with Kamissa Ma Koïta
To the oppressed, and to those who suffer with them and fight at their side. - Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Reading of CHAPTER 3
As we attempt to analyze dialogue as a human phenomenon, we discover something which is the essence of dialogue itself: the word. But the word is more than just an instrument which makes dialogue possible; accordingly, we must seek its constitutive elements. Within the word we find two dimensions, reflection and action, in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed—even in part—the other immediately suffers. There is no true word that is not at the same time a praxis. Thus, to speak a true word is to transform the world.
An unauthentic word, one which is unable to transform reality, results when dichotomy is imposed upon its constitutive elements. When a word is deprived of its dimension of action, reflection automatically suffers as well; and the word is changed into idle chatter, into verbalism, into an alienated and alienating "blah." It becomes an empty word, one which cannot denounce the world, for denunciation is impossible without a commitment to transform, and there is no transformation without action.
About Kamissa Ma Koïta
DÉMARCHE ARTISTIQUE
Dans une perspective queer et décoloniale, j'interroge les vecteurs de domination sociale et les différentes formes de contrôle dans les sociétés modernes. Je me penche plus particulièrement sur la condition des groupes subalternes. Ma pratique expérimentale et indisciplinaire s’alimente de mon contexte sociopolitique, des féminismes, des mouvements altermondialistes et des cultures populaires. Mon approche intersubjective m’amène à travailler en collaboration et/ou en collectif et à réfléchir le corps social comme matériau.
ARTIST STATEMENT
From a queer and decolonial perspective, I question the vectors of social domination and the different forms of control in modern societies. I am particularly interested in the condition of subordinate groups. My experimental and indisciplinary practice is fed by my socio-political context, feminisms, alter-globalization movements and popular cultures. My intersubjective approach leads me to work collaboratively and / or collectively and to think about the social body as a material.