The fourth edition of the PORTRAIT(S) festival of Vichy opens its doors today. Until 4th September Vichy is an outpost of today’s photography for a season and is presenting to the public some exhibitions centred exclusively around the art of the portrait. This new edition is showing nine artists whose exhibitions are taking place simultaneously in the city centre and outside it, in the open air. L’Oeil de la Photographie brings you the work of one photographer from the programme every day. Today, focus on « Regla » by Nicola Lo Calzo.
For the last five years I have been busy exploring the living memories of slavery and colonialism on various continents. After going to West Africa, the Caribbean and South America, then to Louisiana and Mississippi, I turned to Cuba, in particular the Afro-Cuban communities on the island, the descendants of former African slaves and creoles. The images presented here are the result of immersing myself in marginal spaces, formerly clandestine but now tolerated, albeit controlled by the Castro regime, such as the temples of the Regla de Ocha and the Regla del Palo, the Abakua secret society, the carabali associations and the Masonic lodges. A hundred and thirty years after the abolition of slavery, these free spaces, based on values such as solidarity, the sacred, memory, and the importance of the individual, self-affirmation and freedom of expression, are the direct heirs of forms of culture and resistance developed by African slaves and “free people of colour” during the Spanish colonial period.
Somewhere on the margin of Afro-Cuban mysticism and Masonic practices, which still do not include overtly political or identity claims, the hip-hop movement that was brought in from the United States in the 1990s also plays an unprecedented part in creating a space for freedom and anti-power for the new generations. This photographic work also shows how the raperos are now reclaiming a negra identity and culture, and by posing questions about the present are bringing back to life the history of a slave past.
Beyond all the contradictions and discontinuities peculiar to each of these actors, this project underlines the fundamental role played by African descendants in developing marginal spaces for memory and emancipation, spaces that contribute appreciably to defining Cuban identity and the various ways it is represented.
FESTIVAL
PORTRAIT(S)
From June 10th to September 4th, 2016
Regla
Nicola Lo Calzo
Centre Culturel Valery-Larbaud
03200 Vichy
France
https://www.ville-vichy.fr/agenda/festival-portraits-2016
http://www.nicolalocalzo.com
