Art
feature: live your life don’t sell your soul – guadeloupean visual artist anais verspan talks about her art
Meet Anais Verspan, a 35 year-old visual artist from Guadeloupe (French West Indies). She may be from a small island, but Anais possesses a deep soul and she is constantly looking for balance and self-fulfillment.
By Debbie Jonas, AFROPUNK Contributor
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When we asked Anais about her art, this is how she responded :
“When talking about art, what matters the most – I think- is the genuineness of the artist, not his or her age. My exhibits ‘BigidiPlakata’, ‘Karata’ –t o cite a few – truly reflect my paintings. My inspiration is drawn from deep within myself. My inspiration is my story, my history, my culture, my people.”
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“My ancestors have proven to be creative when they where able to dance the rhythm of the Gwo Ka*, as the only way to express themselves and to feel free. It is thus interesting, as an artist, to work from these codes.”
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“The Guadeloupean carnival also plays an important role on my work. I love to see how these young people get inspired by their ancestry to create their choreography for carnival. This is a way of never forgetting how the slaves were mistreated by the masters (sugar cane or cotton plantations). We are artists. We do not reinvent a painful history. We write it our way!”
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“We are artists. We do not reinvent a painful history. We write it our way! It is frustrating to limit myself to the past or to the present ; or to just fix hopes in some point in time. I live.”
To the Afropunk community she says : “Viv vi aw pa vann nanm aw! (Live your life and don’t sell your soul)”.
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* Gwo Ka : name given to the drum and its rythm in Guadeloupe
http://www.lameca.org/dossiers/gwoka/sommair_eng.html
Photo credits : Shanon Barro, IDLine Studio
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