Passé Composé – The Créole in Me

Group Exhibition celebrating the 75th Anniversary of The Alliance Francaise of Trinidad & Tobago

Artists and cultural makers have recorded, interpreted, and imagined our histories so that we do not forget. Yet speaking about our history—and telling the whole story—is not easy. It asks us to confront difficult truths. To speak about the French influence, impact, and presence in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean, and the wider world is to speak about colonisation, enslavement, social hierarchy, disparities in generational wealth, and the global legacies of imperialism.
But this is not the whole story. To speak of the French presence in Trinidad and Tobago is also to tell the story of us: how we came to be; what was done to us; and the ways in which we resisted, endured, invented, survived, and continue to thrive. It is also the story of how we took what was left behind and made it our own. We reinvented it, renamed it, transformed it, and celebrated it. We created something new. This exhibition emerges from that understanding.

Supported by
Ambassade de France à Trinité et Tobago, Ambassade de France auprès des Etats de la Caraïbe Orientale, de la Barbade et de l’OECO, en résidence à Sainte-Lucie

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

• Tessa Alexander
• Eddie Bowen
• Bruce Cayonne   
• Yejide Cordner 
• Marlon Darbeau 
• Pat Frederick 
• Abigail Hadeed 
• Jackie Hinkson
• Horacio Hospedales 
• Marlon James 
• Che Lovelace
• Maya Cross – Lovelace
• Chad Lue Choy 
• Christine Norton 
• Maria Nunes 
• Sarita Rampersad 
• Patrick Rasoanaivo
• Turunesh Raymond
• Sundiata