Fwomajé and Totem: The Beginnings and Consolidation of an Artistic Language in Martinique Patricia Donatien-Yesa While the late 1970s in Martinique were hardly the haleyon days for the plastic arts—paint- ing, seulpture, and installations —musie, which had always been a part of the people's tradi. tions and accompanied the country’s history, continued to make progress and enjoyed wide popular recognition. Although inetitutions did Iitle to help develop musie, production was: profitable and private initiatives increased to facilitate the improvement of musicians’ training and status. The value and quality of iterature had long been recognized, and it continued to thrive; theater and choreographic dance, close to forme of popular expression, were beginning to be appreciated. ‘The situation of painting and sculpture was completely diferent. The majority ofthe Mar- tinican pop ulation knew nothing of these art forms; on the island there were neither museums rnorar galleries nor workshops, and painters and sculptors were few. In people's houses, only stuffy Images—strongly marked by an exeticiam that clung to colonial fantasies or to bibli- cal imagery—were present in the form of cheap tapestries representing Arabic scenes and reproductions of Millets paintings." 1 sear-srangat Mt (184-1875 Fench ptr atone of the master elit pers om th Saiz schoo His ‘woos meus pahtngs as anuses and Langa (1657), epiing power scaes of rch peasant le, ie heve wom and Totem: The Beginnings and Coneolidaton ofan asso Languagein Merengue This situation was allthe more strange given that Martinieane are neither without esthetic sensibility nor lacking in cultural expressions in tune with their aspirations and history. In the countryside, where identity is most strongly expressed, and also in the small houses of the ‘market towns and cities, there exist entire series of objects, artifacts, body movements, and: ‘ways of being in contact with matter and organizing space. These objects and these attitudes ‘show that the people possess a great capacity for harmony, for creativity, and for synthesis between the everyday, the spiritual, and the imaginary. Walls covered in newspaper, similar to the cubiste’ collages; the organization of kitchens where suspension, sets, and arrange- ‘ments organize surfaces; the colors of boats; altars in the middle of nature—all these ave like postmodern and infinitely contemporary installations and definitions of art However, a huge gap existed between this popular esthetic and artistic creation. The rare artists whose works were known, such as those in the group Atelier 45 ° confined themeelves to a mimetic production without at all taking into account African and Amerindian cultural heritages or popular approaches. Stil, their realist works and the works of those close to the Impressionist movement had the merit of attempting, albeit hesitantly, 2 representation of the country and the people. However, the undertakings of Atelier 45 did not bear much fruit and their contributions were followed by about twenty years of an almost absolute void in the area of plastic arts. A few painters hopelessly tried to make their art exist, but in spite of their talent, Khokbo René-Corall, Durras Jean-Joseph, or Alexandre Bertrand? rerrained the Isolated combatants of a lost cause. ‘Thus, when in the late 1970s and early 1980s the various members of Fwomalé gradually returned to their native country, they were faced with an absence of artiste representation. In spite of the strong political demands of the communists and progressive thinkers; in spite of the powerful work begun by writers ike Edouard Glissant, who tried with certain other intel- lectuals such as René Ménilto establish a correspondence between the rich popular culture and these isolated, engaged artists; in spite of the creation of SERMAC (Municipal Service of Cultural Action) by Aimé Césaire in 1971,* artistic production appeared to have waned 2 Asie 45 was grup ofits sn sculptors rm the Schoal of Appia Ate Forte France whe ae te wae began a proces of producton and sting Thay wore the at ion group ot tain ating’ a ito. Me Honoran yale an Tiga wi conortze het moverment th wi ap te ne Aster 4 ey wil ei IniprdS.avrtable oven of pctoral at, hares evi tan unuspeced ower and oral young "ont worthy f encouragement ene Louse, love gna dea paitre en Marniganin Gary CEtang. ait an Marnie Pari H, 2007, 7. ‘3 “Sosa end Coral trou a Koln, Jer Joseph Dumas, and Aland Sertand were among he bel ats woking inthe tats and 1702, That et contig ol pangs scipren, a acon wa a at io have ected = deare ferimovaton athe eta angunge. nape oa cnn oct vecogaen, ter wor th ot ve eld, xcept or ‘owe of race Berta, who eventual bul career Canada “4 Forth star ofthe 170s tna cata eel one farts adr rag, tina an pcan umber a Sar Fm teenage para fears tn nny mach esas true ese an}20 November 2009 - Paticia Donatien-Yesa | 117 René-Coral was no longer working, Alexandre Bertrand “Sansann” had left for Canada,* and the works of Atelier 45 lay rotting in damp comers. Fworajé Based onan ideaot artist and painter Maurice Spartacus, the Fwoma}é group began meeting in 1980-81 at the home of their ollest member, Victor Anicet, whom many of them affec- tionately called "Uncle." The numerous members were ardent and determined but not very organized. Victor Anicet was the group's strongest root: about ten years older than the others, he had returned to Martinique much earlier While René Louise and Bertin Nivor were still students in Paris, Victor Anicet was already working as an educator in the country. Originally from Marigot, a parish in Martinique’s North Atlantic zone, Anicet spent his entie childhood in that rough and ready world, between the sea and the countryside. He learned to know and respect the customs ofthe farmers and fishermen, their beliefs based on respect for the environment and harmony between nature and men. From early on, Anicet was conscious of the symbol, historic, and aesthetic value of the land that he worked, alongside Father Pinchon.§ while just a litle boy; it was only natural that he turned to pottery ist atthe School of Applied Arts of Fort-de-France, then at the School of Art Trades of Parts. Armed with his education, he had returned to Martinique in 1967, and the cultural silence that he found there did not at all suit his thirst for creation and knowledge. So he decided to install his workshop ‘among the people, in the old house of a farmer named Marceau Danbo, nicknamed KokoI, ho would transmit much of his own knowledge of nature and relations with the elements to Anicet. Fromthere, Anicet observed men, customs, gestures, houses, and oblects to nourish his painting and his ceramics work. In permanent contact with his young student friends, he would send them ablects, photographs of animals, recordings of the river water and night sounds, his observations of the country. Curious about everything, and moved by the desire to valorize hs native countryside, Anicet decided to join a group of intellectuals who, around Glissant, tried to reassert the value of an entire part of Martinican culture that untl then had been conscientiously relected by a pseudo- intellectual and assimilationist bourgeoisie. With his friends —ike Ina Gésaire, a writer who collected tales from wakes, or Franck Hubert, who studies traditional “ptt” architecture and houses made of bwa thbonm’—Anicet 5 Aver wet-Anown song of he vations Mrican repro tered by he rat singer Léon Gabi ho wat ‘Serrated, oe hs opr "Alera apa, ce sansa pat mon ee sande ot ratty dat te Sarcan ht my dea) 6 Father Pct, lov a wens was rnc cpyman who devote to Mariue:he was oof he fist {Spraciee age ano tense pecotanan sects. 7 The’ the crear ace wre cots be hak Fark Hubert, a Marnigan fet, has shied ts propetins rate unctoraly ta lows players oi ter ous who any pin rDarm aah at gows hey agers ‘Marnie th nod bia Cel at canes tom very malas a apa of beng rounded an sed ‘ug ete tavern up uth o70s, pop of moceat ondons hur but teeter anor sacs fthar houses. There ae vary fe shacks oth hype toy, bul everyone nw recognizes tha bea and Ber enrom ‘ran uate.