Goodbye 2023: Let's remember only the best...
The year was really awful for millions in so many ways, more wars, more disasters. But even I have the capacity to focus on the positive, so I hope you'll be inspired too.
Dear friends and readers,
I hope this post finds you well after a busy year…
2023 brought enormous challenges for millions around the world, in so many ways, more wars, more disasters, bad international politics, hunger, and climate catastrophes.
But as a goodbye post, I want to focus on the highlights and inspiring moments, if I may.
Please feel free to reply and share your inspirations, hopes and happy moments.
Here are the lessons I learned, despite worrying about racism and injustice, and in spite of the many friends and acquaintances who simply disappeared to avoid difficult conversations.
Lesson 1: Hope survives with action and by speaking out
Despite a surge in wars, activist artists dear to my heart have addressed our relations to the former European empires, and the need to STILL decolonise both British and French relations with their former empires…
A great example of such resistance was the most influential African scholar Cheikh Anta Diop, who pioneered a new understanding of the continent's place in history and left an enduring legacy in his native Senegal and beyond.
Today, 29 December, is celebrated the centenary of his birth. Here is what I wrote:
Senegal celebrates pioneer of African history Cheikh Anta Diop
A specialist in nuclear physics as well as a passionate linguist, anthropologist and historian, the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop laid the foundation for a rewriting of African history, beyond colonial prejudices.
As an Egyptologist, he studied the African roots of ancient Egypt, defending and proving Africa's fundamental place in the history of humanity, and its contribution to other great civilisations.
"Egypt is to the rest of black Africa what Greece and Rome are to the western world,” he notably wrote.
A politician in later life, he was a fervent advocate of Pan-Africanism and a decided opponent of Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegal's first president after independence and another influential cultural theorist.
Diop's works have influenced generations, and continue to inspire the development of African-centred scholarship and the Pan-African movement.
Read more about his life here, in the rest of my article:
https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20231229-senegal-celebrates-pioneer-of-african-history-cheikh-anta-diop
Early in the year, I had a long conversation with the Jerusalem-born, Jaffa-based artist and archives researcher Dor Guez:
https://www.newarab.com/features/dor-guez-frames-intimate-portrait-palestinian-pluralities
In February, at the 'Beyond The Streets' exhibition in London, I met the legendary graffiti artist Mode 2 .
Read our interview here: https://upmag.com/mode-2/
A week later I took a group of American students to see the unique exhibition by South African queer artist Zanele Muholi in Paris, at la Maison Européenne de la Photographie.
See more images here on my blog:
https://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2023/02/zaneli-muholi-in-paris.html
Alfredo Jaar photographed next to his installation ‘The Sound of Silence’ (2006) at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in October 2017. Photo: Jonty Wilde
In April, I was invited to lead a conversation with the incredible Chile-born artist and activist Alfredo Jaar at the Goodman Gallery, in London.
I must say it was one of the greatest events I was invited to in my life…
Not only is Jaar brilliant and his work so critical, but he himself is also genuinely sincere and so kind.
Before the event, we had lunch together and he appeared to be an amazing listener. After the presentation of his exhibition we had an incredible dinner with some of my favourite artists, including the living legend Sonia Boyce. Again, Alfredo was so present with everyone, and so thoughtful. He even organised the table so guests could make specifically timely encounters.
Here are the details about this exhibition: https://www.goodman-gallery.com/exhibitions/london-gallery-alfredo-jaar-if-it-concerns-us-it-concerns-you-2023
And the article I wrote about it and this year in the work of a great activist, who happens to be an artist:
Alfredo Jaar: poetic visual interventions
Posted 02 May 2023, by Melissa Chemam
Read from here: https://artuk.org/discover/stories/alfredo-jaar-poetic-visual-interventions
Your can also dig into my first interview with Alfredo, from 2019, here:
https://whynow.co.uk/read/25-years-later-alfredo-jaar-at-goodman-gallery-london
Early in July, I also had the honour of leading a conversation with the Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke at the Royal Academy of Arts, as part of their delightful Summer Exhibition.
I first met Hew Locke in 2022 at the Tate Modern for an interview around his powerful installation 'The Procession' for Art UK too.
A short clip from what I filmed then:
Procession - A new installation by Guyanese British artist Hew Locke for Tate Britain - 21 March 2022
Palestinian artists in the UK, US, beyond
Always in my heart, these activists face silence day after day…
There are too many to name them all, but here are a few: playwright Ahmed Masoud; music writer and curator Christina Hazboun; DJ Yasmine; comedian Tasneim Zyada; DJ Sama Abdulhadi, playwright Riham Isaac; Palestinian-American actress, poet and presenter Dana Dajani; musician and artist Maya Al Khaldi; etc.
And links to my articles for more:
Palestinian film festivals across UK screen solidarity and celebrate rising talent
https://www.newarab.com/features/palestinian-film-festivals-across-uk-celebrate-rising-talent
PalArt Festival at Rich Mix: A voice for Palestinian artists in the UK
https://www.newarab.com/features/palart-festival-voice-palestinian-artists-uk
Maya Al Khaldi brings Palestinian rhythmic character to the shores of Wales Culture
https://www.newarab.com/features/maya-al-khaldi-brings-palestinian-musical-character-wales
Lesson 2: Helping others and supporting their cause has to be a selfless move
Not all of us get to change the world.
Even the most vocal campaigners face failures and get stonewalled by more powerful people or institutions.
Activism sits on a long road… No one is entering it for instant gratification.
Morale: A word, a repost, a day of marching can seem like a drop in the ocean sometimes, let’s do it anyway…
Examples:
Ugandan activists brace for ratification of harsh anti-homosexuality bill
Covering African & international news for RFI, I wrote this feature on LGBTIQ+ rights and worries in Uganda, in April 2023. The situation seems desperate but there is no other way than resisting it.
Fighting an oil giant
TotalEnergies is sued by the cities New York and Paris, and some of the most important NGOs, a trial that might last up to two years...
UN biodiversity day turns 30, but is the world doing enough?
Young people take European nations to court over climate failures
Six young European people brought 32 countries before the European Court of Human Rights for failing to do their part to avert climate catastrophe. The unprecedented hearing is the world’s largest climate legal action to date.
Lesson 3: Racism isn’t over. Will it ever be over? Most (privileged) people don’t care. Denounce it anyway, if you can.
Allies are few, but we (people from former colonised countries and stigmatised people) are many.
On the matter, I wrote this sad post:
Is it better to stay silent, friend?
… that I’m sure most of the silent friends haven’t read and won’t.
Luckily, I met other people, who understand, even if they have only one foreigner from the former empire, or one grandparent… They’re informed; they work with people who are victims of discrimination daily. They know we should support each other.
To them, an immense ‘THANK YOU’, for all your exchanges, time spent together, advice and warmth.
On the matter of the situation in France, here is what I said on the British channel Channel 4 News:
‘People feel like the police are constantly attacking them’, says French-Algerian journalist Melissa Chemam
They invited me to speak live from where their reporter had been filming some protests the night before.
I couldn’t help but notice how unaffected central Paris was, and mostly always is, by these issues: poverty, segregation, violence, police brutality.
Only the 18th and 19th district, where I lived most of my adult life in France, bear resemblance with the rest of the problematic suburban areas of big cities, Paris, Lyon, Marseille…
I was also asked to write about the issue by iNews, in the UK.
‘Nothing can change if we’re in denial’: French-Algerian journalist on the riots that have rocked her hometown
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/french-algerian-journalist-riots-rocked-hometown-2449948
Do I need to say no French media asked me to write anything…?
Final lesson: Music is a comfort and can even be a source of healing, but the magic happens when the musicians are great souls too
It always seems fun to meet stars… Until you’ve done it too many times.
There’s mysticism about musicians.
The most important (to me at least, you won’t get that from famous critics, I’m sure…) is to meet people with real passion, authenticity, and who can connect with others.
Many musicians are difficult to interview, most don’t have the right words. Some will even say that ‘no one can write about them’ and avoid the press like the plague. Others have less than 5000 followers but act like the biggest stars and care more about their video shoots, hair and make-up than how the audience react to their music.
Many, too many, play in their bubble, as if the world didn’t exist, with lyrics dealing only with their own feelings, repeatedly, until the end of their career…
But once in a while, some singers and instrumentalists give you time, and treat everyone around them as equals. They are the ones I like for real. The others, we can always listen to their albums, we don’t have to pay for their live events or meet them in person. At least I don’t!
This year, I met such great warm & friendly musicians at the Africolor Festival, in the eastern suburbs of Paris. I’ll have more to share in the new year, but all their events were so wonderful.
A short extract to end this long post:
Thanks for reading as usual.
Stay well and have a great passage to the new year, even though it’s only a symbolic date, and only for some of us on Earth.
Lots of love,
melissa