Biography

“Géraldine Entiope is an Afro-Caribbean and Franco-Canadian artist living and working in Montreal. She holds a national diploma in art and technique from the Caribbean Campus of Visual Arts in Martinique. Trained as a multimedia graphic designer, this has allowed her to open up her fields of exploration in her artistic practice. The last years of her work have been devoted to research and creation in virtual and augmented reality.
As a multidisciplinary artist, she approaches the question of identity from the angle of the memory of the body and its stigma in the face of mental health, through her journey as a black immigrant woman from post-slavery and post-colonial societies (Guadeloupe and Martinique). She thus questions the historical and ancestral legacies that participate in constructing the framework of the matriarchal narrative that weighs on her. 

Originally from the French Antilles, Eddy Firmin is an artist-researcher and lecturer who lives and works in Montreal. He holds a PhD in Art Studies and Practices from the Université du Québec à Montréal, taught at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2021 and 2022 and is currently an invited artist at Concordia University. Since 2017, he has coordinated the publication of the decolonial journal Minorit’Art. In the fall of 2021, he initiated and curated the first Transnational Black Biennial, “”Af-flux””, in Montreal and Quebec City. His research interests focus on the decolonization of the imaginary and the articulation of transcultural issues in art.”

‘Pa ka tann ?! (2023)

“Common culture to the whole Caribbean islands, the sound system was born under the British colonial regime. It was created in response to the exclusion of the socially disadvantaged populations of Kingston (Jamaica), as much in their access to ballrooms as in the broadcasting of their music on the radio. This installation pays tribute to one of his pioneers, the Sino-Jamaican Thomas Wong. Wong’s mobile sound system “”Tom the great Sebastian”” is considered the precursor of our current sound systems, which even today continues to resist the system. In some ways, he is the father of our spontaneous outdoor parties, their boomboxes and other Bluetooth speakers.
The installation, ‘Pa ka tann?! gives to see and hear the contribution of the Caribbean to the world. It inventories the main Caribbean music and broadcasts a playlists reflecting the musical tastes of the festival’s artists.”