the sign "Au Planteur" presents the name of the establishment. (During the colonial era, "planteur" signified someone who owned or operated a plantation.) The words "aucune succursale" beneath the painting literally mean "no branch." In other words, the owner of the store had no other outlets for selling his products.

As I took my photographs of the building, several people pulled out their smart phones to snap pictures of it as well.

To my knowledge, there are no plans to remove this painting from the building's façade.

Josephine and Beyoncé - on New Year's Eve

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0100

When Oliver Gee and I did the "Intro to Black Paris" Walk Show for The Earful Tower podcast in June 2020, one of the things Oliver asked me was to which contemporary singer I would compare Josephine Baker.

As I thought about this, Oliver suggested that Beyoncé might be a good person and we proceeded to talk about similarities in the personas of these two superstars.

I later learned that Beyoncé paid tribute to Josephine in a 2006 performance at Fashion Rock:

and posted a brief blurb about Josephine on her Website for Black History Month 2014:

https://www.beyonce.com/article/josephine-baker-2/

A 2016 article in Vogue touts the "radical power of Josephine's banana skirt" and features a photograph of Beyoncé in the banana skirt costume she wore at the Fashion Rock concert:

https://www.vogue.com/article/josephine-baker-90th-anniversary-banana-skirt

If you'd like to see the walking tour during which Oliver and I discuss Josephine and Beyoncé and ask me questions about Josephine in real time, join me for the

Virtual Ladies' Trip to Paris

that will take place on New Year's Eve!

Three charitable organizations that support women and girls - the Wells International Foundation (my nonprofit), STEM Atlanta Women, and Gem Makers - are coming together to present an exciting, first-of-its-kind way to begin the count down to the New Year. Join us on December 31st at 12 noon ET as we prepare to say au revoir to 2020 and bonjour to 2021 with a virtual tour of Black Paris. I guarantee you’ll never experience the City of Light in quite the same way again!

Whether you want to dress up (there will be a virtual photo booth complete with backdrops for your enjoyment) or sip champagne in your pajamas, you’ll have a great time. There will be a host of pre-boarding activities and a virtual flight prior to embarking on the tour.

And there will be an after party during which prizes will be given away.

This fundraising event is perfect for anyone who was forced to cancel travel plans for Paris this year or who has never gotten around to making plans to come in the first place.

Tickets are available through December 28, 2020 at 11:59 PM.

I hope to see you there!

Virtual Ladies' Trip to Paris

Soul Food Revisited

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0100

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed for Alexander Hurst's exceptional article entitled "The New Soul Food of Paris."

My conversation with Hurst brought to mind articles that Entrée to Black Paris (ETBP) and Paris Insights have published on the same topic in the past. I'm republishing excerpts and links for the ETBP articles and a full review of Gumbo Yaya, written by Wells International Foundation Summer Intern Sojourner Ahébée in 2016.

Soul Food in Paris (2017)

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when the mention of soul food in Paris conjured up images of Leroy Haynes in the kitchen at his restaurant on rue Clauzel or of happy diners crowded around tables at Bojangles (Sharon Leslie Morgan - owner) or Percy's Place (Percy Taylor - owner).

All of these establishments closed in the 2000s.

Today, the "soul food" moniker is making a comeback at the following Paris eateries:

New Soul Food
Gumbo Yaya Soul Food Waffle House
Mama Jackson Soul Food Kitchen

A few additional establishments include a single "soul food" item on their menu.

But is what these businesses serve really soul food, as Americans think of it?

Click here for the full article: https://www.entreetoblackparis.com/blog/soul-food-in-paris.html

New Soul Food - The Food Truck (2017)

New Soul Food came across my radar again in early April, when they participated in a special day of activities during the spring-summer Africa Now festival being hosted by Galeries Lafayette. My husband Tom brought home a couple of dinners and we quite enjoyed them.

So we decided to visit the truck at its primary location to find out what its regular customers experience when they want a taste of “new soul food.”

The truck is generally parked on a large plaza at 128, avenue de France in the 13th arrondissement. When we visited it on a cloudy Saturday afternoon, it was part of a circle of seven food trucks that provide meals and refreshment for moviegoers at the Cinéma MK2 Bibliothèque and others in the neighborhood.

Click here for the full article: http://entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com/2017/05/new-soul-food-food-truck.html

Restaurant Review: Gumbo Yaya by Sojourner Ahébée (2016)

My visit to Gumbo Yaya was much anticipated. My maternal grandmother, Sallie McBride, hailed from North Carolina and I grew up on her fried chicken. I can vividly remember the smell of the house as she cooked the chicken in hot oil and I loved listening to its sizzle.

As I approached my last days in Paris, I found myself craving some old-fashioned Southern cuisine. But, I quickly put this craving to rest as I assumed there would be no fried chicken like that of my grandmother’s to find in the City of Light. After all, what did Paris know about the American South?

Though no one can put it down like Sallie when it comes to mouth-watering cooking, Gumbo Yaya does come very close! Gumbo When you arrive, you’ll be greeted by the restaurant’s bright red exterior and wooden benches meant for outdoor seating. Once inside, you’ll find the menu on the counter at which you’ll order your meal. You can also sit inside, but on a beautiful September day I would advise against it!

The menu at Gumbo Yaya revolves around its legendary chicken. You can choose from options like the Yayas Chicken Plate which includes two pieces of fried chicken accompanied by your choice of a side. Or maybe – if you are feeling adventurous – you will go with the Waffle Burger, which is fried chicken served between two housemade waffles with a side of French fries. For beverages, you can choose from a selection of beers and fountain drinks.

If you know anything about Southern food, you know that the sides are just as important as the main course. Gumbo Yaya does not come to play. The restaurant offers a range of delicious sides including mac ‘n cheese (macaroni and cheese), French fries, cornbread, baby spinach and avocado, and coleslaw. And if you have room for dessert make sure you don’t miss the dessert of the day. The day that I visited the restaurant, they were serving Lemonade Cake.

For my main dish, I opted for Gumbo Yaya’s famous Chicken with Waffles. Let’s just say I was not disappointed! The chicken was hot and fried to perfection, and I could even taste the remnants of the batter as the flavors seeped into my mouth. The waffles were soft and s light powdered sugar was sprinkled over them, along with maple syrup. If you’re eating Chicken and Waffles for the first time, I highly suggest eating them together to profit from the distinctiveness of the taste.

My meal came to a total of 11€. (My only beverage was water, which is free.)

The staff was warm and welcoming. I even had the opportunity to talk with the founder of the restaurant, who informed me that he was inspired to open Gumbo Yaya by an aunt who had emigrated to the state of Georgia. When he would visit his aunt, he always looked forward to eating the food of the region, and he wanted to recreate that experience for Parisians in France. And we are grateful he did just that!

Read more of Sojourner’s work at Sojourner Ahébée.

To subscribe to Paris Insights Restaurant Reviews, click here: https://www.parisinsights.com/restaurants.php

Paris is opening up again

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: La Ronde umbrella
Image courtesy of Catherine Loveland Aubin

Paris is opening up again!

With the exception of restaurants and bars, we're on our way to being completely open for business - just in time for the height of the holiday season.

If you're in town, here are three things you can enjoy in the coming days:

AFRICOLOR

This concert series launched on November 24, refusing to knuckle under to the pandemic by going virtual. Now that restrictions on gathering are being incrementally lifted, the following remaining performances will be held live:

Indépendences Cha Cha - Guinée et Sénégal (theatrical production) - Théâtre Gérard Philipe in Saint Denis - December 16 at 7 PM

L'Orchestre du Grand Bamako (musical production) - Théâtre Gérard Philipe in Saint Denis - December 17 at 7 PM

L'Afrique enchantée fait son bal marmaille (musical production) - Houdrement Centre Culturel in La Corneuve - December 18 at 7 PM

For information (in French), including ticket prices, click here: https://www.africolor.com/festival-africolor/programmation/

NEWS by Oscar Murillo

Image from David Zwirner press release

Afro-Columbian artist Oscar Murillo's work is on display at the David Zwirmer Gallery in Paris through December 19.

The exhibition, which is called News, presents new paintings created by Murillo when he was quarantined in his hometown of La Paila, Columbia earlier this year. To learn more, click here: https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/oscar-murillo-paris-2020

LA RONDE POP-UP STORE FOR AFRICAN-INSPIRED GOODS

For ladies who love to shop, consider visiting the La Ronde pop-up boutique at Barbizon, 141, rue de Tolbiac (Paris 13e, Metro: Place d'Italie) to peruse handmade African-inspired clothing, accessories, and other items. According to Catherine Loveland Aubin, who was kind enough to share this information, the merchandise is very high quality and priced affordably.

Barbizon - 141, rue de Tolbiac
Image courtesy of Catherine Loveland Aubin

La Ronde accessories
Image courtesy of Catherine Loveland Aubin

La Ronde clothing and accessories
Image courtesy of Catherine Loveland Aubin

Marie-Claude Sextius, the organizer of the pop-up, is Guadeloupian and Ivoirian. The six participants who created the merchandise are African or French. All use African-sourced materials to create their wares.

The boutique is open every day until Christmas, from 10 AM to 8 PM (Sundays until 7 PM).

Contact Marie-Claude Sextius by phone at 06 72 37 20 97 or by e-mail at mcsextius@orange.fr.

Black Images in the Louvre's Antiquities Collections

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0100

The first thing that most people think of when they think of the Louvre is Leonardo's La Joconde (Mona Lisa).

I daresay that one of the last things they think of is the museum's antiquities collections.

And it's even less likely that they think of representations of black people in these collections.

Today, I'm sharing a few images of just such representations from the Egyptian Collection and the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Collection.

The Louvre and other museums remain closed during Paris' pandemic lock down. We're hoping they'll be able to reopen in time for the end-of-year holiday season.

Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving!

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0100

Wishing everyone who celebrates U.S. Thanksgiving a lovely holiday weekend!

I'm taking the weekend off, so there will be no blog post today and no further Facebook or Instagram posts until Monday, November 30.

I hope you enjoy this autumn view of the fountain in the boat basin at the Luxembourg Garden!

African-American Women Sing Opera in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0100

Grace Bumbry at the White House for the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors
Image in public domain

Never let it be said that mentoring is a one-sided affair!

Maya Keys, whose story I brought to you in a two-part Black Paris Profiles™ article* a few weeks ago, is my newest mentee.

During our most recent conversation, Maya told me about an African-American woman who studied the flute at the Paris Conservatory in the 1950s.

That news inspired me to begin researching African Americans in the classical music arena who have studied, performed, or otherwise worked in Paris. I've come up with quite a few!

Today, I'm presenting a list (in alphabetical order) of Paris débuts, including roles played, for African-American women who have performed in operas here.

Martina Arroyo

May 1973 - Leonora in Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore at the Opéra National de Paris - Palais Garnier

Martina Arroyo at 2013 Kennedy Center Honors event
Image in the public domain

Listen to this recording of Arroyo's performance of the role at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC in 1972:

Leonora's Aria (The Troubadour)

Grace Bumbry

Grace Bumbry at the White House for the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors
Image in the public domain

March 1960 - Amneris in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida at the Opéra National de Paris - Palais Garnier

Bumbry was the first person of color to sing at the Palais Garnier. Click here to see her in costume and listen to her sing "Io l'amo, io l'amo sempre" from the role:

Grace Bumbry sings Aida

Barbara Hendricks

Barbara Hendricks
Photo by Denise Grünstein
CC-BY 3.0

May 1982 - Juliette in Charles François Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Opéra National de Paris - Palais Garnier

Watch Hendricks perform a scene from the opera here:

Roméo et Juliette . Hendricks

Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman (detail)
Photo by Walters Art Museum
CC BY-SA 2.0

May 1973 - Aida in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida at the Salle Pleyel

Listen to Norman sing "O Patria Mia" from the performance here:

Jessye Norman - Aida - O Patria Mia (1973)

Leontyne Price

Leontyne Price
Photo by Jack Mitchell
CC BY-SA 4.0

June 1952 - Saint Cecilia in Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées

I was not able to find a recording (audio or video) of Price performing this role. Read a fascinating, detailed article about the production, the libretto for which was written by Gertrude Stein, by clicking here:

Harkening Back to 'Four Saints' during the Harlem Renaissance

After performing in Four Saints, Price was cast as the lead in Porgy and Bess. Click here to listen to her perform the iconic "Summertime" from this opera:

Gershwin: Porgy and Bess - Summertime

**********

*Find Maya's Black Paris Profile™ at the links below:

Black Paris Profiles II™: Maya Keys - Part I

Black Paris Profiles II™: Maya Keys - Part II

Africolor Music Festival Maintained Despite Lockdown

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0100

The organizers of the 32nd edition of the Africolor Music Festival refused to be shut down by the pandemic lockdown and have proudly announced that they will present the festival online.

From November 14 through December 18, aficionados of the itinerant festival are invited to tune in every Tuesday and Thursday (and a few Saturdays) at 9 p.m. to enjoy 31 concerts featuring 100 artists.

Musicians will perform live from the stage of the Comptoir de Fontenay-sous-Bois in the Paris suburb of Fontenay-sous-Bois and be interviewed after each concert.

Africolor will livestream the events on its Website and on its Facebook and Instagram pages.

Here's a teaser of the music to get you warmed up!

Also on the agenda for this five-week festival are virtual visits to the multiple venues throughout Ile-de-France that were originally slated to host the concerts.

For the complete line-up of performances, click HERE.

Enjoy!

Second Lockdown Forces Cancellation of Art Happenings

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0100

The second COVID-19 pandemic lockdown began on Friday, October 30. It is forcing the cancellation of myriad events around Paris, including the art happenings announced in last week's blog.

THE LAST SENTINELS

If you purchased tickets to see The Last Sentinels, you can get a refund simply by requesting one. Send e-mail to sav@culturespaces.com.

To get a small taste of what you would have seen at the show, click here: Culture Spaces presents The Last Sentinels

ALSO KNOWN AS AFRICA

Despite the organization's best efforts to welcome art enthusiasts under the safest conditions possible, Also Known As Africa (AKAA) will not be held this year.

AKAA has posted a passionate announcement about what they will do instead. Read it in English here: We Will See You in 2021

KINSHASA CHRONIQUES

Kinshasa Chronicles was originally supposed to open in Paris in April 2020. COVID-19 has once again postponed the presentation of this exhibition.

The Cité de l'Architecture has closed until further notice. To date, no information has been posted regarding the fate of the show.

Art Happenings

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0100

There are some fantastic art happenings to be explored in Paris over the next few weeks to months!

THE LAST SENTINELS

The Last Sentinels is a immersive exhibition mounted at the Atelier des Lumières in the 11th arrondissement. Fine art photographer Jimmy Nelson takes viewers on a journey through the heart of the last indigenous cultures and landscapes around the world with hundreds of digital images and videos in this two-week show.

The Atelier des Lumières is the first digital art center in Paris. Every two years, it offers an immersive exhibition as part of its Save the Planet series. The Last Sentinels follows in the proverbial footsteps of the 2018 exhibition by Yann Arthus-Bertrand as the second offering in the series. Created by the Specter Lab studio, it celebrates the diversity of these peoples who live in harmony and with nature.

This exhibition will only be on display through November 15, so make haste if you'd like to see it.

Online reservations are mandatory: https://atelier-lumieres.tickeasy.com/en-GB/home

Atelier des Lumières
38, rue Saint Maur
75011 Paris
Telephone: 01 80 98 46 00
Metro: Voltaire, Saint-Ambroise (Line 9), Rue Saint-Maur (Line 3), Père Lachaise (Line 2)

Hours: 6:30 PM to 8:15 PM (last entry at 7:30 PM)

Entry fees:
Full price: 13€
Senior discount: 14€
Student discount: 10€ (5-25 years)
Free for children under the age of five

ALSO KNOWN AS AFRICA

The art and design fair Also Known as Africa (AKAA) returns to Paris in November.

Usually held at the Carreau du Temple, the fair will be held under the skylights at l’Atelier Richelieu this year.

Using a smaller and more intimate format designed to focus on art market sustainability, the fifth edition will welcome twenty galleries from November 13-15, 2020. The organizers are planning several events throughout the fair to enhance the visitor experience.

Noel W. Anderson, an African American who currently serves as Area Head of Printmaking in NYU's Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions, will expose a work in this show. Untitled 2020 is a stretched jacquard tapestry that represents Anderson's focus on exploring black masculinity and celebrity.

L’Atelier Richelieu
60 rue Richelieu
75002 – Paris France
Metro: Bourse, Quatre-Septembre (Line 3), Richelieu-Drouot (Lines 8, 9)

Website: https://akaafair.com/

Hours:
Friday: 12pm-8pm
Saturday: 12pm-8pm
Sunday: 12pm-7pm

Access to AKAA 2020 is by invitation only. For all requests, send e-mail to contact@akaafair.com.

KINSHASA CHRONIQUES

Kinshasa Chroniques will open at the Cité de l'Architecture at Trocadero on November 14, 2020 and run through January 11, 2021.

Flier for Kinshasa Chroniques

Kinshasa is Africa’s third largest metropolis (only Cairo and Lagos have more inhabitants). Seventy contemporary artists who are native to the Democratic Republic of Congo explore it through nine "chronicles": performance art, sports, fashion, music, the economy, religion, resourcefulness (DIY), the future, and memory (history). Visitors can expect to see photography, comics, video, painting, slam poetry and other forms of artistic expression.

This exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Musée International des Arts Modestes de Sète. Free entry and activities will be offered on opening day, Saturday November 14, from 7-11 PM.

Find details of the program at https://citedelarchitecture.fr

Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine
Palais de Chaillot
1 place du Trocadéro
75116 Paris
Metro: Trocadéro, Iéna (Line 9)

Hours:
Open daily except Tuesdays: 11 AM - 7 PM
Thursday evenings: open until 9 PM

Entry fees:
Permanent Collections
Full price: 12€
Reduced rate: 9€
Free entry first Sunday of each month

What's New at Entrée to Black Paris - October 2020

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image courtesy of Sherita Herring-Oglesby, Philanthropy Alliance Foundation

October at Entrée to Black Paris has been fantastically busy and productive! We are moving forward with our "COVID-19 pivot" - the changes that we need to make in our business to continue to operate and thrive in the face of the pandemic.

Among our accomplishments is a string of interviews and presentations that I've given to podcasters, radio show hosts and organizations. They have aired / will air during October 2020.

Additionally, a video documentary for which I was interviewed some time ago was recently released.

Check out the links here and enjoy:

Monday, October 5 - Hidden Paris Podcast - Episode 1 of "Black Paris" : Entrée to Black Paris
https://hiddenparispodcast.buzzsprout.com/1116473/5656177-episode-1-of-black-paris-entree-to-black-paris

Sunday, October 11 - "C'est La Vie with Katie"
https://anchor.fm/katherine-pratt/episodes/Entre-To-Black-Paris-enfirm

Monday, October 19 - "Paris Reimagined - Monique Wells on Unearthing Black History in Paris"
https://parisreimagined.buzzsprout.com/1386436/5962204-monique-wells-on-unearthing-black-history-in-paris

Monday, October 19 - Hidden Paris Podcast - Episone 2 of "Black Paris" : Beauford Delaney
https://hiddenparispodcast.buzzsprout.com/1116473/5911408-episode-2-of-black-paris-beauford-delaney

Saturday, October 24 - Atlas Obscura Experience presents "Black Paris and the Myth of a Colorblind France"
Click here to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/atlas-obscura-presents-entree-to-black-paris-tickets-121580874669

The Myth of a Colorblind France - a documentary by Alan Govenar
https://watch.firstrunfeatures.com/products/myth-of-a-colorblind-france-at-first-run-features

Art and Food Pairings™ - Some Favorites

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200

I began the ETBP Art and Food Pairing™ series almost ten years ago, in February 2011. I write these articles after exploring museums and galleries that display African or black Diaspora works, and then dining at a nearby African or Afro-Caribbean restaurant.

Because I'm now teaching culinary high school students at Marion P. Thomas Charter School (MPTCS) in Newark, NJ about creating and maintaining a food blog, I decided to revisit this article series and pull out some examples to share with the students. My intent is to give them an idea of the kinds of creative content they can post on the blog they are going to build.

Serendipitously, the restaurant La Créole, one of the stops on the walking tour that I gave to support the fundraising project to bring MPTCS students to Paris, is the subject of one of these articles.

Today, I'm sharing it and some of my additional favorite pairings with you. Click on the links beneath each photo and enjoy!

Malick Sidibé and La Créole

La Fondation Cartier and La Créole are operating at the time of this writing.

Art and Food Pairing™ - Malick Sidibé and La Créole – Part 1

Art and Food Pairing™ - Malick Sidibé and La Créole – Part 2

I Know Why the Caged Bird BLINGS and Osè African Cuisine

Backslash Gallery and Osè African Cuisine are operating at the time of this writing. Osè now has a second address near the Gare Saint Lazare: 14, rue du Rocher in the 8th arrondissement.

Art and Food Pairing™: I Know Why the Caged Bird BLINGS and Osè African Cuisine

La Galerie Africaine & Addis Ethiopia

La Galerie Africaine and Addis Ethiopia are operating at the time of this writing.

Art and Food Pairing™: La Galerie Africaine & Addis Ethiopia - Part 1

Art and Food Pairing™: La Galerie Africaine & Addis Ethiopia - Part 2

Chefs-d'Oeuvre d'Afrique and Café Dapper Loïc Dablé

Sadly, the Musée Dapper closed permanently in June 2017.

Chefs-d'Oeuvre d'Afrique and Café Dapper Loïc Dablé - Part 1

Chefs-d'Oeuvre d'Afrique and Café Dapper Loïc Dablé - Part 2

Chef Ludovic Robar to Lead Groundbreaking Training in Creole Cuisine

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Chef Ludovic Robar, Chair of the Cercle Gastronomique des Chefs Créoles
Image courtesy of the Académie de l'Art Culinaire du Monde Créole

Chef Ludovic Robar has followed an extraordinary path to arrive at his current status as Director of Training at Paris' renowned hospitality and catering high school, Lycée Jean Drouant.

Chef Ludovic Robar
Image courtesy of l'Académie de l'Art Culinaire du Monde Créole

A 39-year-old native of Martinique, Chef Robar holds a BTS Hôtellerie-Restauration (Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality and Culinary Management). During an internship undertaken to obtain his diploma, he discovered China and all its cultural diversity. He began his culinary adventures in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics and worked with other international chefs there for several years as a Chef de Cuisine and a Chef Pâtissier (pastry chef) in various luxury hotels.

Upon returning to France, he taught at the Lycée René Auffray in Clichy (a Paris suburb) before being named Director of Training at Jean Drouant.

Robar chairs the Cercle Gastronomique des Chefs Créoles (Gastronomic Circle of Creole Chefs), an organization of Creole and non-Creole professional men and women in the hotel, catering, events, and culinary arts sectors of the hospitality industry who share the desire to develop their businesses, their skills and their professional networks. The Cercle was founded by the Académie de l'Art Culinaire du Monde Créole (Academy of Culinary Art for the Creole World) in 2016 and the first members were introduced to the public at the 3rd annual award ceremony hosted by the Académie.

Fluent in French, English, and Creole, Robar has been selected by the Académie to provide the first-of-its-kind virtual culinary course in French and Creole cuisine for high school students at the Marion P. Thomas Charter High School of Culinary & Performing Arts in Newark, NJ. Students will interact with Chef Robar and other chefs from the Circle for several video conference sessions that will prepare them for a study abroad trip to Paris, during which they will receive live instruction at Lycée Jean Drouant.

Members of the Cercle Gastronomique des Chefs Créoles
Top row (L to R): Marie-France Grain-Galet, Jérôme Bertin, Stéphane Sorbon
Middle row (L to R): Yannick Artigny, Ludovic Robar, Katia Desprez
Bottom row (L to R): Raymond Rambinaising, Marie-Claudia Nalbanti Lebeau, Frédéric Cadran
Images courtesy of l'Académie de l'Art Culinaire du Monde Créole

Serendipitously, Jean Drouant High School was built on the ground where Auguste Bartholdi's studio was once located. Bartholdi was the French sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty, and Lady Liberty surveyed the rooftops of Paris from this spot prior to being shipped overseas to take up permanent residence in New York Harbor.

Marion P. Thomas Charter School (MPTCS) is the largest independently-operated free public charter school in Newark, NJ. Established in 1999, it is one of the only minority-led charter schools in Newark, reflecting both its student population and the community it serves. Since its inception, MPTCS has grown from four classrooms to three campuses and now serves 1,500 students from pre-kindergarten through the 12^th grade.

Fundraising to support this groundbreaking training is already underway. CEO Emeriti Karen Thomas raised over $7500 during August 2020 to kick off the initiative. ETBP contributed to the effort by providing a private, customized Black Paris walking tour of the Montparnasse district, which Thomas livestreamed to solicit donations for her Facebook fundraiser.

One of our stops was La Créole, a longstanding fixture on Paris' Creole restaurant scene.

Chef Robar will begin the multi-year training program by introducing MPTCS students to the Creole world, Creole cuisine's place in French gastronomy, and the distinctions between French and Creole cuisine. He will go on to teach the students about the origin, history, and nutritional value of ingredients commonly used in Creole cuisine, and he and other chefs from the Circle will demonstrate how these ingredients are used in French and Creole cuisine.

Lessons will be conducted remotely and in real time. Once students can return to school for in-person learning, Chef Robar will preside over video masterclasses where students will actively prepare the dishes he presents to them.

This program also presents an opportunity for French students at Lycée Jean Drouant and U.S. students at MPTCS to participate in an exchange that will enrich both groups through learning each other's language and comparing and contrasting their culinary cultures.

Myth of a Colorblind France

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Graphic for Myth of a Colorblind France

Myth of a Colorblind France is an 86-minute documentary by Alan Govenar about race relations in France.

More precisely, it is about an idea that African Americans have held for centuries - namely, that France is a racial haven and that being black here does not have the same negative connotations and consequences that it does in the U.S.

Your reaction to the documentary will depend in part on how you define the word "myth" ("a traditional story or set of stories [accepted as true]" or "a commonly believed but false idea"). Myth of a Colorblind France presents the topic through the lens of the latter definition.

Govenar has addressed this subject matter, which is more timely than ever due to the resurgence / emergence of attention to Black Lives Matter across the globe, using historical and contemporary anecdotes delivered by scholars, writers, artists, and performers. While some have been critical of this format, it worked well for me.

Among the scholars are Tyler Stovall, author of the iconic Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light, and Michel Fabre, author of From Harlem to Paris: Black American Writers in France, 1840-1980. Long-time African American expatriates such as artist/writer Barbara Chase-Riboud and writer Jake Lamar also figure prominently in the production.

Govenar incorporates a French perspective on this question late in the documentary through interviews with percussionist Karim Touré and hip hop producer Ben the Glorious Bastard.

The current version of Myth of a Colorblind France is in English, with rare French-language segments being accompanied by English subtitles. Govenar is now working on a version with French subtitles throughout.

Those who know me know that I am keenly interested in all things related to Beauford Delaney. I was pleased to find a short segment in Myth of a Colorblind France that features Beauford and his work. It opens with Carl Van Vechten's gorgeous 1953 photo portrait of Beauford, taken only a couple of weeks before Beauford set sail for France.

I am among the first persons to be seen in the documentary and I enjoyed reminiscing with Govenar about our interview for the film when I spoke with him last week. I was pleased to learn that he was inspired to name the documentary as he did because of the title of the PowerPoint presentation that I've been giving to study abroad groups and free / fully independent travelers (FIT travelers) for more than a decade: "Black Paris and the Myth of a Colorblind France."

Among the things Govenar and I discussed is the distribution system that he has chosen for the film.

Myth of a Colorblind France is distributed by First Run Features, one of the largest independent distributors in North America. Founded in 1979, the company releases between 15-20 films a year in theaters nationwide and an additional 30-40 films annually to schools, libraries and other educational institutions.

It also releases films online, as is the case for Myth of a Colorblind France.

Through First Run Features, independent cinemas are offering the documentary to their local audiences online and 50% of the "rental fee" generated goes directly to the cinema as support during the economic crisis generated by COVID-19.

Alternatively, viewers can access the video directly through First Run Features, with an option to "rent" ($10) or to "buy" ($20).

To purchasing tickets for viewing, click here: https://watch.firstrunfeatures.com/products/myth-of-a-colorblind-france-at-first-run-features

What's On in Paris - BREAKING NEWS

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover Image: Ursuline Kairson
Photo by Christian

BREAKING NEWS (September 24, 2020 at 3:45 PM Paris time) - On the evening of September 23, 2020, France's Prime Minister announced new restrictions on public gatherings because of the increase in circulation of COVID-19 in Paris, other areas of metropolitan France, and France's territories. Many of these go into effect on Saturday, September 26 and therefore, concern the events described in the article below. At this hour, I can definitively report that the Festival des Accras has been canceled.

Given the number of events that are taking place in Paris this month, one could almost forget that we're still in the midst of a pandemic!

Here are six Afrocentric cultural excursions that people in town can enjoy:

1) Food Temple Africa

The fourth edition of this event takes place this weekend - September 25, 26, and 27 - in the Halle & Espace -1 at the Carreau du Temple in the Marais. Here's what's on the agenda:

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - An African market will offer food ingredients to take home and food stands for sampling dishes on site. Entry to the market is free.

Saturday and Sunday - During free African Cuisine Masterclasses, chefs will prepare their best dishes and share tips and secrets with the audience. Hours: 3 PM to 6 PM

Saturday and Sunday - Hands-on instruction to learn simple techniques and gain better understanding of the world of African cuisine. Hours: 11 AM to 6 PM Fee: 10€

Sunday - A traditional brunch will be prepared by Chefs Alexandre Bella Ola and Fatoumata Meite. Hours: 11:30 AM to 2 PM. Fee: 15€ - 25€

A round table discussion, photo exhibition, and pop-up book store have also been organized to enhance your experience.

Carreau du Temple
2 rue Perrée
75003 Paris
Metro: Temple (Line 3), Filles du Calvaire (Line 8)

Hours:
Friday, September 25: 7:30 PM - 11 PM
Saturday, September 26: 1 AM - 8 PM
Sunday, September 27: 10 AM - 6 PM

2) Croyances: faire et défaire l'invisible (Beliefs: Unraveling the Invisible)

This extraordinary exhibition, mounted by the Institut des Cultures d'Islam (Institute of Islamic Cultures) and Afrique in Visu was scheduled to close on July 26. It has been extended through December 27.

Sixteen artists explore "the religions, superstitions, and myths of the African continent" in this show, which is presented at the Institute's sites at rue Léon and rue Stephenson in the 18th arrondissement.

Those in Paris can visit the exhibition at no charge, but reservations must be made in advance. Visit the following link to learn more (Web page is in French and English): https://www.institut-cultures-islam.org/coordonnees/

For those who cannot or prefer not to visit in person, a wonderful virtual tour of the exhibition is available at the following link: https://www.institut-cultures-islam.org/croyances-faire-et-defaire-linvisible/

Institut des Cultures d'Islam
ICI Stephenson
56, rue Stephenson
75018 Paris

ICI Léon
19, rue Léon
75018 Paris
Metro: Château Rouge, Marcadet-Poissonniers (Line 4), Marx Dormoy, Marcadet-Poissonniers (Line 12), La Chapelle, Barbès-Rochechouart (Line 2)

Hours:
Tuesday - Thursday; Saturday and Sunday: 11 AM - 7 PM
Friday: 4 PM - 8 PM
Closed on Mondays

3) École Paris - BXL

In case you missed last week's article on this exhibition, École Paris-BXL presents works by seven formally trained, young diasporic artists who live and work in Paris and Brussels. It is the inaugural exhibition for the Galerie Transplantation, which found a lovely space at the Villa Vassilieff, Chemin du Montparnasse in which to make its Paris debut. Award-winning curator Amandine Nana has invited me to speak about Beauford Delaney at the finissage (closing reception) on Saturday, September 26 at 5 PM.

Galerie Transplantation
21, avenue du Maine
Espace Immanence, Ground Floor right
75015 Paris
Metro: Montparnasse-Bienvenüe (Lines 4, 6, 12, 13); Falguère (Line 12)

Hours:
Wednesday - Friday: 2 PM - 7 PM
Saturday: 11 AM - 7 PM

4) Festival des Accras

If you love accras, those fritters that are traditionally made from salt cod and can be created from numerous other ingredients, then you'll want to make your way to the Parc Floral de Vincennes this weekend for the Festival des Accras, organized by the Académie de l'Art Culinaire du Monde Créole. The fun begins on Friday, September 25 and lasts until early evening on Sunday, September 27.

You can read a wonderful English-language article about the history of accras here: https://www.196flavors.com/french-west-indies-accras-de-morue-salt-cod-fritters/

As for the Croyances exhibition described above, admission is free but registration in advance is required. I highly recommend that you plan to take a bus from the metro or RER A to get to the park (unless you are prepared to walk a considerable distance). Sign up here: https://www.weezevent.com/festival-d-accras-kreyol-en-fete-edition-2020-06

Parc Floral de Vincennes

Route de la Pyramide - Pavillon 18
75012 Paris
Metro: Château de Vincennes (Line 1)

RER: Vincennes (RER A)
Bus: 46, 112

Hours: 10 AM to 7 PM

5) La Défense Jazz Festival

This festival has been in full swing at the Parvis de la Défense since Monday, September 21 and will run through Sunday, September 27. It features not only jazz, but also hip-hop, funk, soul, afrobeat…

The festival is associated with an annual national competition called the Concours national de jazz de la Défense and both are celebrating their 43rd year of existence in 2020. Normally, two prizes are given - one for the best group (5000€) and one for the best instrumentalist (1500€). Exceptionally, the six groups that have been selected from this year's competition will each be given 3000€ in recognition of the difficulties artists are facing during the pandemic.

Access to concerts is completely free and all performances will take place outdoors. Social distancing and hygiene measures will be in force.

Parvis de la Défense
Metro: La Défense – Grande Arche (Line 1)
RER: La Défense – Grande Arche (RER A)
Tram: La Défense – Grande Arche (Line T2)

Click HERE for a list of concerts and hours.

6) Ursuline Kairson in Concert

Les Dimanches Musicaux have organized a concert of spirituals and gospel music sung by long time Paris expat Ursuline Kairson at the American Cathedral in Paris.

Ursuline starred in Maya, Une Voix at the Essaion Theater last summer and as usual, she gave a stellar performance. Whether singing before a paying audience or a private group of friends and colleagues, she never fails to "wow" attendees.

Ursuline Kairson
Photo by Christian

The upcoming concert will be held on Sunday, September 27 at at 3 PM. Advance tickets are not required and donations will be accepted in lieu of an entry fee.

The American Cathedral in Paris
23, avenue George V
75008 Paris
Metro: George V (Line 1), Alma-Marceau (Line 9)

Galerie Transplantation - A New Art Initiative

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Tête 4 by Mariama Conteh - Huile sur papier imprimé

Amandine Nana is passionate about art. As she pursues master's degrees at the University of Paris 1 in art history, criticism, and conservation and at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (aka Sciences Po) in urban and territorial strategies, she is exercising this passion through the creation of an independent, nonprofit gallery called Transplantation.

Galerie Transplantation is dedicated to "the promotion of modern and contemporary diasporic practices through exhibitions, artistic residencies, programming, and publications." Nana has curated its first show in the idyllic Chemin du Montparnasse, an historic hideaway that housed Marie Vassilief's famous Académie Russe and Cantine des Artistes in the early 20th century and years later, the Musée du Montparnasse. Today, the cul-de-sac is home to the Villa Vassilief, which is a cultural establishment of the City of Paris. France's Ministry of Culture has named it a Center of Contemporary Art of National Interest.

Villa Vassilieff's mission is to reconnect with the Chemin's history by inviting artists and researchers to take a contemporary look at this heritage with the intent to "rewrite and diversify the history of art." Galerie Transplantation's first exhibition does just that.

Nana has curated an intimate, 18-piece show called École Paris-BXL. The name evokes the "École de Paris," the group of (largely non-French) artists that inhabited Montparnasse during the 20th century. In the pamphlet that Nana produced to present the exhibition, she refers to specifically to African diaspora artists who were part of the École de Paris de l'après-guerre, a lesser known group of artists who lived in Montparnasse after World War II. With École Paris-BXL, she brings together her research about this group with artworks representative of an emerging cosmopolitan exchange between Paris and Brussels.

Part of this research is based on a review of archival materials from Le Musée Vivant (1936-1969), a French-language review of then-contemporary African and African diaspora artists that was published by Madeleine Rousseau. I was pleased to find an article about Beauford Delaney in the edition on display on a table to the right of the entrance!

École Paris-BXL consists of works by seven artists, all formally trained, who live and work in Paris and Brussels. All are under the age of 30. Paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and installations are represented.

Untitled
Anthony Ngoya
2019 Acrylic-tinted fabric, tensioner, pipe, industrial hangers
© Entrée to Black Paris

In addition, Galerie Transplantation is developing a Transplantation Library, which centers on the distribution of printed objects, consultation of archives, education regarding critical thinking, and access to a pan-African and global visual heritage. English-language and French-language publications are available for consultation and purchase.

Nana is a native of Cameroon who grew up in "the extreme north and south of Paris." She and artist colleague Monika E. Kazi are laureates in the 2020 Prix Dauphine for Contemporary Art competition.*

École Paris-BXL is on display through September 26, 2020. The exhibition is open Wednesday - Friday from 2 PM to 7 PM and on Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM.

Galerie Transplantation
21, avenue du Maine
Espace Immanence, Ground Floor right
75015 Paris
Metro: Montparnasse-Bienvenüe (Lines 4, 6, 12, 13); Falguère (Line 12)

*By focusing on the association between artist and curator, the Prix Dauphine aims to highlight the importance of the complementarity of the respective approaches of these two art professionals. Each artist / curator pair that enters the competition is asked to create an original exhibition proposal. Selections are made by a jury of experts from the art world. Five winning pairs are offered the opportunity to exhibit in a dedicated space at Université Paris-Dauphine and at the CROUS Art Gallery, rue des Beaux-Arts, in Paris.

Black Paris Profiles II™: Maya Keys - Part II

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Maya Keys (detail)
Image courtesy of Maya Keys

Maya Keys is a classical music and art aficionado who intends to become a professional flutist. She has enrolled at the Ecole Normale de Musique to pursue this passion. To read Part I of her Black Paris Profile™, click HERE.

ETBP: You shared that you are the only black person in your music program. Please describe what this is like for you.

MK: It is disheartening to see and experience and it really makes me see that not many black Americans have the opportunity to study abroad for music or in general. In that regard, I am extremely lucky. Fortunately, I have not encountered any racism.

Maya Keys
Image courtesy of Maya Keys

ETBP: How have your professors and classmates received you?

MK: They are very warm, generous, and helpful. If it is not helping me with flute, they give me advice on navigating life here as a non-French person. Therefore, I feel really supported here because of their help.

ETBP: Tell us about your travel abroad. Where have you traveled?

MK: In addition to France, I have been to Italy, the UK, Canada, Haïti, Jamaica, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, and Mexico, mainly with my family.

ETBP: Tell us which places liked, which places you did not like (if any), and why.

MK: I pretty much like all the countries I have been to! I have not been to a country that I did not like yet.

ETBP: You’ve said that you want to pursue getting dual nationality. Why is this the case?

MK: I really love the language and the culture here. I also love the higher appreciation and respect for the arts here too. Plus, I think it is always good to have a second passport.

ETBP: How do your family and friends in the U.S feel about this?

MK: My family and friends support me a lot in my dream which I really appreciate.

ETBP: You love visual art and have a penchant for Impressionist works. How did you develop this interest?

MK: My middle and high school French teacher introduced to us the Impressionist movement when I was in 10th grade, I believe. She showed us pictures of the works of Monet, Manet, Renoir, Matisse, which are her favorites, as well as others. She even had a mini art gallery of those paintings in a classroom to simulate being in a museum. I especially love Monet's Water Lilies and his Jardin de l’Artiste à Giverny.

Le Jardin de l'artiste à Giverny
Claude Monet
1900 Oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Image in public domain

ETBP: What is your favorite leisure time activity?

MK: Walking around and exploring more of Paris.

ETBP: What is your favorite place in Paris?

MK: I really like going to the Musée d'Orsay because of the Impressionist works there.

Musée d'Orsay - viewed from the Right Bank
Image by Discover Paris!

ETBP: How would you advise someone who would like to come to Paris and study classical music?

MK: Researching the school and teacher you want to study with is very important. I have found that in Paris you have more power in choosing your teachers, assuming they agree to teach you, as opposed to American universities where a teacher is assigned to you.

When you play for your teacher, do not try to play perfectly, as no one plays perfectly. I have found that being proactive and being focused on the kind of life and career you want to lead are also really motivating as well.

Black Paris Profiles II™: Maya Keys - Part I

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Maya Keys is a classical music and art aficionado who intends to become a professional flutist. She has enrolled at the Ecole Normale de Musique to pursue this passion.

ETBP: You are a student who is passionate about the French language and classical music. Tell us how you wound up living in Paris and how long you’ve been here.

MK: I arrived in Bordeaux in October 2019 as an au pair on a one-year stay visa. One month into my contract, my host family decided to terminate it, so I moved to Paris in December 2019 to stay with a family in the 16th arrondissement. I chose Paris because that is the French city I have visited the most (hopefully that will change).

ETBP: How long did it take you to put your plan for moving here into place?

MK: I believe I began planning last spring. I found the aforementioned Bordeaux family on Au Pair World and I picked the family that offered me a contract the fastest. I did not hear from other au pair families soon enough, so I chose the Bordeaux family. After that, I saved my paycheck from my two jobs to pay for my flights and visa fee.

ETBP: You study classical music and your preferred instrument is the flute. Tell us when you decided to pursue this as a career and why you want to do so in Paris.

MK: I believe I officially chose to become a professional musician when my old flute professor at the University of Maryland College Park told me not to go to Europe to study music. For my first two years there, she had me focused on a career in arts administration. However, I decided to become a flutist after she left the university. I decided to come to Paris specifically because I took inspiration from Josephine Baker and James Baldwin.

ETBP: You’re enrolled at two institutes of higher learning in Paris. Tell us about them and why you selected them as opposed to others.

MK: I chose Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris because my current flute teacher teaches there. I sent her a message on Facebook in December expressing my interest in being her student. We then arranged to have me play for her in February 2020 and she agreed to teach me after I played the Stamitz Concerto in G major for her. I will eventually enroll at the Sorbonne University in Musicology as well because I will need my licence to teach flute at a conservatory here. I want to perform as well as teach.

ETBP: What do you find different about the education system in France compared to the U.S.?

MK: I have not started my studies yet, but I have heard that French higher institutions are more rigorous than American ones. I have also heard that French students are more independent.

ETBP: How much time do you spend practicing the flute?

MK: I spend about 4 hours per day practicing. During the summer, I usually practice during the week and on one weekend day. I do tone exercises for 1 hour, articulation and technique for 1.5 hours, and études and repertoire for 1.5 hours.

ETBP: Where do you practice?

MK: Now, I practice in the apartment.

ETBP: What career options do you intend to explore once you’ve completed your studies?

MK: I would like to perform in an orchestra or chamber group and teach at a conservatory here. If time allows, I would like to also have my own private flute studio.

ETBP: Will obtaining a degree here provide you with any advantages over a degree from a U.S. institution?

MK: I do not think obtaining a degree here will necessarily provide more advantages, but I do think the teachers I have and will have and the institutions I’ve decided to attend make a difference. After all, American flute pedagogy came from France, particularly from the Paris Conservatory, which is one of the top music schools in Europe and in the world. My teacher studied in “Cycle de Perfectionnement” (doctoral or postgraduate study) for the flute there and she is the first person I personally know to have studied there.

ETBP: Do you currently play with any informal groups?

MK: No, unfortunately. I have not had the time to find any informal groups because of the pandemic.

Come back next week for Part II of Maya's story!

Richard Wright Community Center

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Last October, the Centre Anim' Rennes, a community center located at 76 bis, rue de Rennes in Paris' 6th arrondissement, was renamed after African-American writer Richard Wright.

The first promotional flier that I've been able to find that mentions the center's new name bears the date of October 17, 2019. It announced a public event called La Nuit des Débats (Debates Night).

The theme was inspired by Wright's work, and in particular, by his autobiographical work, Black Boy. It was framed within the French concept of universalism and was intended to evoke thoughts and ideas about how society can live better together. Wright's daughter Julia and grandson Malcolm participated in the event via Skype.

Portrait of Richard Wright
1939 Carl Van Vechten
Public Domain

"Anim'" is short for "Animation." But to describe the activities at the center solely as "animation" is to omit an important nuance - the majority of the activities offered are cultural.

As an example, Tom and I attended a walking tour organized by the center last week. The purpose of the walk was two-fold: to learn about the history and flora of the garden and to practice sketching. Participants were given a supply of paper, two sketching pencils, a pencil sharpener, and an eraser. At each stop, our guide gave an explanation of the space in which we stood and afterward, an artist from the center instructed us on what we were to sketch. He emphasized that we were to work quickly, focused less on replicating what we saw than capturing the movement, contrasts, and perspective in the scene lying before us.

The center is run by a municipal organization called ACTISCE, which is an acronym for Actions pour les Collectivités Territoriales et Initiatives Sociales, Sportives, Culturelles et Educatives (Actions for Local Communities and Social, Sportive, Cultural, and Educational Initiatives). ACTISCE is responsible for several centers around Paris, including a satellite for the Richard Wright center that is found on rue Hautefeuille.

The summer calendar for Centre Richard Wright is chock full of dance, painting, photography, theater, and singing courses. Dance options include hip-hop, tango, salsa, and modern. Walking tours, a day trip to Provins, and even a treasure hunt are also part of the schedule.

The facility is spacious and inviting.

Behind one of the welcome desks, we saw a flier for an innovative theatrical production of Wright's Black Boy on the wall.

The center is committed to honoring its namesake. When we called to ask about the reasons for its renaming, our contact volunteered to send us documentation about Wright. She sent several quotations by Wright, text from a French-language interview he gave to the French press, and several brief biographies.

We await information about whether the center will organize a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the publication of Black Boy.

Bastille Day 2020

Monique Y. Wells — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Military planes flying over Paris on Bastille Day
Image by Sergii Bozhko, Unsplash

Exceptionally, ETBP is publishing this weekly blog on a Tuesday.

Though Paris is officially "deconfined" after months of lock down due to COVID-19, things are not 100% back to normal.

This year's Bastille Day celebration is tangible proof.

The traditional parade on the Champs-Elysées will be replaced by a ceremony at Place de la Concorde that will pay tribute to civil servants and military personnel engaged in the fight against Covid-19. The number of spectators will be limited to 2,000, including 1,400 caregivers and representatives of civil society. The health ministers of four countries that welcomed French patients during the height of the pandemic - Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg - will also be present.

The general public will be able to watch the ceremony on television beginning at 11 AM CEST.

Afterward, President Macron is scheduled to address the nation to reveal his vision for France's future under his administration.

The fireworks that are the hallmark of France's fête nationale will also take place this year. But people will not be allowed to gather near the Eiffel Tower to watch them. Instead, Parisians are invited to watch the televised display on France 2.

The classical music concert that traditionally takes place at the foot of the tower prior to the fireworks display will also take place. It will be broadcast live beginning at 9:10 PM CEST in France on France Inter and France 2, and in over ten additional countries on UER-Eurovision. This year, will lead 65 musicians from the National Orchestra of France, the Maîtrise and the Choir of Radio France will be led by South Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim. International solo musicians will participate as well.

This year, the fireworks will honor those who have worked and continue to work to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and will serve to represent the resilience of France and its capital.

Coronavirus Update

With the exception of the overseas departments of Mayotte and Guiana, all of France remains "green" on the tracking map that health authorities are updating daily as a reflection of the four criteria used to determine the status of the nation's public health.

But concerns are rising that a second wave of infections will result from residents' increasingly laxity with regard to practicing social distancing and wearing masks. There is already evidence that the infection rate is rising, albeit slightly.

Remembering the Dapper Museum

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Just over three years ago, the Dapper Museum closed its doors forever. It was unable to successfully compete against the mega budget and hugely successful exhibitions hosted by the Musée du quai Branly, the Cartier Foundation, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation.

Today, I'm posting links to a few of the articles that Entrée to Black Paris has published about shows and events held at the museum. I hope you'll enjoy them!

NMAAHC Inaugural Ceremony Livestreamed at the Musée Dapper

The U.S. Embassy and the Musée Dapper partnered to present a livestream of the inaugural ceremony of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and a panel discussion about the remarks made by President Obama at the event.

https://entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com/2016/09/nmaahc-inaugural-ceremony-live-streamed.html

Drum Planet - One Beat, One World

In 2011, the Dapper organized a private event consisting of an animated, interactive percussion lesson and a visit to the Angola: Figures de Pouvoir exhibition.

https://entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com/2011/06/drum-planet-one-beat-one-world.html

Video of Drum Planet
Courtesy of Discover Paris!

Art and Food Pairing™: Chefs-d'Oeuvre d'Afrique and Café Dapper Loïc Dablé - Part 1

Chefs-d'oeuvre d'Afrique was a fabulous exhibition!

https://entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com/2015/12/art-and-food-pairing-chefs-doeuvre.html

Art and Food Pairing™: Chefs-d'Oeuvre d'Afrique and Café Dapper Loïc Dablé - Part 2

Read about the short-lived café operated by Franco-Ivoirian chef Loïc Dablé.

https://entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com/2015/12/art-and-food-pairing-chefs-doeuvre_10.html

Nappy or Not Nappy? A Round-table Discussion at the Musée Dapper

Professor Maboula Soumahoro of François-Rabelais University in Tours and journalist-activist Rokhaya Diallo hosted a round table discussion during which Professor Soumahoro interviewed five persons about their hair and what wearing it natural has meant for them.

https://entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com/2015/12/nappy-or-not-nappy-round-table.html

***********************

Ethiopian Brunch in Paris

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0200

All Paris cafés and restaurants that survived the pandemic lock down have completely reopened for business!

In-room dining shut down completely on March 15, two days before the entire country went into confinement. Take-out and delivery were allowed and several restaurants that don't normally offer this service began to do so once it became evident that the lock down would not be quickly lifted.

On June 2, full restaurant and café service resumed in all French departments and territories in a "green" COVID-19 zone. But Paris and the surrounding departments in Ile de France remained "orange" and were only allowed to serve people on sidewalk terraces. Where possible, the city is allowing restaurants to extend their terraces on wide sidewalks, in parking spaces, or in pedestrian thoroughfares to permit social distancing and to maximize service capacity. This system will remain in place, at no charge to the restaurants, until September 2020.

June 15 was the day when all restaurants and cafés in Ile de France were allowed to reopen fully. And yet, some restaurants waited an additional few days to do so.

Les Saveurs d'Abyssinie was one of these. I passed by on June 22 and saw a sign in their window indicating that they were looking forward to welcoming customers again the following day. When I went there on June 23, I saw that they offer Sunday brunch - the only Ethiopian brunch served in Paris! Reservations are required, so I reserved a table for two for 12 noon on June 28.

When Tom and I approached the restaurant, we saw that the floor-to-ceiling window that separates the terrace from the interior dining room was wide open and that the tables on the terrace were set up to accommodate a large group. We were the first customers to arrive and we chose to sit at an inside table that was next to the open window.

Our server welcomed us warmly and promptly offered us a squirt of hand sanitizing gel.

Brunch is a simple affair at Les Saveurs d'Abyssinie. First, we were served a glass of juice. The preparation for the day was a mixture of mango, guava, and pineapple.

We thoroughly enjoyed this!

Next, we discovered an Ethiopian specialty called kita firfir (also known as chechebsa) - a bread made from flour, spiced butter, peppers, and honey. It was served with foul (stewed fava beans prepared with shallots and spicy peppers), kintche (bulgur cooked with Ethiopian butter), and a vegetarian or meat accompaniment.

Our choices for the accompaniment were stewed beef (spicy [bere key wot] or non-spicy [bere alitcha]), spicy lentils (yemissir wot), or non-spicy split peas (ater kik). I selected spicy beef and Tom selected split peas.

Four portions of classic injera, the spongy flat bread that is commonly served with Ethiopian dishes, were presented on a separate plate.

For our beverage, we decided to split a bottle of St. George beer. A pale lager, it is the first beer produced in Ethiopia. We found it to be a light and refreshing accompaniment for our food.

The dishes were generously portioned with just the right amount of piquancy for our palates and we polished off every morsel on our plates.

Dessert is not part of the brunch menu but we wanted a taste of something sweet after our meal. So we ordered gâteau à l'orange, and were served three thin slices of orange sponge cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

The cake was moist and bursting with flavor. It was the perfect end to our meal.

Tom ordered an Ethiopian coffee and I ordered an Ethiopian tea (flavored with cinnamon, cloves, and cardamon) and we sipped and relaxed as clients continued to arrive at the restaurant.

By the time we were ready to pay our bill, the terrace was completely full and customers were occupying tables inside.

If you're in the Mouffetard quarter and want Ethiopian food, Les Saveurs d'Abyssinie is a sure bet for a quality meal and friendly service.

Les Saveurs d'Abyssinie
1, rue de l'Arbalète
75005 Paris
Telephone: 06 21 36 56 21
Metro: Censier-Daubenton (Line 7)

On Ignorance & Out-Rage

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200

This is the final part of a three-part poem called "Out-Rage," submitted by Dr. Roseline Armange (Lucy Jane)*.

*************

Refusing to acknowledge
Disregarding intentionally
Refusing to take notice
Passing over
Snubbing over
Spurring disdainfully
Pains
Tears
Fear
Humanness
Being blind
Accepting to be blind
Expressing blindness
Praising it
Entitled with it

An ignorance that out-rage my mind
An ignorance that out-rage my spirit
An ignorance that out-rage my body

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

But I know I have to accept it right! Right?
To calm down! Right?
To shut my mouth! Right?

Neither in the first or the second case
Shooting is your response.

Neither in the first or the second case
Is Justice crossing your mind.

Neither in the first or the second case
Is humanity crossing your mind.

Neither in the first or the second case
Is empathy crossing your mind.

Is it right?
Right?

But your ignorance calls out our voices
Your ignorance is the paradox of our consciousness
Your ignorance is my double consciousness
Your ignorance is my words in action, my body in motion, and my soul in resurrection.

To unsilence your political ignorance
To unsilence your social ignorance
To unsilence your racial ignorance
To unsilence your emotional ignorance
To unsilence who I am
To unsilence who they were, once
To unsilence who He was
To unsilence the many Hims
To unsilence the many Hers
To unsilence our Humanity

To Breathe again
To Breathe again
To Breathe again
Breathe again
Breathe again, breathe again, breathe again, again, again, again, again!

Oh Dear Lord, breathe into my soul your words of light and compassion!

And you:
Do not make me look like a fool!
Do not make her look like a fool!
Do not make us looks like fools!
Because your time has ended!
You cannot cover it up, again, again, again and again and again
Because we will breathe again, again, again and again!

Did you not understand?
Did you not learn from your past?
Your bloody hand will pass on your generation!
Your bloody hand will shame your son!
Your bloody hand is an offense for those who dare to understand, listen, and cultivate empathize, removing themselves from the Egotic position of what you wanted them to think!

Your ignorance has passed, Your power has passed
A White mask that is falling off
A White mask that is burning in the cities
A Black mask that is falling off
A Black mask that is burning in the cities
Burning your Western definition of race
Burning your Western theodicy of race
Burning your Western knowledge of race
Burning your Western epistem of race

Do not try to make me decadent!
Do not try to make me a fool!
Do not try to reverse it again and again!

Are you fearing seeing your face beyond the bar?
Are you fearing dying like George Floyd, Brionna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Christian Marajo, Edmond-Éloi Véronique, Julien Betzi, and Adama Traoré?
Are you fearing losing your White privilege?
Are you fearing facing the truth of your cultivated ignorance?

How can you let the ideology of your mind
Shame our Human light?
How can you let the ideology of your mind
Shame your light?
How can you let the ideology of your right
Shame those who build together?

How do you let the bullet of your gun
Shoot Heads?

How do you let the weight of your body kill bones?
How do you let the title of your formation enforce laws?
How do you let the power of your tongue abuse power?

Didn’t His life Matter enough?
Did you not see yourself in His humanity?
Does your breath matter more?
At the end who wins?
Does your act make you fall asleep with peace of mind?
Does your violence make you stronger?
Did you feel empowered?
Did you feel great again?
Did you feel alive again?

“Oh [My Soul] [...], always make me a [Wo]man who questions!”**
… An outrage of My soul, His soul, Her soul, Us souls!

Lucy Jane. Millions of thoughts, millions of time, millions of us: A process in several pieces.
Paris, Mardi 02 Juin 2020.
Paris, Jeudi 04 Juin 2020.
Paris, Lundi 08 Juin 2020.

*A clinical and health psychologist by training, Dr. Roseline Armange (Lucy Jane), earned her doctorate in cognitive psychology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne, Paris) with summa cum laude distinction (mention très honorable et les félicitations du jury). Her scholarship exploits the intersection of politics, race, gender, literature, philosophy, and psychology. The interdisciplinary nature of her research led her to be selected as the 2018-2019 Dubois-Mandela-Rodney Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Faculty at the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). By placing non-Western academic knowledge’s and creative praxis at the epicenter of her work, Armange’s scholarly and artistic foundations challenge the cultural and Western world view. Her career as a humanistic scholar intertwines with her artistic persona. Art and aesthetics are at the intersections of her passions for creative writing, fashion, and Soul-Jazz music. Her world mission aims to inspire and awaken the light in us.

**Fanon, F (2008). Black skins, White masks (Richard Philcox, Trans.). Grove Press. (Original work published 1952)

On Truth & Out-Rage

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Manifestation contre les violences policières II (detail)
© Roseline Armange

This is the second part of a three-part poem called "Out-Rage," submitted by Dr. Roseline Armange (Lucy Jane)*.

************

Telling the Truth:
An Out-Rage of feelings
Off are my feelings
Off is my brain
My feelings are burning
Burning in the cities
My feelings are walking in the cities!
My feelings are outraging at the police station
My feelings are outraging at your house
My feelings are outraging in the middle of the wind, the middle of the sunset
Bleeding of millions of years of silences, traumas and abuse of racial power.

My feelings are bleeding, dancing in your streets until the sun comes down
My feelings will remain in your cities until the Sun rises again
Until peace rises again
Until justice rises again.

An endless process
Tired, I am!
Tired of justice? Never I will.

It is:
An Out-Rage of my mind
An Out-Rage that has no words
What can I say when the world is falling apart
When race is the common denominator of revealing the deepest truth of those who race has made them entitled for.

An entitlement of the modern world.

An entitlement for the Human race
As if, there was one race, one culture, one tongue, one skin.

Feeling of entitlement, a political concept that find its psychological roots in the idea of special deservingness by the virtue of magnanimous phantasmagoric beliefs.

“I am that I am - they thought -
“I am that I am by essence of my divine theocracy, the pureness of my skin tone!” - they inscribed.

Thus, the feeling of being God - a bipolar syndrome in constant crisis. Ideation of a collective Western Grandeur
Engendering holes, wounds, and hatred.

Distorting cultural harmony
Twiddling social harmony
Blazing racial harmony
Harassing peacemaker
Harassing peacebuilder
Abusing power

Entitled! right?
To think right, right?

Entitled to say:
“I was protecting myself, he was potentially a murderer, so I shot.”
“He looked at me in a certain way, so I shot.”
“It is because we are divinely pure, your race is ugly.”
“It is because, you know what I mean, we need to control them, they are savage by nature!”
“It is, maybe, because I have an issue with myself: the ignorance of my White race that is my humanity falling apart from an ideological history that I felt entitled with.”

Will I tell me this thing? No, why should I rethink something that was ingrained in my privilege? Why should I remain cognizant? It has been done; it has been proven in History say those types of Whites ...

I said: “Those types of Whites.”

Because:
Revolution of Love has no color
Revolution of Justice has no gender
Revolution of Peace is limitless
Revolution of Humanism has no race
Revolution of Dignity is Universal
For those Whites and politics
For those types of Whites and the policies
For those types of Whites and the institution
For those types of Whites and the democracy
For those types of Whites and the system
For those types of Whites and modernity.

Lucy Jane. Millions of thoughts, millions of time, millions of us: A process in several pieces.

Paris, Mardi 02 Juin 2020.
Paris, Jeudi 04 Juin 2020.
Paris, Lundi 08 Juin 2020.

Out-Rage - An Introduction

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Manifestation contre les violences policières I (detail)
© Roseline Armange

Dr. Roseline Armange (Lucy Jane)* returns to the ETBP blog with a poem called "Out-Rage," to be published in three parts and accompanied by photos she took at a recent Paris protest against police violence sparked by the murder of George Floyd in the U.S. Find the introduction to "Out-Rage" below.

************

A reflection of a week, a month, a year, a life … An endless therapy of the mind, my mind, your mind, our mind. A double consciousness... Learning to see the unseen. Learning behaviors, in-between speeches, learning strategies, learning languages, body languages. When the nonverbal is an act of violence, when the nonverbal says words more that they are. When the nonverbal kill souls.

It is a therapy of the mind, of my mind.
A therapy for my soul, your soul, our souls.
A therapy for my memory, your memory, our memory.
A therapy for our skin, your skin, my skin.
A therapy for the Soul of the Black Man/Woman.
A therapy for my dignity, your dignity, our dignity.
A therapy in memory of those life ... Millions of lives.
A Twelve Years a Slave that persists in the present.
A contemporary season of deep sorrow.

Mourning pain
Mourning outrage
Mourning our scars
Mourning
Grieving
Debriefing.

A therapy for my Black soul
A therapy for your Black soul
A therapy for our Black soul
A therapy of a global song
A therapy of a global voice
A therapy of a Loud voice.

Screaming pain, anger, and frustration
Crying pain, anger, and desolation
Crying out peace, justice, and restoration
A restoration for millions of silences
A restoration for millions of deaths
A restoration for millions of outrages.

A restoration that has a name:
Justice for All
Justice for our Black folks
Justice of Transformation
Justice of Dignity
Justice of Humanity
Justice of Reparation.

A call for Rapha:
Reclaim, recover, repair, cure our national wounds.
Justice of Repentance
A transformation of the collective mind
Repentance: a meaning of transformation of the mind, the soul, and the spirit.
A Repentance of Western White collective ignorance
A repentance of Western collective dissonance
A repentance of Western collective dominance.

As the West has been a fool
For too many years
For too many decades
As the West has been a fool
For too many lives
As the West has been a fool
Of its Overestimated Cultural Ego.

As the West’s act of forgiveness starts with an act of repentance
As the West’s act of repentance starts with an act of justice
A multidirectional equation
A Multiracial equation
Multiracial histories
Multiracial identities
Multiracial cultures

In one world
In one word
Justice

In one world
In one word
Love

In one world
In one word
Peace

In one world
In one word
Dignity

In one world
In one word
Humanity

In one world
In one word
Respect

In one world
In one word
Equality

In one world
In one word.

Right of being

Right of singing

Right of breathing

So, these words arise for the desire of a new Sun, a new Moon, a New World, a New Word.

"And I say [as Césaire**]
And my word is peace
And I say and my word is earth
And I say!
And
Joy explodes in the new sun"

A litany for healing my traumas, A litany for the Soul of the Black Folk,
A Litany to unsilence many years of oppression worldwide
An Out-Rage for a New Revolution
An Out-Rage for a New Humanity.

Le Mardi 02 Juin 2020, Paris 6e. A cœur lourd, silence lourd (heavy heart, heavy silence).

**Césaire, A. (1970). Les armes miraculeuses. Gallimard.

Deconfinement - Phase II is Underway

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0200

France is making great progress in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and residents happily entered Phase II of deconfinement last weekend.

Paris and the surrounding departments in Ile de France have gone from red to orange on the tricolor (red-orange-green) tracking map that health authorities are updating daily as a reflection of the four criteria used to determine which restrictions can be lifted and which ones should be maintained or strengthened to protect public health.

As of June 3, all other departments in mainland France and all overseas departments except for Mayotte and Guiana are green. Mayotte and Guiana are orange.

For green departments, deconfinement is proceeding cautiously, but with fewer restrictions than in orange departments.

The government firmly maintains that social distancing and safety gestures such as coughing or sneezing into your elbow or a single-use tissue and refraining from handshaking and greeting by kissing on the cheek are required to avoid a second outbreak of the virus.

The free masks promised by the national government, the City of Paris, and Paris' public transportation system are now being distributed.

In Paris, bus stops are being outfitted with hand sanitizing stations.

These will also be installed at playgrounds, which remain closed at present.

Religious services have resumed under the condition that social distancing, the wearing of masks, and restriction of the number of persons assembling are respected.

For Christians, this meant being able to gather to celebrate Pentecost Sunday.

For French departments that are "green," restaurants and bars (as well as middle schools and high schools) reopened without restriction as of June 2.

In Paris and Ile de France, restaurants and cafés with terraces were allowed to reopen with the caveat that service be provided on terraces only. Table spacing must respect social distancing requirements.

During a quick walk around my neighborhood on June 3, I found some terraces to be "packed"...

and other wanting for customers.

One restaurant in the neighborhood is using the pedestrian street in front of its façade as a terrace.

Many establishments with terraces can only serve a fraction of the number of clients for which they have capacity.

Establishments that do not have terraces can still opt to provide take-out and delivery service until indoor dining is once again permitted.

Over the weekend of May 30-31, Paris reopened its parks and gardens. The only absolute requirement for visiting these green spaces is that people restrict their gatherings to no more than 10 persons. Wearing masks is strongly recommended, but not required.

Entrée to Black Paris is particularly happy that the Luxembourg Garden has reopened. The garden was filled with people last Sunday.

Tom and I look forward to welcoming U.S. and other clients from abroad for our "Black History in and around the Luxembourg Garden" walk and our other walking tours and activities as soon as France's borders are open again!

Deconfinement - My First Haircut

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 28 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Waiting for a haircut (detail)
© Entrée to Black Paris

After two months of waiting, I was finally able to get a professional hair cut!

I've been using Hair Star (aka RStar) at Châtelet for the past several months and I am sold on their service. So, I was excited to make my way there a few days ago to experience what they're offering under deconfinement conditions.

Taking the metro during off peak hours was a pleasure. Many Parisians remain out of the city and there was no crowding whatsoever. Markings on the ground indicate the distance to be respected while on the quay.

These are found on the floor in the metro cars as well.

The markings at Châtelet are more numerous, given that it is the largest station in Paris and people are literally packed like sardines on the quays at rush hour.

Hair Star has created new regulations for patrons to accommodate the restrictions that are designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. They have posted several notices next to the entrance to avoid confusion.

Walk-ins are now being discouraged. Clients are asked to make appointments whenever possible.

The chairs in the waiting area have been removed - you are required to wait outside until your barber or hairdresser can accommodate you.

Hand sanitizer is available at the entrance.

All personnel wear masks and anyone entering the shop is required to wear a mask as well. The cloth garments that clients used to don to protect your clothing from hair clippings, shampoo, etc. have been replaced by single-use plastic bibs.

You are not to touch hair care products that are for sale - rather, you should make your selection by sight and then ask an employee to get it from the shelf. Product shelves are disinfected twice daily.

Hair Star has increased its prices to account for the cost of the products they use to disinfect the salon and the time spent doing so. They are charging an additional 3€ for services provided to men and an additional 5€ for services provided to women.

Everything went smoothly. Have a look at the results.

I'm looking forward to my next cut!

Deconfinement - My First Cultural Excursion

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 21 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200

On May 16, I left the 1 km radius of my home for the first time since the beginning of the first phase of deconfinement.

My destination was the Elixir d'Afrique exhibition mounted by La Galerie Africaine.

Aude Minart has operated this itinerant contemporary art gallery for many years. She works with incredible artists and has curated many shows about which I have written in this blog*.

Aude has selected a new venue for Elixir d'Afrique - a lovely space at 26, rue des Batignolles in the 17th arrondissement.

As usual, she has selected a mix of paintings and works on paper, sculpture, masks, fabrics, and jewelry for display.

There are a couple of new artists in the mix.

Fatou Rouissi has created lovely works from children's clothing:

Flowered Heads
© Fatou Rouissi
Assembly of small woolen dress, flowers, resin and paint
Image courtesy of La Galerie Africaine

I. Gandema created these lost wax bronzes of females holding a flower or a vessel.

Beaded dolls are always part of Aude's exhibitions...

and she is particularly proud of this Namji doll from Cameroon.

This bronze cube by H. Yameogo is extraordinary!

In case you're wondering about social distancing in the gallery space, Aude is making masks, gloves, and hand sanitizing gel available to visitors.

There is a grassy courtyard at the rear of the exhibition space where you can go if more than 10 people are visiting at the same time.

Elixir d'Afrique is on display through June 1, 2020. The exhibition is open from 11 AM to 7 PM daily and by appointment.

View images of individual works HERE.

Contact Aude at audeminart@hotmail.com or phone her at 06.60.24.06.26.

*Read posts about three previous La Galerie Africaine exhibitions here:

African Stories
A Breath of Africa
Africa Unmasked

Paris Lock Down - First Days of Deconfinement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 14 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Child with mask (detail)
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

France began its first phase of deconfinement as of Monday, May 11.

Though the number of COVID-19 deaths continues to rise, the number of hospitalizations and the number of persons needing intensive care for the virus have dropped progressively since mid-April.

On May 13, France's national spokesperson, Sideth Ndiaye, announced that the country will pay tribute to all health care workers during the Bastille Day ceremony on July 14 and that all those who contributed to the fight against COVID-19 will be inducted into the Legion of Honor in 2021.

Sideth Ndiaye, Government Spokesperson
Enrique Prazian - photographer
Source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA 4.0

Paris and Ile-de-France are still in the red zone of the COVID-19 "weather map" and many restrictions remain in place:

All persons aged 11 and older are required to wear a mask on the metro, bus, and tram.

Fifty percent (50%) of the seats in public transportation vehicles are out of service.

Markings will be placed on the ground so the people waiting for vehicles can respect appropriate physical distancing.

Only those persons commuting to or from work are allowed to use public transportation during morning and evening rush hour. Employers are obligated to provide these workers with an attestation that indicates their employees' work hours.

Authorization is required to use public transportation during peak hours for specific, exceptional needs such as seeking medical care or accompanying a child to school.

Failure to adhere to these restrictions engenders a 135€ fine.

The quays on the Seine River, the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, the Champs de Mars, and the esplanade at Les Invalides reopened on Monday, but gatherings of more than ten (10) persons are still forbidden. Picnics and team sports are still not allowed.

Individual sporting activities such as jogging and biking are once again allowed between 10 AM and 7 PM, but a distance of 10 meters must be respected. For yoga or other "stationary" activity, a distance of 4 meters must be respected.

Private sports facilities are now open to professional athletes for indoor training, while amateur athletes must wait until June to enjoy this privilege again.

Those wishing to visit churches, synagogues, and other places of worship may do so, but gatherings are limited to a maximum of 10 persons. Religious ceremonies are still not permitted.

Cemeteries have reopened. A maximum of 20 persons are allowed to assemble for funerals.

Springtime continues to unfold, with new waves of flowers blooming in green spaces around town.

Many parents have purchased masks for their children.

And some people are feeling quite relaxed in anticipation of a return to "normal" life.

(Yes, this young man is wearing a mask!)

Please remain vigilant as deconfinement is established in your area!

Paris Lock Down - Closer to Deconfinement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 07 May 2020 00:00:00 +0200

It's almost here!

As May 11 approaches, France is stepping up its preparation for de-confinement.

To date, 52,736 persons have left French hospitals cured of the infection. The number of COVID-19 patients being treated in intensive care has decreased for 27 consecutive days.

France's Ministry of Solidarity and Health has created a "weather map" of the country, which indicates - department by department and day by day - the degree to which lock down restrictions can be safely lifted. Since the map was first published on April 30, the area where de-confinement will be "normal" has grown consistently larger. The Paris area and most of the northeast corner of the country remain in the "red zone," so de-confinement will proceed much more slowly in this geographical region.

The country awaits information about each department's ability to test for COVID-19 infection. Beginning Thursday, May 7, this criterion will be taken into account as the map is revised each day.

The gradual reopening of nursery schools, kindergarten, and elementary schools is still planned to begin on May 11, where conditions permit. The rhythm of instruction will change, with classes being held either 2-3 days per week or for a full week every other week.

Parents are not obligated to send their children to school during the de-confinement period.

Since April 20, the government has been implementing a plan to purchase and distribute computers and Internet connections for economically disadvantaged families so that students can continue their education should they not be able to return to school.

High school students are now slated to return to school in June. Universities will not open again before summer.

Museums, bookstores, and art galleries will be able to reopen on May 11, with strict enforcement of social distancing and other precautionary measures.

Beaches are to remain closed until June 1. Festivals and other gatherings of 5000 or more persons will not be allowed before September.

On Thursday afternoon, May 7, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will address the nation with details.

In Paris, free, reusable masks will be made available to residents at pharmacies beginning on May 7. In addition, 500,000 surgical masks will be distributed to persons in fragile physical condition at town halls across the city.

Persons who have paid for public transportation passes will also receive free masks.

Other masks are being made available for sale.

Large commercial centers such as Les Halles will not reopen on May 11, but department stores such as Galeries Lafayette and Printemps will be allowed to do so.

Printemps Haussmann
Image by Tuscon Knox
CC-SA-BY 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Restaurants are becoming more active. Certain establishments have been supporting hospital personnel by providing free meals since the beginning of the lock down.

Le Bel Ordinaire is one of them. They not only support the health care workers at the Pitié-Salpêtrière and Bichat hospitals, but also distribute fresh produce, seafood, meat, and poultry from their suppliers that local residents can purchase online and cook at home.

Increasing numbers of restaurants are now offering take-out. Customers are not allowed inside the restaurant. Rather, orders are placed at the door and delivered there as well.

It also seems that more people are on the streets - perhaps in part because of the wonderful weather we've had recently.

The Paris Tourist Office is reaching out to travel and tourism companies (including Entrée to Black Paris) with questions about how it can best assist these businesses to re-launch once the lock down is lifted.

Unfortunately, there is no news yet regarding the re-establishment of regular international flights between the U.S. and France.

We took advantage of yesterday's particularly warm temperature to venture over to Place Louis Armstrong in the 13th arrondissement, a site that is within our allowed 1 km radius for daily exercise.

The garden there still has a few flowers blooming.

Next week, I'll bring you news of the first few days of de-confinement. In the meantime, I encourage you to continue to stay close to home and remain vigilant - wherever you are in the world - so that your local restrictions can be eased as soon as possible!

Paris Lock Down - Anticipating Deconfinement

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Tom and Monique wearing makeshift coffee filter masks
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

France has completed six weeks of confinement and the Assemblée Nationale (similar to the U.S. House of Representatives) has voted to accept a plan to gradually reopen the country.

The plan is based on three principles: Protect - Test - Isolate.

As of May 11, France intends to perform 700,000 tests for COVID-19 per week at no charge to the general public. Persons with symptoms of corona virus infection will be tested first. The family and close contacts of those testing positive will also be tested, whether or not they are symptomatic. Those who are ill and those who have close contact with the ill will be quarantined for 14 days, either at home or in hotels designated for this purpose.

If the number of cases continues to decrease as predicted, the first phase of de-confinement will unfold between May 11 and June 2. People will be able to return to work, but public gatherings will be limited to a maximum of ten persons. Residents will only be required to carry a signed declaration specifying the purpose of their outing if they need to go more than 100 km (~62 miles) from home.

If spread of the virus is successfully curtailed, a second, three-week phase of de-confinement will begin in June.

In Paris and the surrounding area, public transportation will be restored to 70% of normal on May 11. Anyone using the system will be required to wear a mask. The same will be true for those taking taxis or chauffeured vehicles where there is no plexiglass installed to separate driver and passengers.

Free masks will be made available to all public transportation passengers.

Educators will be required to wear masks at schools. Shopkeepers may require that persons entering their stores wear a mask. Businesses that cannot provide a work environment that allows social distancing will be required to furnish masks for their employees.

Nursery schools, kindergartens and elementary schools will reopen on May 11 and middle schools will reopen on May 18. This will only be allowed in areas where viral transmission is low.

If containment of the pandemic continues to progress, the opening of high schools, restaurants, cafés, bars, beaches, and houses of worship will be considered for June 2.

Large public gatherings will not be allowed before September 2020.

While waiting for the city to re-emerge and find its way to a "new normal," residents can still find evidence of spring in private and public gardens.

And the appearance of fraisiers in pastry shops is another sure sign of spring!

Continue to stay safe, sage, and sane!

Paris Lock Down - What the Mayor's Office is Doing

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Hôtel de Ville (Paris' City Hall)
Photo by Rolldi - CC-BY-SA 4.0

Though the death toll in France has surpassed 20,000, the number of hospitalized persons and the number of persons in intensive care is decreasing daily.

The post office plans to reopen 10,000 branches by the end of April and increase mail delivery to 4 times per week.

A progressive return to the classroom is still planned for students across France, beginning with the youngest grade levels on May 11. The following week, middle school and high school students are slated to return, and by May 25, all schools will be reopened. The maximum number of students per class will be reduced to fifteen (15).

The government is studying the possibility of allowing restaurants, bars, and cafés to reopen on June 15.

This week, Entrée to Black Paris turns its attention to what the City of Paris is doing to combat the pandemic.

By the end of April, the city plans to make 500,000 face masks available to the elderly, individuals with chronic illnesses, and pregnant women. Distribution will take place at pharmacies throughout the city.

An additional 1.7 million masks are projected to be distributed to other Paris residents by mid-May.

The city launched a massive testing campaign at elder care facilities on April 6. As of April 20, 2,810 tests have been performed on residents and caregivers.

Paris' non-potable water supply, which is normally used to clean streets, water green spaces, and feed fountains, has been shut off due to the presence of traces of virus found in test samples. Potable water is now being used for street cleaning and keeping parks and gardens flourishing. Fountains are no longer running.

Garbage collection is being maintained.

Anyone having difficulty paying rent during the crisis is encouraged to contact his/her landlord immediately so that adjustments to payments can be made. For residents of public housing, a variety of measures have been implemented to assist those in financial need.

For the homeless, the city is working with the Aurora Association to assemble sack lunches at locations in the 3rd, 14th, and 18th arrondissements. Partnerships with the Salvation Army and the Paris Diocese of the Catholic Church facilitate the distribution of these lunches to the needy across town. An additional 4400 lunches are distributed at 10 "solidarity" restaurants as well as delivered to people on the streets who do not frequent these restaurants.

Shelter for the homeless is being provided at four gymnasiums that were opened for overwintering in 2019. One of these is dedicated to sheltering unaccompanied youth. These facilities will remain open until May 31.

Two additional gymnasiums were opened for refugees who were displaced from their camp in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers on March 24.

Two shelters dedicated to persons who are COVID-19 positive have been opened - one for single men and one for single women and families.

All public toilets and public baths are open for use during the crisis.

The city is providing childcare for all persons on the front lines of the crisis and has made certain subterranean parking lots free for health care providers.

The town halls for the city's 20 arrondissements remain open to handle urgent matters only.

Mairie of the 5th arrondissement
Photo by LPLT
CC-BY-SA 3.0

The mayor's office plans to make hand sanitizer gels permanently available at public places throughout the city once the lock down is lifted. For young children, who risk ingesting the gel or suffering skin irritation from using it, soap dispensers will be made available.

Someone in the 5th arrondissement had a similar idea. The Wallace fountain shown below streams potable water. Someone has helpfully tied a bar of soap to the fountain.

The City of Paris Web site has posted a page that presents photographs of areas around town that are completely devoid of people. View it here:

Restez Chez Vous, Paris Vous Attend (Stay Home, Paris Awaits You)

And I'm sharing a few images of my favorite place in Paris - the Luxembourg Garden. They were taken from the street, as the garden remains closed during the lock down. Fortunately, it is not too far from home!

We were able to take these photos during the one-hour liberty for promenades that is allowed during lock down.

I hope you're enjoying spring, even as you stay close to home!

Paris Lock Down - Second Extension

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Gendarmerie patrolling the 5th arrondissement
Image by Entrée to Black Paris

France's confinement period has been extended until May 11, 2020.

As of April 15, France has suffered 15,729 deaths out of 103,573 known cases of COVID-19. The number of persons in intensive care has decreased each day for five days.

On April 13, President Macron addressed the nation for the fourth time since the pandemic reached France. He announced the strengthening of the government's economic bailout plan, the budget for which will be increased from 45 billion euros to 100 billion euros. Small and medium-sized businesses in difficulty as well as the most impoverished of individuals and families will benefit from subsidies, exemptions, and other financial support measures.

This includes an allocation of 1250 euros for artisans and self-employed persons.

The government is already planning for the progressive reopening of nursery, primary, and secondary schools. The president stated that this is a priority because too many children in working-class neighborhoods and in the countryside are being deprived of their education because they do not have access to digital technology and their parents are less able to help them with their schoolwork at home.

Rearrangement of school interiors and modification of class schedules are planned to maximally protect the health of teachers and students.

While the summer vacation schedule will not be changed, the Minister of Education has announced that special support will be provided over the summer for students who need assistance to prepare for advancing to the next grade in the fall.

The post office is helping in this endeavor by delivering documents that teachers have sent to students who have no Internet access.

The French television station France 4 has been broadcasting pedagogic courses for children of all levels since March 23. Programming specific to grade levels is scheduled for younger children in the mornings and for middle and high school children in the afternoon.

Cafés, restaurants, theaters, cinemas, museums and other businesses related to travel and tourism are to remain closed until further notice.

President Macron indicated that by May 11, it will be possible to test any person presenting symptoms of corona virus. He also indicated that the national government, in collaboration with France's city governments, plans to make a face mask available to every French resident by that date.

The elderly and physically compromised are encouraged to remain on lock down after May 11.

The public assistance-hospital system is renewing its request for volunteers who are not health care workers to assist during the de-confinement period and to conduct neighborhood surveys.

France's borders will remain closed to non-European countries until further notice. Orly Airport has been completely closed since April 1, 2020 and several terminals have been closed at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle since March 30, 2020.

Air France aircraft at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport
Public domain

The opening of the Tour de France has been postponed to August 29, 2020, with the finale scheduled for the Champs Elysées in Paris on September 20, 2020. Numerous concerts scheduled for late spring or summer have been postponed or cancelled.

The sale of seeds, vegetable plants and edible herbs has been declared "essential" and garden centers and plant nurseries are reopening to accommodate the demand.

Three local distribution centers make 5000 sack lunches each day. These are distributed by the Diocese of Paris to the needy at 20 parishes throughout the city every day at 12 noon.

Confinement rules have been relaxed for those wanting to leave their residence to adopt a pet. France's animal shelters are filled to capacity and the SPA and similar organizations hope that this measure will prevent the need to euthanize animals.

Disneyland Paris has opened a new online platform called Disneyland Paris à la Maison (Disneyland Paris at Home) as a way to help families amuse themselves while at home.

Restaurant delivery services such as Delivroo and Uber Eats continue to deliver meals and other edibles, avoiding direct contact with customers. Items delivered include breads, pastries, and ice cream!

Neighborhood grocery and frozen food stores are protecting workers and customers with physical barriers and stricter rules for shopping.

The Franprix Noë mini-supermarket on rue Mouffetard requires you to use hand sanitizer that it supplies upon entering the store and requires you to purchase anything you touch.

Most stores now have plexiglass shields in place to protect cashiers.

In the 5th arrondissement, mounted national police patrol the streets to enforce confinement restrictions.

And Mother Nature continues to dazzle residents with a glorious spring.

Continue to keep yourself and others safe by staying close to home!

Paris Lock Down - The Latest News

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200

Cover image: Western façade of Notre Dame Cathedral
Image by Discover Paris!

Springtime is in glorious evidence in the City of Light as France completes three weeks of confinement due to COVID-19.

Here's the latest news:

As of April 8, France reports 10,869 deaths. Residents are warned that we have not yet reached the peak of the epidemic. The lock down period will be extended but no new "end date" has been announced.

On April 4, the French Ministry of Armed Forces allotted 1 million euros to finance a massive testing program for COVID-19, which was launched on April 6. Priority is being given to screening the elderly, persons in fragile physical condition, and health care professionals.

Tests are also being developed for administration after the lock down is over to determine who is immune to the virus.

The French government now recommends that everyone wear a mask when in public. The City of Paris is preparing to offer its citizens reusable cloth masks that will be produced by local businesses. Numerous tutorials have been published online about how to easily construct a mask from materials found in the home.

These masks do not have the same protective features as those worn by health professionals and wearing them does not preclude respecting all the preventive measures already being practiced to avoid viral spread.

On April 7, the City of Paris announced a new restriction on private outdoor "sporting activity" and the departments that surround Paris quickly followed suit. As of April 8, solo activities such as jogging and biking are no longer authorized between the hours of 10 AM and 7 PM. Private sports activity is authorized between 7 PM and 10 AM. Infractions will be punished with a 135 euro fine.

Walking alone, with your family, or with your dog are not included in this restriction.

No one is allowed to leave his/her present location to go on holiday for Spring Break, which was scheduled to begin on April 4 in the Paris area. Armed forces are engaged to prevent this from happening.

Postal service is in disarray. Mailboxes are being sealed until further notice. Mail delivery is sporadic and post office branches are restricting service so that certain days are reserved only for banking activities and other days for postal activities. A regular rhythm for these services has not yet been established.

Several food and wine establishments, hardware stores, high-tech vendors, and florists are advancing toward partial reopening after having tested various means of respecting the strict requirements in place regarding social distancing. Some of these companies have created the possibility to drive through and pick up items ordered on line. Others are initiating home delivery service that they had not offered before.

On rue Mouffetard in the 5th arrondissement, an Indian street food take-out restaurant is preparing meals for hospital workers to relieve the monotony of the meals provided by hospital kitchens. They are requesting that anyone interested in contributing to their effort bring them potatoes, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, [squash], cauliflower, sweet potatoes, ginger, and/or eggplant. They will use these ingredients in the dishes they prepare.

Regarding home schooling, France's Education Minister estimates that teachers have lost 5% to 8% of their students due to lack of a computer or Internet access at home.

Domestic violence incidents have dramatically increased since the lock down began; new measures and extension of existing measures to assist victims have been put into place.

Good Friday (April 10) will be celebrated at Notre Dame Cathedral, with Archbishop Michel Aupetit presiding. There will be no traditional procession. Archbishop Aupetit will venerate the Crown of Thorns, texts will be read actors Philippe Torreton and Judith Chemla, and violinist Renaud Capuçon will provide music. The ceremony will be televised on BFM TV and KTO.

During the pandemic, Fondation Orange is making 12 online courses on art and history available to the public at no charge. Called MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), this digital learning opportunity was created in collaboration with institutions such as the Grand Palais, the Pompidou Center, and the Museum of Natural History. It is appropriate for people of all ages. Access it HERE.

The Atelier des Lumières is offering a virtual exploration of its current exhibition - Monet, Renoir... Chagall. Voyage en Méditerranée. Through "1 jour, 1 oeuvre," you can learn all about the work that they choose to feature for the day. Click HERE to learn more.

President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to address the French nation on Monday, April 13 with new information about the government's actions to prevent the spread of the virus and to support the population.

Click HERE to watch a video of a deserted Paris published yesterday by NBC News.

Remember that every time you leave home, you risk contracting or spreading the virus. Stay safe - stay home as much as possible!

Paris Lock Down Extended to April 15

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0200

On March 27, the French government announced that the COVID-19 confinement period is extended through April 15 and could be further prolonged if necessary.

A 16-year old girl died from the virus last week.

Restrictions for outings remain the same. The fine for a single violation has been increased from 135 euros to 200 euros.

Supermarket chains such as Carrefour and Auchan are closing earlier in the evening to give their employees a rest. Residents are advised to consult their neighborhood stores for new hours.

Click on the following link to watch a video of a "drone's-eye-view" of the city, filmed by the Prefecture de Paris on March 19 and posted on the Prefecture's Facebook page. Never have the streets been so deserted!

Paris vu du ciel

A message of thanks for all the personnel who are working to combat the spread of the virus and to attend to those who are ill is being projected onto the Eiffel Tower every evening at 8 PM. Messages instructing people to stay at home are projected between 8:30 PM and 10 PM.

France's Museum Night, which was originally scheduled for May 16, has been postponed until November 14, 2020. Over 1200 museums participated in the event last year.

The Centre Pompidou has revamped its Website to provide a host of online experiences that allow you to explore the museum.

France's national theater troop, La Comédie Française, is launching an Internet channel called La Comédie Continue ! to bring theater into people's homes. It is also partnering with France Télévisions (France 5) to broadcast a play every Sunday evening.

Parisians have not lost their sense of humor in the face of this crisis. The owner of a press boutique (one of the few types of businesses that can remain open during the pandemic) created a queue of "Happy Bears," which are respecting the rules of social distancing, on the sidewalk to bring smiles to the faces of the few passersby.

Parents are still allowed to go out with their children for fresh air and exercise. Below are images of fathers and sons enjoying time together outdoors.

The city is encouraging neighborly behavior while respecting social distancing using the images posted in this kiosk.

Chocolate shops are gearing up for Easter. Many of the prestigious houses are offering home delivery of chocolates and a few storefronts are reopening so that neighborhood residents can purchase items and take them home.

Yesterday, Jeff de Bruges reopened on rue Mouffetard to celebrate April Fools' Day and to display its Easter wares.

They displayed signs in both windows indicating that only two customers are allowed in the store at any given time.

Please stay at home as much as possible during the pandemic and find joy wherever you can, wherever you are in the world!

Paris Lock Down Continues

Monique Y. Wells — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0100

Cover image: Manu Dibango at the Festival Les Escales, Saint-Nazaire, France in July 2019 (detail)

France entered its second week of "confinement" on Tuesday, March 24 and a public health emergency was officially declared on that day.

The government's newly appointed scientific council has advised prolonging the isolation period to six weeks instead of the two weeks initially mandated, but the Macron administration has not yet made such a pronouncement.

Since the lock down went into effect on March 17, people have come onto their balconies and terraces at 8 PM every evening to acknowledge and applaud the health care professionals who are working to stem the spread of the virus and tend to those who have contracted it.

The following new restrictive measures have been announced:

Outings with children or for solitary exercise are limited to a distance of 1 km from home, for only one hour, and for only one time per day.
The fine for those found guilty of breaking the rules of confinement more than once within a two-week period is fixed at 1500 euros. Those found guilty of breaking the rules four times within a month will be fined up to 3700 euros and subject to imprisonment for six months.
Open-air markets are no longer allowed to operate. The mayors of certain villages can override this restriction if such markets are the only means for citizens to acquire fresh foods.

President Macron addressed the nation on the evening of Wednesday, March 25 to announce a massive monetary investment in France's hospitals and salary increases for its medical professionals. He also announced the launch of Operation Resilience, which will engage France's army in the fight against the pandemic. He spoke from Mulhouse, a city in eastern France that is particularly affected by the virus.

In some areas, a curfew has been imposed by local or regional governmental authorities. The Paris suburban towns of Colombes and Asnières now observe a curfew between 10 PM and 5 AM and the town of Puteaux has annouced a curfew between 10:30 PM and 5 AM.

Trains for intercity travel are running at 7% of normal service and any individual train is only allowed to transport a maximum of 50% of its passenger capacity. Passengers must have a "legitimate reason" for their travel.

Public transportation in Paris and Ile de France remain severely curtailed. The metro and RER are only running between 6 AM and 10 PM, with 30% to 50% of trains in service. Fifty-four metro stations will remain closed beginning on Thursday, March 26.

People are still able to drive places for the same reasons authorized for pedestrians and those taking public transportation. They are not restricted to driving alone. However, each person in a vehicle is required to have a signed declaration that indicates the reason for her or his outing.

Taxis are still operational.

The virus-related deaths that have been reported by the government represent those occurring in hospitals. Deaths occurring in elderly care facilities have not yet been taken into account.

Cameroonian saxophone player Manu Dibango is the first celebrity to die from COVID-19. He passed away in a hospital near Paris on March 24 at the age of 86.

Manu Dibango at the Festival Les Escales, Saint-Nazaire, France in July 2019
Photo by Selbymay; Source: Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA 4.0

I went to the post office on Saturday and learned that all post offices are now closed on weekends. They remain open during the week. Mail is being distributed four days a week and this is to be reduced to three days a week on March 30.

After I found the post office closed, I took the opportunity to stroll around my quartier for a half-hour or so.

The Epée de Bois Health Center is located one block from the post office. Doctors there (and at the four additional health centers in Paris) are seeing patients who have no virus symptoms in the morning and persons suspected to have contracted the virus in the afternoon. This allows people with other medical needs to be assured of receiving attention while minimizing their risk of infection.

The streets are virtually devoid of traffic.

Bus service is 30% of normal and the buses are mostly empty.

People are keeping their distance when they shop for provisions.

Pharmacies remain open. The Saint-Médard pharmacy has signs posted to indicate that there are no masks available and that purchases of hand sanitizing gel are limited to one 50 ml container per person. Yet another sign indicates that only one person at a time is allowed inside.

Cafés and restaurants remain closed but take-out service and home delivery are still available.

On my way home, I was reminded that spring has arrived!

Come back next week for the latest information on the lock down. In the interim, stay safe and appreciate the season.

Click on the following link to enjoy a video of Manu Dibango's most famous recording, "Soul Makossa" (1972): Soul Makossa video - YouTube

REST IN PEACE, MANU.