The text below is an invitation to a collective meditation aimed at fostering an encounter between human energies and their multifaceted worlds of imagination. Élodie Paul embarks on a journey to understand the diverse dreams and longings from which the Salon Nardal emerged.
Image gallery
Fragmented Shadow (2023), ein Stück von Wanjiru Kamuyu, mit Sherwood Chen, Metlili Onde und Élodie Paul, aufgeführt im L'Onde Théâtre Vélizy Foto: courtesy Metlili Onde
Through the use of sound, voice, humming and silence, Paul seeks to establish a connection with each individual present and invite them to participate in this collective moment of grounding, remembrance, transcendence and what she terms ‘Caribbean glissement’.
- In Guadeloupean Creole, French and English
She whispers:
I greet you, …,
as I read this narrative poem by Paulette Nardal, the rumble of a fierce late-summer storm pierces through my window. The blue of the night has almost swallowed up Paris. The streetlights are not yet on. There is only the glaring light of the lightning, tearing open the sky and my retinas… my memory.
A leaden sky of such wild intensity that it reminds me of the skies back home. A magical spectacle. Full of life. Healing, and yet dangerous.
Far away. Home.
Far away. Memories.
And yet I am certain I could touch them, if only I would open my palms wide enough.
I long for our country with a hunger that can never quite be sated. Time, distance and history sweep ceaselessly past us; dutifully tearing us away from our roots. I feel infinitely out of place.
I have no choice but to summon, here in my hall, the fragments of the landscapes that remain to me.
Those that belong to me, those that belong to you, those of our ancestors – they all continue to travel towards us on the currents of the sea.
Will you bear witness to my moment of quiet reflection?
— Élodie Paul
Additional information
Dates
November 2026
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