An individual exhibition by Richard-Viktor Sainsily Cayol—”Rhizomes hybrides ou la poïétique d’un syncrétisme” [Hybrid rhizomes or a poetics of syncretism]—is on view until May 11, 2014, at Case à Léo, Habitation Clément, Martinique. The exhibition opened on April 4th. See the artist’s description below.

Description: We are in the Caribbean, the product of a long and painful process, articulated by a system from another time, but like a river questioning the paths traced by the natural features of the ground, the most surprising solutions arose. Diluted and scattered in rich and diverse places, our differences met one another, clashed and hybridized, having undergone a metamorphosis [“mofwazé”] to give birth to the most beautiful human performance: syncretism.

Composed of ethnic groups from Europe, Africa, America and Asia, the peoples of the Caribbean carry within them the heritage of all humanity. Like the score of the most beautiful album, the rhymes of the sweetest of poems, the fragrance of the rarest of essences, the colored rays of the most precious stone, our riches are an expression of the sublime.

Here is a tribute to all the roots, which intertwined, made us what we are today and determine what we do. [. . .]

Richard-Viktor Sainsily Cayol was born in 1959 in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. He lives and works in Abymes, Guadeloupe. Graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris (ENSBA) France, with honors, he also received a training in art history at la Sorbonne in Paris, France (1984). He also completed a degree at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) of Paris, France (1987). In 2010, he received the special mention of the jury of the first Caribbean Triennial in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

For full article, see http://www.fondation-clement.org/martinique/263_rhizomes-hybrides-ou-la-poietique-d-un-syncretisme-de-richard-viktor-sainsily-cayol