Sweet Life. Alice Saar – Lelong Gallery, Parijs, Frankrijk

For several decades, Alison Saar has been drawing on historical archives, popular imagery and cultural traditions to explore the mechanisms of memory and the transmission of diasporic narratives. In “Sweet Life”, she looks at the history and representation of the sugar trade from the 17th to the 20th century, drawing on a variety of sources – illustrations in cookery and manners books, advertisements, etc. – that reveal the paradoxes of an industry that was both synonymous with refinement and rooted in the violence of slavery.

For this exhibition, the artist has produced a body of work combining different techniques and materials. Wooden sculptures covered in metal and other objects show the pride of rebellious women, while white ceramic sculptures depict busts of women scarred by violence, and paintings on wood or jute and textile prints add to this exploration of the traces left by the past. Mischievously entitled “Citizen Cane”, a large female figure wearing a belt of machetes revisits the iconography of the triangular trade punctuated with revolts. Another work, “Lait Sucre”, depicts a pregnant woman sculpted in wood and bathed in an intense dark blue light, and questions the role of women in this story of servitude and resilience.

Known for her materialist approach and her expressive use of recycled materials, Alison Saar has been developing a sculptural and graphic practice over the last forty years that engages with mythology, Caribbean folklore, the history of blues and jazz, and the experiences of black women in the United States. Born into a family of artists, she is the daughter of Betye Saar, a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement. Here work has been exhibited in many prestigious institutions, including MoMA (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York) and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington). Several of her sculptures have been installed in public spaces in the United States, and in 2024 the work Salon was inaugurated in the Aznavour garden in Paris to coincide with the Olympic Games.

Born in 1956, Alison Saar lives and works in Los Angeles.

Every bird flies with it’s own wings. Thandiwe Muriu – 193 Gallery, Parijs, Frankrijk

Deze tentoonstelling is een viering van de diversiteit van vrouwelijkheid. Thandiwe Muriu’s werk focust zich op portretten die elk een unieke expressie van vrouwelijke identiteit vastleggen – veerkrachtig, vreugdevol, onvolmaakt, en krachtig. Door middel van kleur, symboliek en verhalende elementen herinnert de serie ons eraan dat er niet één manier is om vrouw te zijn; elke stem, elk pad en elke schoonheid staat volledig in haar eigen waarheid.

De 193 Gallery vertegenwoordigt Thandiwe Muriu en haar werken worden regelmatig tentoongesteld in verschillende contexten. Het is een belangrijke kunstenares, bekend om haar levendige esthetiek en het herinterpreteren van hedendaagse Afrikaanse portretfotografie.

Valentina Canseco & Shinji Nagabe: Entre Trópicos – 193 Gallery, Parijs, Frankrijk

93 Gallery is pleased to present Entre Trópicos, an exhibition bringing together Brazilian artists Valentina Canseco and Shinji Nagabe, on the occasion of the Brazilian Season in France.
Entre Trópicos invites us to cross into new sensory territories, immersing us in a space where the body, sensuality, and materiality blend in a delicate dance. The works of Canseco and Nagabe create an intimate, powerful dialogue that resonates with the sounds and rhythms of Brazil, the warmth of its landscapes, and the intensity of its passions. The title Entre Trópicos evokes a place where boundaries disappear, allowing for an embodied experience of the body, the skin, and the light.
Shinji Nagabe, on the other hand, merges Japan and Brazil in a convergence of desires and representations. His autobiographical works are filled with sensuality, yet also rich with complexity. They explore the connections between the body and the imagery of desire, the tension between temptation and the fetishistic gaze placed on others.

Quel Travail – Tignous Gallery d’Art Contemporain. Montreuil (Parijs), Frankrijk

de tentoonstelling “Quel Travail?” met werken van Charles Pollock van 2 mei tot en met 19 juli 2025 plaatsvond in het Centre Tignous d’art contemporain in Montreuil (Parijs).

Charles Pollock een prominente plek had in deze tentoonstelling. Er wordt specifiek vermeld dat zijn tekeningen – soms zelfs ongepubliceerd – uit de jaren 30 werden tentoongesteld. Deze werken focussen zich met name op portretten van de arbeiderswereld.

De curator van de tentoonstelling was Isabelle Rèbre, en naast Charles Pollock waren ook andere kunstenaars vertegenwoordigd, zoals Béatrice Duport en Pauline Pastry.

Are we going somewhere or are we just going? – Afikaris, Parijs

Heel blij om eindelijk Saidou Dicko’s werken in het echt te zien. Met twee werken vertegenwoordigd.

In the haze of summer, the line blurs between journey and drift. The exhibition explores this state of reflection, of in-between: between two conversations, between night and day, between the place we come from and the place we dream toward. Like childhood summers that stretch like golden hours, like the notion of “home” that is both a place and a ghost.

In a world fractured by migration, colonial legacies, and climate displacement, movement is not always a choice. These are stories of departure and return, of borders drawn by circumstance and softened by time, of memories created along the way.

There is nostalgia here, but not as sentimentality rather as navigation. Memory is the compass, dream is the map.

And the journey is what really matters.