Tuesday 22nd October
Reading - slam poetry + meeting hosted by Aphélandra Siassia
Nourished by the struggles of Kinshasa and Brussels, Joëlle Sambi's slam poetry is a firm flow that goes beyond the violence of all systems of domination. It's a flow that grips and scratches until it reveals the contours of a world that would place justice and joy at the centre of our lives.
‘Crush the pain, torture it, crush the passions Dissect your soul
Explode, expose!
Expose what's left of your humanity
Your remnants of pride
Take out the heart and its shreds
Take a look!
Look
It makes brilliant reflections on the grey walls of the city’.
‘Et vos corps seront caillasses’, Joëlle Sambi (L'Arche, 2024)
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Joëlle Sambi
‘I can't conceive of art as anything other than politically anchored, so I always practice it and accompany it with a process of reflection that leads me to doubt everything, to constantly deconstruct, to explore new ideals and to seek a place of peace. Peace is a luxury, there is no lull. Peace is a luxury, there is no lull’, says Joëlle Sambi of her artistic practice, at the crossroads of forms and struggles.
Born with her arse on a linguistic border between Brussels and Kinshasa, Joëlle Sambi speaks out, shouts out, writes short stories, novels, slams, poems, documentaries, shows, radio programmes and activist spaces. This non-exhaustive list of the trails she travels is a labyrinth of struggles-desires-necessities. A nomadic mule who lifts, lifts, removes layers from the boxes of normative identity by sanding down text, oiling images and lathering up the stage. From post-colonial soil to lands of origin, Joëlle mixes languages, penetrates the world with fervour and rigorous work. Viscera and reaction. Her migrant, lesbian, Afrofeminist, permanently exiled voice writes not to make a living from it, but to abuse it, to the point where she can hear herself living. Colères, Fusion(s) et Créations.
Aphélandra Siassia
A freelance journalist with a Master's degree in contemporary art history and a Master's in cultural journalism, Aphélandra Siassia is committed to the intersectional feminist, social and artistic fields.
In her work as an editor, she seeks to make the voices of the unheard resonate, putting her commitment at the forefront.
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In co-production with Friche la Belle de Mai and in partnership with L'Arche, Éditeur & Agence théâtrale.
Photo © Margot Briand