Melissa on the road

Journalist at RFI (ex-DW, BBC, CBC, F24...), writer (on art, music, culture...), I work in radio, podcasting, online, on films. As a writer, I also contributed to the New Arab, Art UK, Byline Times, the i Paper... Born in Paris, I was based in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi (covering East Africa), Bangui, and in Bristol, UK. I also reported from Italy, Germany, Haiti, Tunisia, Liberia, Senegal, India, Mexico, Iraq, South Africa... This blog is to share my work, news and cultural discoveries.

19/03/2015

Bristol Round 3 - Theatre and Music and More

I look forward to another week in my newly found, inspiring, full of talent home, Bristol.

Always interested in new bands and music, I'm open to suggestions and will probably head to The Exchange, on Old Market, iconic music venue I only visited in the daytime for now, for an interview with its adorable and funny owner.

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Bristol's Old Vic Theatre is also on my list, with:

The Accordion Shop

by Cush Jumbo

Mister Ellody has quietly kept his accordion shop going on his local high street for generations.
One day, he steps out of his door and witnesses an extraordinary incident: hundreds of young people are surging onto the street, and they've all received the same text message on their phones which simply says "RIOT. THE ROAD. 7pm TONIGHT."

Tue 24 Mar, 8.30pm
Performed by Cheltenham Youth Theatre

Thu 26 Mar, 8.30pm
Performed by JCG youth theatre

more here:

http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/ntconnections15.html

Remote

by Stef Smith

A girl called Antler steps out of her front door and throws her phone on the ground. She stamps on it. She then climbs the tallest tree in the park. She doesn't want to be found, not by anyone. Seven teenagers' lives all intertwine over the course of a single evening as they make their way through the park on a seemingly normal Autumn's night.

Remote is a play about protest, power and protecting yourself.

Wed 25 Mar, 8.30pm
Performed by Springs Youth Company

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More of Bristol cultural scene next week:

Bristol Premiere screening of the documentary film "Atomised Mothers"

The Bristol Premiere screening of the documentary film Atomised Mothers, a film about Isolation, Austerity and the Politics of Parenthood; and an evening of short talks and discussion. With Professor Harriet Bradley (UWE, author of many publications on women and work), Anna Mapson (Bristol Fawcett Society), Helen Mott (UWE and Bristol Fawcett Society), Michal Nahman (anthropologist,film director, UWE), Anthony Killick (co-writer, editor, Liverpool).

Co-hosted by: The Social Science Research Group,UWE, Bristol Radical Film Festival, Single Parents Action Network (SPAN)

FREE TEA AND COFFEE!
https://atomisedmothers.wordpress.com/

This event is part of UWE's International Women's Month:

http://info.uwe.ac.uk/events/eventlisting.aspx?categoryID=129

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Isabelle CornaroTémoins oculaires

Spike Isl and and the South London Gallery join forces for a two-pa rt solo exhibition by the French artist Is abelle Corn aro, the winner of the prestigious Prix Ric ard in 2010. The presenta tion in Bristol, Témoins ocula ires (mea ning ‘eye witnesses’), focuses on new a nd recent work and runs from 24 January to 29 March 2015.

Isa belle Corna ro works with pa inting, sculpture, film a nd insta lla tion to explore the influence of history a nd culture on our perception of rea lity. A tra ined art historia n, specia lising in sixteenth-century Europea n M annerism, her visua l la nguage dra ws on a wide a rr ay of references, from the Ba roque to modernist abstr action. Corna ro uses found objects imbued with emotiona l va lue or symbolic potentia l such a s h air, jewellery, mea suring tools, coins or rugs, which she presents in different media a nd types of displa y to revea l the subtle shifts of mea ning induced by processes of reproduction a nd tra nsla tion.

At Spike Island, Cornaro presents a series of specially commissioned installations in which she continues her investigation into composition, visual perception and interpretation. These tableaux, which could be described as physical representations of the act of watching, activate specific viewpoints reminiscent of cinematic and editing techniques (framing, focus, close-up, wide angle, tracking, sequence shot etc.). Each tableau creates a self-contained space with varying perspectives, in which the objects are returned to their ‘destiny of fetishes, which is to shine from a distance’, in the words of the French film critic Serge Daney.

Paysage avec poussin (South London Gallery) and Témoins oculaires(Spike Island) is the first collaboration of its kind between two leading public British galleries.

Download the exhibition guide

Preview: Friday 23 January, 6–9pm

Isabelle Cornaro

Isabelle Cornaro (born 1974, France) lives and works in Paris and Zurich. She studied at the École du Louvre and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, from which she graduated in 1996 and 2002 respectively.

She has exhibited extensively across France as well as internationally, including solo exhibitions at M – Museum (cur. Valerie Verhack), Leuven; Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles; Balice Hertling, Paris; Kunsthalle Bern (cur. Fabrice Stroun), Bern; Le Magasin (cur. Yves Aupetitallot), Grenoble; Frac Aquitaine (cur. Claire Jacquet), Bordeaux; Collège des Bernardins (cur. Jean de Loisy and Alain Berland), Paris; and 1m3 (cur. Jeanne Graff), Lausanne.

Recent group exhibitions include Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Palazzo Cavour, Turin; Public Fiction, Los Angeles; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Mercer Union, Toronto; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; and SculptureCenter, New-York. Her work can be found in a number of collections including those of Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Île-de-France, Paris; and Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Aquitaine, Bordeaux.

Isabelle Cornaro Scenes # 4 (2015) (detail). Photograph by Stuart Whipps

Date

24 January to 29 March 2015

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18/03/2015

Thinking of beloved Tunisian friends and Tunis and Tunisia

More in RFI English news bulletin tomorrow morning, but for now, just this:

Tunisia: Deadly Attack on Museum-goers
Response of Authorities Will Test Commitment to Rights

(Tunis, March 18, 2015) – The despicable attack in the Bardo Museum in Tunis on March 18, 2015, killing at least 19 Tunisians and foreign tourists, will test efforts by the Tunisian authorities to build a rights-respecting society, Human Rights Watch said today. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the assault at the museum, much visited by tourists because of its rich archaeological collection.

“Today’s murderous assault targeted not only tourists and Tunisians, but also the tolerant and rights-respecting society that Tunisians have been struggling to build over the last four years,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Tunisian authorities should show through their response that their commitment to the rule of law is unshaken.”

The assault on the Bardo Museum, adjacent to Tunisia’s parliament, was the first mass attack on civilians in Tunisia since gunmen killed people in the Ghriba Synagogue on the island of Jerba on April 11, 2002. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the 2002 attack.

Islamist armed groups have targeted security forces in numerous attacks since 2011, killing a total of more than 40 people. Two leftist politicians were killed in separate incidents in 2013.

News reports of the March 18 attack, based on accounts from witnesses, said that between two and five armed men opened fire on tourists in the parking lot of the museum at about noon. The gunmen then entered the museum and took hostages. At about 3 p.m., the Interior Ministry announced that security forces had killed the gunmen. At least 19 people were killed in all, officials said, including six people killed inside the museum in addition to the gunmen. At least 17 people were wounded. The casualties included mostly foreign tourists and two Tunisians.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones, and with the Tunisian people,” Goldstein said. “Tunisian authorities should ensure that all those responsible for this attack are brought to justice.”

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Tunisia, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/tunisia

Thinking of Bristol: Little street art homage and more - Bansky, Nick Walker, 3D

Loveliest day in Paris. Spring is upon us.

I'll be back on African news tomorrow at RFI and for a while but in the meantime I need to put a hint of Bristol here...

Listening to Tricky (and more of the Bristol pioneers, I admit), I'm reading about Nick Walker - soon coming to Paris for his exhibition (see previous post a few days ago) - and his fellow street artist friend from West England, famous Banksy.

And whoever quote Nick Walker and Bansky, all the more together, cannot not have a thought for their reference and Bristol graffiti pioneer: Mr 3D.

Hence, hereunder is an interview with Bansky published on his own website's archives, see here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20120103163406/http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/qaa.html

And of course a few of my pictures from Bansky's graff in Bristol here:

"Mild Mild West" in Stokes Croft

Famous Banksy stencil on Part Street

Banksy on himself and D

Frequently asked questions

Is it cheating to use stencils?

Stencils are good for two reasons;

One - they’re quick ; two - they annoy idiots.

Why are you such a sell out?

I wish I had a pound for every time someone asked me that.

Is Banksy just a big brand these days? Do you even paint your own pictures?

It’s not supposed to be a brand, which is why people in advertising think it’s such a good one. I paint it all myself unless its illegal, in which case I’ve never seen any of it before, your honour.

Is Exit Through the Gift Shop real?

Yes.

Are you still friends with Mr. Brainwash?

I like to think so. When I asked him what he thought about the film he said “This is a cult movie, this is a classic movie, this movie stands alone – like The Godfather.”

Did you paint over Robbo’s piece and have him beaten up?

His piece in Camden had been dogged for more than five years by the time I painted that spot. It’s a real shame about his accident and I hope he fully recovers. I would never deliberately cuss Robbo – he’s a graffiti legend.

And he’s bigger than me. Click Here

Did you rip off Blek le Rat?
No, I copied 3D from Massive Attack. He can actually draw.

Do you need an intern?

No thanks.

Why are you so annoying?

It’s not all my fault, sometimes they make it up - I’ve never vandalized a war memorial, painted Kate Moss’s kitchen or visited the Playboy club with Ashley Cole wearing a skull mask.

What artists do you rate?

Käthe Kollwitz is my favourite. Partly because her drawing style is so beautiful, and partly because she thought being an artist was self-indulgent crap and became a doctor in an orphanage instead.

Can you donate a picture for my charity auction?

What are you? Blind? In which case maybe. I mostly support projects working to restore sight and prevent eye disease. Or as I like to call it ‘expanding the market’.

faq@banksy

Please don’t follow me on facebook or twitter because I’m not on there.

On soon-to-visit-Paris Nick Walker

Entretien - en français - dans Les Inrocks cette semaine, extrait :

http://www.lesinrocks.com/2015/03/17/arts-scenes/arts/nick-walker-le-vandale-et-pionnier-du-street-art-sexpose-a-paris-11604567/

Nick Walker, le “Vandale” et pionnier du street-art, s’expose à Paris

Tu te souviens de ton premier mur ?

C’était derrière le marchand de journaux, dans mon quartier, en 1992. J’avais 22 ans. Je venais de voir à la télé le clip de Buffalo Gals, de Malcolm McLaren. Ma génération y découvrait le graffiti, notamment le travail de Dondi White, qui est mort depuis. Je rêvais, comme lui, de délimiter les lettres à main levée. Ça a été comme un virus pour moi : j’ai acheté des bombes de peintures, je me suis lancé à main levée. J’étais sous influence des New Yorkais qui peignaient les trains de banlieue, par le livre de Martha Cooper et Henry Chalfant qui racontait cette épopée. Je n’ai commencé les pochoirs que plus tard. Grâce à 3D de Massive Attack, c’était le premier artiste que je voyais utiliser ce médium, il faisait notamment des portraits de Robert de Niro. On traînait beaucoup ensemble, mais pour moi, c’était de la triche, le pochoir. Jusqu’au soir où nous avons repeint ensemble un vieux pub de Bristol et soudain, grâce à ses pochoirs, il a transformé Maryline Monroe en Margaret Thatcher. Ça m’a secoué, ça paraissait si moderne, comme Warhol, mais avec l’énergie et l’esprit du graffiti. Je lui dois cette transformation dans mon style.

3D a toujours été très politisé. A-t-il tenté d’infuser cette révolte dans ton travail ?

Il est plus fûté et informé que moi. Longtemps, mon travail n’a été que satirique, basé sur un seul personnage, le Vandale, qui racontait des histoires. 3D, lui, était vraiment un pionnier, en street-art comme en musique. Il jouait dans ce sound-system, The Wild Bunch, qui est ensuite devenu Massive Attack. Historiquement, depuis les grandes heures du commerce maritime, il y a toujours eu des liens privilégiés entre Bristol et New York. Les gars de Wild Bunch recevaient des cassettes, des test-pressings des mois avant tout le monde. Les sound-systems de Bristol étaient à la pointe, comme les graffiti artists, tout ça progressait en même temps. Nous bossions tous dans les rues, dans l’illégalité. Si bien que ça m’est même arrivé de peindre en direct pendant que jouaient des mecs comme DJ Krust… J’ai même essayé de faire de la musique avec mon propre sound-system, mais ça ne progressait pas, il m’a fallu choisir.

Vicious Beauty, du 19 mars au 4 avril
Signature du livre The Art Of Nick Walker le samedi 21 mars à 16h
Galerie Brugier – Rigail, 40 rue Volta 75003 Paris

Nick Walker's website:

http://www.theartofnickwalker.com/

On art pioneer 3D

He claims this recent painting is his favourite of his:

3D faces the wall

by Beezer

Most famous:

Iconic "It's no great crime",
Bristol, 1984
by Robert "3D" Del Naja:

More of his graffiti from the early days here:

http://www.wikiart.org/en/3d#supersized-street-art-337208

Conclusion:

16/03/2015

"Future Proof" - About travels, passports and airports

Those of you following this blog know how much I love to travel. I seem to have an itchy obsession with switching countries; I cannot stay standing, some say.

Gatwick Airport, March 1st, travelling to Istanbul

Well, these do not understand the virtues of nomadism... Staying still is not always the best for health, or at least for one's mind. The world is out there, it's moving, it's changing, it's an appeal for understanding. The important is not the answer, it's the quest, it's the journey itself, metaphor of an explanatory path, of an evolution.

But - isn't there always a but? - I do not ignore that I'm able to satisfy my curiosity and my thirst for understanding precisely because... I hold a certain type of passport. It allows me to enter many countries without any visa, such as Turkey where I was recently, and Mexico where I was mesmerised by its beauty about two years ago. Or it guaranties me a easy-to-obtain visa.

And this is not the case for everyone. Actually for most people, crossing borders is a hassle.

Every time I cross a border, EVERY TIME, at the Eurostar passport control in London, in Rome's Fiumicino airport, in Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta... I think of them. Every time, and especially when I come home at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle, or through Heathrow, I have a look at people queueing for hours because they don't have the passport they wish for, because they're controlled and unwanted where they are trying to go. I also think of all the others who therefore chose to travel avoiding airport. I think of inequalities and our random birthplaces no individual has any control about... Everytime.

I love to travel but I hate security checks, metal scanners, emptying pockets, taking off shoes, putting bottle of liquids in small plastic bags... All small pointless tasks reminding us of all the terrorist attacks the world recently went through because it's meaningless, unfair, unequal, unbalanced, fearful and fear-inciting.

Listening to new music online I wanted to put on my iTunes list, I came across this song, which indeed describes perfectly the mixed feeling coming with crossing airports and border-controls:

Massive Attack - 06 - Future Proof, live @ Sofia 05.6.2014

"Future Proof"

Borderline cases
Reinforced glass
Absent friends
Passport photos
An elastic past
Empty pocket
They think it is all...
They think it's soul
All wrapped up on a swollen lip
He draws the warm pipe.

Chemicals
Chemicals captured in winter's grip
Turn us on

Seperate the leper
Hungry ghosts
Hungry ghosts
Another imprint
In borrowed clothes
We can be numb
We can be numb
Passing through

Blow blow blow blow

Borderline case
Future proof
Real thin air
Real thin air
Real thin air

13/03/2015

Can a song change your life?

"When did all those pyramids...
...Of Promises...
...Come down?
Countless whispered eulogies"...

Massive Attack - Red Light (Moscow)

Another live version here, of a bad quality but so powerful:

Massive Attack in Bucharest (2008) - Red Light

11/03/2015

Central African Republic: First Security Council Visit

C.A.R. UN VISIT

My interview with Annecke Van Woudenberg, HRW Africa Advocacy Director, for RFI English:

It's a first: the U.N. Security Council is sending a delegation in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Its members arrived yesterday (Wednesday) in Bangui and will be travelling inside the country to meet with the national authority.

They are expected to condemn publically the atrocities still being perpetrated in the country by armed groups and militiamen since the coup from Seleka milice in March 2013.

Melissa Chemam spoke to Africa Advocacy Director at Human Rights Watch, Annecke Van Wounderberg, who is insisting that this visit comes at a key time to call again for no more impunity and to reassess security challenges.

Listen here:

https://soundcloud.com/melissa-chemam/africa-analysis-on-car-un-visit-annecke-van-woudenberg-hrw-africa-advocacy-director

More details here:

http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/08/central-african-republic-security-council-visit

Use Occasion to Denounce Attacks on Civilians

MARCH 9, 2015

Solo show from Nick Walker " viscious beauty" soon in Paris

Solo show Nick Walker " viscious beauty"

Very much looking forward to Nick Walker's visit and exhibition opening in Paris next week!

More details:

/// Exposition ///
19/03/2015 – 04/04/2015

/// Vernissage ///
Le jeudi 19 mars 2015
à partir de 18h00

/// Signature du livre ///
Le samedi 21 mars 2015
à partir de 16h00

/// Vicious Beauty ///

Cela fait maintenant quelques années que nous nous sommes intéressés au travail de la scène anglaise dans la rue. S’intéresser à l'art urbain en Angleterre, c'est aller à Bristol, c'est là que tout commence.

Il y a la musique avec le Trip-Hop, la scène aux musicos underground graff avec ses deux principaux représentants qui sont Guy Denning (punk graffeur) et Nick Walker (graffeur et pochoiriste).

C'est cette émulsion des années 80 qui a influencé /// inspiré dans les années 90 : le groupe Massive Attack, le groupe Portishead et bien sûr, le Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ) de Banksy.
Depuis toujours fasciné par les années 80, mais aussi par les origines de ce mouvement qui passionne la planète, la déferlante Street Art, il semblait logique pour nous de présenter en France et à Paris le premier solo show de Nick Walker.

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KENYA Death of ICC witness Meshack Yebei - Njonjo Mue, from Kenyan for Peace with Truth and Justice

In Kenya, the Body of would-be International Criminal Court witness (ICC) Meshack Yebei has been identified by the Kenya government.

It was found in a national park near the place where he waws abducted last December near his home in Eldoret, in the Rift Valley.

Mr Yebei was expected to testify in the case against Deputy President William Ruto. DNA tests have confirmed his identity and officials will now conduct a post-mortem to establish how he died.

But for Njonjo Mue, from Kenyan for Peace with Truth and Justice, it raises high concern on the situation of witnesses and potential witnesses involved with the 2007-08 postelectoral violence trial:

LISTEN HERE:

http://www.english.rfi.fr/broadcasts

04h00 - 04h13 GMT - News bulletin & headlines

Listen 13 min

On Simone Gbagbo's verdict

Back in Paris. Back to African news:

As Simone Gbagbo was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "undermining state security" during deadly post-election violence in 2010-2011, this verdict raises strong political question in Ivory Coast.

For Florent Geel, Africa director at the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), it is clear that such a heavy sentence is aiming at targetting the Gbagbo family and will weaken the reconciliation process.

He was our "invite" this morning on RFI English:

https://soundcloud.com/melissa-chemam/invite-africa-on-simone-gbagbos-verdict-florent-geel-fidh

--Listen to RFI English:

http://www.english.rfi.fr/broadcasts