Anna O and the Case of Displaced Memory

Marie-Josèphe Angélique is the name of a Black slave in New France (Montreal, Canada,1734), who was tortured, hanged and burned down to ashes. She was convicted with arson, burning down much of what is now known as Old Montreal. There is no consensus regarding her innocence neither about the motivations behind the fire. The conflicting interpretations of Marie-Angélique’s case seem to rather reflect internalized notions on class, gender and race.

The video piece uses the case of the hanging of Marie-Angélique as an investigation of postcolonial politics of memory, examining the dynamics of the Black experience as a hybrid negotiation between displaced collective memory and racialized political history. I’m seeking for emergent metaphors of identity, gender and race to emerge by re-formulating the archive as a site of active engagement.

Credits

Exhibitions | Screenings