A young entrepreneur from Guadeloupe is putting Caribbean talent on the global art map, with her online gallery Maison Gaston.
Christelle Clairville named her gallery after her great-grandfather, a cabinet maker who she admired for his creative spirit. Now, after just three years, she has 20 artists under her wing.
Clairville is on a mission to change perceptions of Caribbean art, often seen as little more than colourful or exotic, inviting viewers to question stereotypes and rethink cultural symbols.
"I worked in the start-up ecosystem for 10 years, and in each company I was going to I was hearing the same nonsense about my home island," she told RFI. "People were saying we were maybe a bit slower, or studying in the West Indies might be easier than studying in mainland France. I was unaware of this way of thinking until now, and at some point I decided I could show something different from the Caribbean."
She was delighted when her first time at the annual Also Known as Africa (AKAA) contemporary art fair in Paris in October coincided with this year's theme of Caribbean art and its links to the African diaspora.
Artists join scientists at sea to unveil mysteries of marine life
Caribbean connections
"I created Maison Gaston as a Creole art house and I really intend to find artists with a connection to the Caribbean, whether they lived there or have been living there or they have roots there."
She now represents around 20 artists and designers who, each in their own way, "question the relationship with the world as islanders, and who explore the racial interactions inherited from history".
Clairville chose to showcase two artists in particular at AKAA – sculptor Florence Gossec, who shares a family connection with Guadeloupe, and painter Alain Joséphine from Martinique.
The theme of "lush vegetation" links the artists, with Gossec's country flowers rendered in delicate brass sitting beside Joséphine's bright, breezy abstract pieces.
'Platform for discovery'
Gossec's work caught Clairville's eye three years ago in Orléans, just south of Paris, where the artist has her workshop. Although her father is from Guadeloupe, Gossec has only been there twice in her life.
While the artist says she’s not obviously influenced by her heritage, Clairville feels differently. She sees "a resonance, an echo of the West Indies" in Gossec's work – a deep connection to nature, which she feels is one of the strengths of Creole art.
The concept for Maison Gaston may have been born in Guadeloupe, but the project has its sights set on the Caribbean diaspora worldwide thanks to the fact that it is an online operation. With no fixed gallery space, Clairville travels from place to place to promote the works.
Artist's quest to honour hidden heroes of fight against French slavery
Building bridges
For Victoria Mann, founder of AKAA, it was important to take "the notion of geography out of the equation" and focus on creating "a platform for discovery".
Rather than include artists because they’re from a certain country, AKAA aims to draw out the links claimed by each artist to the African continent through their practice, be it via history, heritage, memory or lineage, Mann explained.
"That is what we love about having the public come once a year into this space, to show things we haven’t seen before. The art scene from the Caribbean is not well known, even art from the French territories is not well known, so for us it was a beautiful opportunity," she added.
Tripping the light fantastic as art meets dance at hybrid exhibition
For Clairville, art and beauty are powerful tools with which to pique people’s interest in the Caribbean region.
"For me art is a way to build bridges between two people. It’s a way to create compassion and understanding, because when they are moved by the work, then they will see the artist and the islands differently."
