Please join Acadiana Center for the Arts for a reception and private view of the forthcoming exhibition in the Main Gallery, Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l'Ipséité.
Attendees at this exclusive event will get a "first look" at the exhibition before it opens to the public and will have an opportunity to meet and toast several artists from the exhibit, as well as the Consul General of France. The exhibition's Curator will be on hand for personal tours through the evening.
Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l'Ipséité is a project of Acadiana Center for the Arts in partnership with La Station Culturelle, Fort de France, Martinique.
Complimentary beverages and entertainment will be provided.
About the exhibition:
Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l'Ipséité Explorations in a Redefinition of Francophone Identity
September 10, 2022 - January 14, 2023 | AcA Main Gallery
Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l'Ipséité explores variations on Creole and Francophone identities as expressed through the work of a group of contemporary artists.
This project is envisioned as a multi-year, multi-destination exhibition, which will grow and adapt to new contexts of the Creole world as it is re-mounted at new destinations across the French-speaking world. The first iteration of this exhibition takes place at Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA, from September 10, 2022 to January 14, 2023.
This exhibition aims to expand the understanding of Creole identity as a worldwide cultural identity—”Creolité”—which has a well-developed place in contemporary culture through visual art, performance, and personal expression.
The focus of this exhibition is the work of five artists who deal with notions of Créolité in the subject matter of their works, Gwladys Gambie (Martinique), Rebecca D. Henry (USA), Jérémie Priam (Martinique), Tabita Rézaire (Guyana), and Modou Dieng Yacine (USA/Senegal).
These artists work within a variety of media, ranging from traditional media like painting and quilt making, to digital and experimental media and social practices. The exhibition will focus on the interconnected ‘conversation’ between their practices and the world-views they represent.
The Louisiana artist highlighted in this project is Rebecca D. Henry from Opelousas, Louisiana. A Creole folklorist and a specialist in folk medicine traditions, Henry is the founder of the Creole Heritage Folklife Center in Opelousas, Louisiana, where for the past 30 years she has dedicated her life to preserving the Creole traditions of her home. Henry was born in 1941 and grew up a sharecropper’s daughter, where she spent her youth picking cotton in the fields with her brothers and sisters.
Poetics of Selfhood / Poétique de l'Ipséité will travel to a number of international locations over the next five years, including Martinique, Belgium, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and France. The Acadiana Center for the Arts hosts the debut of this project and will serve on the curatorial team that will direct its continued development, as new artists and artworks are added to the conversation with these future showings around the world.
This project is supported by Etant donnés Contemporary Art, a program from Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, in partnership with the French Embassy in the United States, with support from the French Ministry of Culture, Institut français, Ford Foundation, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, CHANEL, and ADAGP.
101 West Vermilion Street Lafayette, Louisiana 70501
Acadiana Center for the Arts
Our mission is fostering art and culture in Acadiana.
Founded in 1975, Acadiana Center for the Arts (“AcA”) is a community-supported nonprofit organization that fosters art and culture in Acadiana. Since its founding, AcA has developed as a major force, shaping the future of public education and community development in South Louisiana.
AcA supports the creation of new works of art, exhibits, festivals, performances, and public art across an eight-parish region that includes Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, and Vermilion Parishes.
AcA aims to bring equitable access to the arts and supports fair compensation of artists. On average, AcA serves over 300,000 people annually and provides fair compensation to 2,700 artists.
In 2013, the AcA merged with the Performing Arts Society of Acadiana (“PASA”), whose mission was to educate, inspire, entertain, and culturally enrich the people of south Louisiana by providing local access to a diverse range of the performing arts. This merger supported the vision of both organizations and provided much-needed support to PASA’s programs. Founded in 1989, PASA served as a leading voice in the performing arts in South Louisiana for close to three decades.
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