Lettre à Suzanne à Tropiques Atrium Scène nationale

From october 1st to october 31th

Tropiques Atrium scène nationale

A tribute to Suzanne Roussi Césaire

“Letter to Suzanne” was the opportunity for us to look into our lives and our emotions for resonance points with this singular character. Discovering a little more of Suzanne Roussi at that very moment of our lives. That was a confrontation of her words and speech to our reality of women from Martinique, from the Caribbean, of mothers, of wives, of friends, of artists at work –
Feeling the unbelievable energy of her commitment through her words. Being dazzled by her poetry. Being touched by the edge of her speech. Listening to the no compromise woman writing with her entire being. That beautiful encounter was one of those breaking the mould. We have to make it live.

By collecting old photographs, Agnès recreated alliances, groups of people linked by the threads built, unbuilt under the velvet colour, the black ink, the needle and the hideout patterns. By creating links binding them together, she sets man and woman into games of dizziness and opposing actions. She questions and puts at stake the domination within a couple through vanity, the place of the reminder, and the symbols of a union of appearance. The man is frozen, motionless. The woman resembles armour, is wrapped in strong and protective colours, dressed in sensitive and delicate works.

Raphaëlle uses the strength of the printing press to make her characters meet on paper. The chosen being, the woman carrying a child, the man waiting, the group walking: all her thin paper characters come to life and bind in the engraving. By superimposing the colour, the line and the carborundum print, she creates through every print the unique chance of a new story. The narration fits into interactions, meetings, meaningful gestures, and the significant attitude of bodies. It is sometimes told an uneasy happiness, a rush to meet the other, a discreet but crowd-confirmed process.

Sophie imagines « her » Absalon Forest, idealizing the crucial moment in Suzanne’s life when she met André Breton and surrealism. The forest became wonderful, dreamlike. She enlivens it with women that meant a lot in her life, through drawing, strong of light line. The two-colour work in screen printing enhances her line once and for all. She searches the pattern, the balance, the density and the repetition in the drawing. The woman becomes a vegetable, her skin covering with a bark making her both strong and concealed.

Agnès Brézéphin, Raphaëlle Hayot et Sophie Jean-Paul.

R. H.

Contacts pour des visites & rencontres

> Agnès Brézéphin agnes.brezephin@gmail.com

> Raphaëlle Hayot raphaelle.hayot@gmail.com

> Sophie Jean-Paul sophie.jpm@gmail.com