Public speaking and Policy making.
In Conversation
Fondation H - Paris
On May 18, 2024, I was honored to host a conversation with artist-in-residence Roxane Mbanga at the finissage event of her exhibition “NOIRES” at Fondation H - Paris, which ran from April 24 to May 23, 2024.
Roxane Mbanga, born in 1996, is a Cameroonian-French multidisciplinary artist with roots in Guadeloupe. Her work spans fashion, film, graphic design, photography, writing, and performance, and she identifies as a storyteller. Roxane's artistic exploration delves into the dynamics between the lived body—our intimate self—and the perceived body, which serves as a canvas for societal projections. In her book and series of installations "NOIRES", she amplifies and transcribes the voices of Black women with diverse identities, engaging deeply with their experiences and narratives.
Fondation H - Paris, a unique noncommercial space dedicated to African and diasporic art in the French capital, embraces an experimental approach. It offers flexible and personalized collaborations with guest artists, who are invited for solo exhibitions and receive tailored support from the Fondation H team. They’re great!
Points tackled beyond Roxane’s work and research : the concept of Care, the motifs of Black Rest, Black Self-Love and “Treat Yo’Self”, and the genealogy of violence inflicted on the Black Female Body: always washing and washed?
Interviewee
Asakan Art - Dakar
Thanks to Dakar-based contemporary African art magazine, Asakan art, for featuring my words and journey in this interview published in French on March 22, 2024.
“A new generation of authors, curators, artists, critics, guides, and art historians is shaping the forefront and behind-the-scenes of the world of contemporary African art. Their minds engaged by new challenges and their pens animated by a desire for visibility, these new instigators and "agents" of culture, including many young African and Afro-descendant women, are outlining the contours of a contemporary art history in the process of being written and told. We meet one of them, Louise Thurin, who, from a multisited position, invests her work in redirecting the spotlight towards the production of contemporary - and modern! - African artists and those from the diaspora.”
Speaker & Symposium co-coordinator
Makerere University - Kampala
AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions and Njabala Foundation, in partnership with Fondation Gandur pour l’art, organized Tracing a Decade: Women Artists of the 1960s in Africa - An International Symposium focused on the often-overlooked contributions of women artists during this pivotal decade across the African continent.
The symposium took place on March 8-9, 2024 at Makerere University (CTF building) in Kampala, Uganda.
The Tracing a Decade: Women Artists of the 1960s in Africa symposium is organised as part of a research program of the same name. This project is an extension of Institut français’Saison Africa2020. It is also supported by Fondation Gandur pour l’art.
Speakers were Dorothy Akpene Amenuke, N’Goné Fall, Merve Fejzula, Gladys Kalichini, Liz Kobusinge, Nadira Laggoune, Portia Malatjie & Lerato Shadi. I did an introduction to the research program.
Speaker
CreativeMornings - Paris
In 2008, CreativeMornings emerged from a desire to establish a continuous and inclusive event for New York’s creative community. The concept is straightforward: a monthly gathering featuring breakfast and a talk. Each event is free of charge and open to all.
From 2020 to 2023, CreativeMornings Paris faced a hiatus. However, in February 2024, they made their grand return, extending an invitation for me to inaugurate a new series of talks.
This talk took place on February 23, 2024 at REMIX - Saint Lazare.
Panel moderator & Event co-coordinator
Pérez Art Museum - Miami
AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions and Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), in partnership with Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), organized On the Edge of Visibility – An International Symposium focused on Black and Indigenous women, with special focus on photographic practices within three broad geographical zones: Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. The symposium took place on October 19 and 20, 2023 at the Pérez Art Museum Miami.
Offering a transcontinental approach and encompassing postcolonial and feminist perspectives, this symposium considers the concerns and complexities of what it means to be a Black or Indigenous woman artist within different cultural settings. It also constitutes a reflection on past and current modes of knowledge creation.
By exploring the notions of visibility and invisibility as they relate to visual practices and dominant power structures, this symposium aims to examine proposed strategies of resistance as a means of reclaiming visual agency. It will therefore seek to challenge existing academic boundaries – notably within the history of art and photography – through a multiplicity of voices and perspectives, questioning contemporary discourses and their genealogies, and considering the future of the disciplines.
I notably moderated on Oct 19th the series of presentations by art historians Ariadna Solis, Amalia Caputo, Alejandra López-Oliveros and Claudia Holgado Chacón, entitled Fractals of Invisibility.
This event was held thanks to our partners from Villa Albertine, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the Consulat général de France à Miami.
Research presentation & conversation coordinator
AWARE - Archives of Women Artists : Research & Exhibitions
On June 14th 2023, as part of her residency at AWARE, researcher Christelle Lozère publicly presented “From erasure to evidence: Crossed perspectives on women artists in the French Caribbean (XIXth-XXth centuries)”, in conversation with Myriam Moïse.
Christelle Lozère studies the place of women painters and sculptors from the French Antilles in art history between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 20th century: Jenny Prissay, Inès de Beaufond, Alice Albane, Germaine Casse, Marie-Thérèse Lung Fou as well as Paule Charpentier.
She focuses on the analysis of individual careers, underlining these artists’ social and racial backgrounds as well as their mobility within the Caribbean. For these few women, most of whom came from privileged backgrounds, Paris was, from the Ancien Régime onwards, the key centre of their artistic training and the main stage on which they constructed and deconstructed the Antillean imaginary of slavery, and then post-slavery, in a context in which they fought themselves, as women, for their liberties and legitimacies.
Special emphasis is placed on the presence, from the late 19th century onwards, of a number of black and métisses artists in this inclusive body of work, their (im)possibility of training in and outside the colony (Guadeloupe, Martinique), their chances or not of emerging on the insular and hexagonal art scene, their recognition, their (in)capacity to access colonial grants and to take part in the major events of their time.
This research also seeks to better understand the mechanisms through which these women artists were rejected, forgotten, and subsequently erased from the postcolonial art history of the French Antilles.
Christelle Lozère’s residency and this public event are part of the research program The Origin of Others. Rewriting Art History in the Americas, 19th Century – Today which I coordinate for AWARE.
Panel participant
Galerie Éric Dupont
On May 13, 2023, I was invited at Galerie Éric Dupont in Paris to take part in a round table of artists, curators and gallerists. We were asked to reflect upon African women’s place within Art history and the art market. I introduced to the public the program“Tracer une décennie” : artistes africaines des années 1960 which I am co-coordinating for AWARE - Archives of Women Artists : Research & Exhibitions.
This round table was part of Traversées Africaines 2023’s programmation around its third edition, in partnership with Région Ile de France.
Panel moderator
Galerie Christophe Person
On February 10, 2023, I was organized and moderated a two-hours conversation with curator and textile arts specialist Carolina Ariza & Dora-May Libakou, métiers d’art researcher.
Points tackled : The Weavers of Mampuján, Afro-Columbian culture, ateliers mapping in Africa, Women textile artists and their contributions to Art History…
This round table was part of Galerie Christophe Person’s programmation around its second exhibition Textile artists from South Africa. Flag-bearers for women and LGBTI, in partnership with Guns & Rain art gallery in Johannesburg.
Workshop co-host
Galerie Christophe Person
It was a pleasure to co-host an evening workshop on the Modern and Contemporary African art market with gallery director and auction expert Christophe Person (PIASA & Artcurial) for a group of 25 members of the Association nationale des élèves commissaires-priseurs (ANECP) on January 5th 2023.
Interwiewee
Biennale de Casablanca (BIC)
While being kindly invited by Maroc Premium Foundation to participate as an author to the Biennale internationale de Casablanca (BIC), I was interviewed by journalists of Al Aoula - Télévision marocaine on November 17th 2022.
Excerpt (FR) : “La littérature africaine doit être l’une des sources de l’art contemporain du Continent. La Biennale internationale de Casablanca 2022-2023 est explicite avec le choix du thème “Les mots créent les images”. D’autres biennales du Continent réfèrent se également à elle : je pense évidemment à la Biennale internationale de Sculpture de Ouagadougou qui depuis deux éditions choisit des titres de la littérature africaine pour insuffler les artistes sélectionné.es. C’est une tendance, une lame de fond qui révèle bien l’intérêt du public pour le patrimoine culturel africain.”
Workshop participant
Felix Meritis | Amsterdam
From Amsterdam to Paris : Conversations and Lessons of Shared History - An event held at Atelier Néerlandais by cultural house Felix Meritis in partnership with Marian Goodman Gallery and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Paris | October 17th 2022
“In recent years, there has been a growing awareness by Dutch cultural and historical institutions regarding the ways in which we should deal with the traces of slavery and its impact on how we tell stories from the past. This discourse has been inspired and encouraged by initiatives such as Decolonizing the Museum (2015), Kick Out Zwarte Piet (2011) and #BlackLivesMatter in the summer of 2020. The fear of pushback and the deep-rooted institutional racism in society has prohibited groundbreaking changes. Similar movements have been taking place in other European countries, where artists, activists and storytellers are pushing the boundaries and creating new narratives.
In this event, Dutch and French artists and historians will share their stories and learn from each other's experiences. We will discuss the impact of the lack of visual representation of the history of slavery and how this results in limited awareness and interest in the issue among most European citizens today.”
Among the few workshop participants were historian Mark Ponte, professor Mame-Fatou Niang, Valika Smeulders of the Rijksmuseum, visual artists Tavares Strachan, Fred Ebami, Serge Kponton, Richard Kofi…
Workshop participant
Columbia Global Center | Paris
"Politics of Visual Arts in a Changing World" - A project of Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University | April 13th 2022
An event moderated by Vishakha N. Desai around two themes : “Decolonization, Restitution, Repatriation” & “Diversity and Inclusion in Artistic Practice”.
Among the 14 workshop participants were former Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, author & professor Maboula Soumahoro, researcher & editorialist Lotte Arndt, curator & art critic Chris Cyrille…
Invited speaker
International High School of Paris’ Classe préparatoire
In Feburary 2022, I was invited to conduct a Workshop at destination of present khâgne students of my former CPGE Littéraire on “the Restitution of African heritage and decolonization of the arts”.
Participant
OHCHR and UNESCO
WGEPAD's fact-finding visit to France | December 2021
A consultation conducted by Catherine S. Namakula and Dominique Day of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGEPAD).
I was auditionned alongside curator Salimata Diop and artist Josué Comoé.
Panelist
Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection | Super Cercle
Soirée YARD x Bourse de Commerce
- Une nuit au musée autour de l’Œuvre de David Hammons
On November 27th 2021, I was invited to take part in a two-hours interactive public conversation with Kévi Donat, CEO of Le Paris Noir & artist Raphaël Barontini on the topic of “Art and community”.
An event in partnership with YARD.
Interwiewee
Fondation Rambourg
Podcast “Culture sans filtre” | September 10th 2021
On Episode #20 “Les Résidences artistiques BISO” of the Fondation Rambourg’s Culture sans filtre, I was interviewed alongside Malian artist Indépendance Dougnon. We had a great conversation on our experience at the 2021 Biennale internationale de sculpture de Ouagadougou, for which I was the artistic residencies coordinator.
Thank you to Shiran Ben Abderrazak for the invitation !
Event moderator
Musée d'art et d'histoire de Saint-Denis Paul Éluard
Exhibition "Un.e Air.e de Famille" - Saison Africa 2020 | October 2021
Conversation with Namibian artist Tuli Mekondjo - an event in partnership with Saison Africa 2020 and Afrique in Visu.
An A1 opportunity given by curator Jeanne Mercier.
Interwiewee
Institut français de Ouagadougou
Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina - RTB BF | September 10th 2021
While actively working on the 2021 Edition of the BISO Biennial, I was interviewed on my day off by Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina to give my thoughts on the exhibition “Regards croisés : Afrique de l’Ouest / Provence” at IF Ouaga.
Thank you to the kind journalist, Fladene.
Panelist
TRC Global Summit
Closing Panel : "Race and Culture" | July 19th 2021
Moderated by Farah Nayeri of the New York Times.
“Celebrated artists and cultural influencers discussed the intersection of race and the arts and the importance of the arts in breaking down barriers and sparking conversation. They explored the existential question, “What is the role of art and culture in shaping our dialogue and narrative about truth and reconciliation?”
Panelists were Visual artist Isaac Julien, Hip-Hop Artist Webster, composer J.Ralph and I.
An event in partnership with the Athens Democracy Forum.
Workshop participant
Musée du Quai Branly
Collection Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière | Spring-Summer 2021
Contributing to the opening of the Mezzanine - Collection Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, I was invited to participate to a reflection on the arrival of 38 new traditional African works of art/artifacts within the museum’s wall.
This video is my hot reaction to a projected image of a Malian “Monkey” mask. The twist was that each object was unknow to the interviewee : they had to suggest a few ideas and give some thoughts about the donation and their relation to African traditional arts/artifacts.
Thank you to Seumboy of the Instagram page Histoires Crépues for the opportunity !
Panel moderator
United Nations (UN)
UN Office of the Special Advisor on Africa - Africa Dialogue Series 2021
In April 2021, I was honored to be mandated by the UN Office of the Special Advisor on Africa to host a conversational panel with three African artists.
“The panel covers a range of topics ranging from identity, ownership and inclusivity. They discuss the pertinent question of how Africa’s unique and diverse cultures can be harnessed for the continent’s benefit and interrogate what needs to be done by policy makers and investors to support the growth of this industry and bring out its full potential. This rich discussion proffers pragmatic and inclusive solutions to resolving challenges in order to capitalize on Africa’s rich cultural heritage and tap into the arts industry to enhance the continent’s development.”
Panelists were Joy Mboya, Founder of The GoDown Art Center,
Sithabile Mlotshwa, Artist and CEO of IFAA Art Global,
and Girum Mezmur, Guitarist and teacher at the Global Music Academy.
Panel moderator
UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris
Masterclass "Lucky Luke dégaine contre le racisme" | January 29th 2021
In early 2021, I was mandated by Tabué Nguma, officer of the UNESCO's Routes of Enslaved Peoples project (SHS Sector) and the French National Commission for UNESCO to conduct a discussion around the publication of Comic book “Lucky Luke - Un cowboy dans le coton” (2020).
Panelists were : Comic book author JUL,
Actress and producer Aïssa Maïga,
Rapper and poet Oxmo Puccino,
Mamadou Diouf of the University of Columbia,
Activist and British politician Jacqueline Gomes-Neves
and Dominique Day, Expert to the United Nations.
With the opening keynote of Audrey Azoulay, former French Minister of Culture and Director-General of UNESCO and keynote of Jean-Marc Ayrault, former French Prime Minister and President of the Fondation pour la mémoire de l'Esclavage.
Invited speaker
Paris Nanterre University
In October 2020, I was invited to conduct a Workshop on the topic of “Decolonization of the arts” for Master 2 Humanités et Industries créatives - Parcours Médiation culturelle et interculturelles (MCEI) students.
An A1 opportunity given by Art critic Henri Guette.
Panel moderator
École du Louvre
In February 2019, as an École du Louvre student, I was given by my peers the opportunity to moderate in front of a crowded Cézanne auditorium“Publics et Numérique : adapter son offre”, one of the two round tables of the public event"Culture et numérique : comment entreprendre ?"
Panelists were :
Coline Debayle, CEO of ARTIPS,
Antoine Vitek, CEO of Culturez-vous
and Frédéric Clad, CEO of THE FARM.
Panel moderator
Literary meeting
In November 2018, I was honored to have been asked by Seloua Luste Boulbina, professor and philosopher specialized in postcolonial studies to take part in a public discussion around her essay "Les miroirs vagabonds ou la décolonisation des savoirs (arts, littérature, philosophie)", Les Presses du réel.
French Voices Award 2019.
Volunteer
Refugees & Isolated minors welcoming in rural France
The engagement of my family is what inspired me to get involved at a young age in NGOs and social work.
My father, Hervé Thurin, is the civil representative of 20 MNA-MIE and had over 120 minors under his responsibility over the last four years. He was recently interviewed by Le Monde in a long article recognizing his hard work and long term engagement.
I have been voluntarily and contractually involved for four years with a few social structures in rural France mandated to welcome refugees and “mineurs non-accompagnés” or “mineurs isolés étrangers”. I’m currently helping these young men and women by offering them legal and translation aid, regularly accompanying them to their Paris-based Consulates and Embassies and to punctual cultural activities.