The KAM project
A Counter-Mapping of Resistence
The Kam project is a body of photographic work about the memories of resistance in post-colonial time as defined by Achille Mbembe: in other words, the period after the end of colonization that nevertheless, reveals the persistence of a colonial imaginary.
Started in 2010, Kam is developed in a “rhizomic” fashion and covers different territories of West Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas, taking the form of an evolving and organic project. The memory of resistance to slavery and colonialism is thought here not as a subject but as a reading grid to question living performative practices that exist on both sides of the Atlantic within marginalized historical communities.
Although these practices are not reduced to a simple reaction to the system , most of them were developed during the colonial period. They are indeed free creations that go beyond the notion of resistance and memory. Lo Calzo questions how they have made it possible to (re)compose interrupted genealogies, to unite diasporic communities that have produced their own forms and knowledge - complex cultural practices that address memory but also gender, class and race.
It is from this precise angle that Lo Calzo has built, over the years, a counter-mapping of memory, showing the way in which these practices have participated and still participate, both in the construction of a memorial identity, and a collective or family memory, as well as the (de)construction of gender, racial and class categories. Lo Calzo proposes to apprehend these practices of resistance through this intersectional prism, the only one, according to him, able to restore the multiple forces that inhabit them.
Lo Calzo’s research is part of a personal questioning around identity and body politics. His artistic approach stems from his experience as a queer person, having grown up as part of a minority. It is precisely this experience of self and of the injunctions made to “non-standard” bodies that feeds his photographic practice and questions him about community practices which, historically, have been undervalued.
In this regard, the idea of the subaltern body and its performativity as a producer of denormative narratives is central. The body here is both a place of assignments and a “utopian” body – or, a possibility of resistance, action and subversion of social rules and exclusions. The memory and resistance photographed by Lo Calzo are also the subaltern communities’ creative response to the commodification of bodies, operated, in the past, by colonialism and, today, by its contemporary avatar, capitalist extractivism.
By producing a counter-mapping of memories and practices of resistance to slavery, the KAM project wishes to reveal an existing network of linked and interconnected “dissident” narratives, which today, more than ever, question us about our relationship to the world and to our own history.
Through artist residencies and in close collaboration with local associations and communities, the Kam project has been pursued in Benin, Togo, Ghana, Senegal, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Louisiana and Mississippi, (USA), French Guyana, Suriname, Cuba, Italy, Sao Tome and Brazil. The different bodies of work focus on practices inscribed in specific political, historical and societal contexts and are connected to each other, in an approach that is both subjective and contextual, multi-sited and micro-historical.
Lo Calzo builds his exhibitions from the visual archive, developing the archive on several levels: the body of photographic work, the sound and video capsules, historical representations such as maps, engravings, objects - all are part of a circular, “archipelago” narration, in reference to the work of Edoaurd Glissant. The aim is to restore the complexity of photographed subjects, their relationship to the present and historical time, and their relationship to physical, political and social space.
Since 2020, Lo Calzo has included the Kam project as part of his doctoral research at the Graduate School of Humanities (Uni Paris-Cergy – Ensapc), where he examines the possible uses of contemporary photography to address the memories of subaltern bodies.
Started in 2010, Kam is developed in a “rhizomic” fashion and covers different territories of West Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas, taking the form of an evolving and organic project. The memory of resistance to slavery and colonialism is thought here not as a subject but as a reading grid to question living performative practices that exist on both sides of the Atlantic within marginalized historical communities.
Although these practices are not reduced to a simple reaction to the system , most of them were developed during the colonial period. They are indeed free creations that go beyond the notion of resistance and memory. Lo Calzo questions how they have made it possible to (re)compose interrupted genealogies, to unite diasporic communities that have produced their own forms and knowledge - complex cultural practices that address memory but also gender, class and race.
It is from this precise angle that Lo Calzo has built, over the years, a counter-mapping of memory, showing the way in which these practices have participated and still participate, both in the construction of a memorial identity, and a collective or family memory, as well as the (de)construction of gender, racial and class categories. Lo Calzo proposes to apprehend these practices of resistance through this intersectional prism, the only one, according to him, able to restore the multiple forces that inhabit them.
Lo Calzo’s research is part of a personal questioning around identity and body politics. His artistic approach stems from his experience as a queer person, having grown up as part of a minority. It is precisely this experience of self and of the injunctions made to “non-standard” bodies that feeds his photographic practice and questions him about community practices which, historically, have been undervalued.
In this regard, the idea of the subaltern body and its performativity as a producer of denormative narratives is central. The body here is both a place of assignments and a “utopian” body – or, a possibility of resistance, action and subversion of social rules and exclusions. The memory and resistance photographed by Lo Calzo are also the subaltern communities’ creative response to the commodification of bodies, operated, in the past, by colonialism and, today, by its contemporary avatar, capitalist extractivism.
By producing a counter-mapping of memories and practices of resistance to slavery, the KAM project wishes to reveal an existing network of linked and interconnected “dissident” narratives, which today, more than ever, question us about our relationship to the world and to our own history.
Through artist residencies and in close collaboration with local associations and communities, the Kam project has been pursued in Benin, Togo, Ghana, Senegal, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Louisiana and Mississippi, (USA), French Guyana, Suriname, Cuba, Italy, Sao Tome and Brazil. The different bodies of work focus on practices inscribed in specific political, historical and societal contexts and are connected to each other, in an approach that is both subjective and contextual, multi-sited and micro-historical.
Lo Calzo builds his exhibitions from the visual archive, developing the archive on several levels: the body of photographic work, the sound and video capsules, historical representations such as maps, engravings, objects - all are part of a circular, “archipelago” narration, in reference to the work of Edoaurd Glissant. The aim is to restore the complexity of photographed subjects, their relationship to the present and historical time, and their relationship to physical, political and social space.
Since 2020, Lo Calzo has included the Kam project as part of his doctoral research at the Graduate School of Humanities (Uni Paris-Cergy – Ensapc), where he examines the possible uses of contemporary photography to address the memories of subaltern bodies.
Press Review
Support
To date, the work in progress KAM has been founded with artist residencies, talks, exhibitions and donations. Any form of collective or individual support for the production or the diffusion of the project is truly important for the advancement of research. You can become a partner and support the KAM project in different ways. For further information, write to: contact@nicolalocalzo.com
Unesco, Fondation Fokal, Fondation zinsou, Fondation Joan Mitchell, Fonds de dotation Buchet-Ponsoye, Dominique Fiat, La Balsa Arte, Luz, Afrique in Visu, La Tête dans les Images, CPMHE, Ministère des Outre-Mer, Tropenmuseum, LightWork, Lagosphoto, Portrait(s), Region Guadeloupe, Bnf, Archivi Alinari, Vogue Italia, Internazionale, Le Monde, Lille3000, Macaal, Château des Ducs de Brétagne, Aides.
Unesco, Fondation Fokal, Fondation zinsou, Fondation Joan Mitchell, Fonds de dotation Buchet-Ponsoye, Dominique Fiat, La Balsa Arte, Luz, Afrique in Visu, La Tête dans les Images, CPMHE, Ministère des Outre-Mer, Tropenmuseum, LightWork, Lagosphoto, Portrait(s), Region Guadeloupe, Bnf, Archivi Alinari, Vogue Italia, Internazionale, Le Monde, Lille3000, Macaal, Château des Ducs de Brétagne, Aides.
Bibliography
DHOTEL Gérard, Esclavage ancien et moderne, Editions Milan, 2004.
DORIGNY Marcel et GAINOT Bernard, Atlas des esclavages, Traites, sociétés coloniales, abolitions de l’Antiquité à nos jours, Editions Autrement, 2006.
GIARD Mathilde, L’esclavage de l’Antiquité à nos jours, Castor Poche-Flammarion, 2007.
Le Code noir et autres textes de lois sur l’esclavage, Editions Sépia, 2006.
PETRE-GRENOUILLEAU Olivier, Les traites négrières, La Documentation Française, 2004.
SAUGERA Eric, La traite des Noirs en 30 questions, Geste Editions, 1998.
THELIER Gérard, Le grand livre de l’esclavage : Des résistances et de l’abolition, Orphie, 2010.
BLANCPAIN F., La colonie française de Saint-Domingue, Karthala, 2004.
CAUNA Jacques de, Au temps des îles à sucre, histoire d’une plantation de Saint-Domingue au XVIIIe siècle, Karthala, 1987.
COHEN William.B., Français et Africains – Les Noirs dans le regard des Blancs, 1530-1880, Gallimard, 1981.
COLLECTIF, Les Anneaux de la Mémoire, Catalogue de l’exposition, Nantes, décembre 1992-mai 1994.
DAGET Serge, De la traite à l’esclavage, du XVe au XVIIIe siècle, actes du colloque de Nantes, 1985, Centre d’étude du monde atlantique, Nantes, Société française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 2 vol., Paris, 1988.
DAGET Serge, Répertoire des expéditions négrières françaises à la traite illégale, 1814-1850, Centre de recherche sur l’histoire du monde atlantique, Nantes, 1988.
FILLIOT J.-M., La traite des esclaves vers les Mascareignes au XVIIIe siècle, ORSTOM, 1974.
FUMA S., L’esclavagisme à la Réunion, 1794-1848, L’Harmattan, 1992.
GASTON-MARTIN, Nantes au XVIIIe siècle – L’ère des négriers, réédition Karthala, 1993.
GLISSANT ÉDOUARD, Mémoires des ésclavages, Hors série Connaissance, Gallimard, 2007
GLISSANT ÉDOUARD, Le Discours antillais, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1981
GLISSANT ÉDOUARD, Poétique de la Relation, Paris, Gallimard, 1990
GUILLET Bertrand, La Marie-Séraphique navire négrier, Editions Memo
Guide des sources de la traite négrière, de l’esclavage et de leurs abolitions, La documentation françaises, 2007.
HURBON L., L’insurrection des esclaves de Saint-Domingue (22 – 23 août 1791), Karthala, 2000.
MBEMBE Achille, Critique de la raison nègre, Paris, Éditions La Découverte, 2013
MBEMBE Achille, Sortir de la grande nuit : Essai sur l'Afrique décolonisée, Paris, Éditions La DécouvertE, 2010,
MEILLASSOUX Claude, L’esclavage en Afrique précoloniale, Editions F. Maspero, Paris, 1975.
METTAS J., Répertoire des expéditions négrières françaises au XVIIIe siècle, Société Française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 1978.
MEYER Jean, L’armement nantais dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle, École Pratique des Hautes Études, SEVPEN, 1969.
MOULIER BOUTANG Yann, De l’esclavage au salariat. Economie historique du salariat bridé, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1998.
PETRE-GRENOUILLEAU Olivier, Les traites négrières, Editions Gallimard, 2004.
QUENUM Alphonse, Les Eglises chrétiennes et la traite atlantique du XVe au XIXe siècle, Paris, Editions Karthala, 1993.
REGENT Frédéric, La France et ses esclaves, de la colonisation aux abolitions (1620-1848), Editions Grasset et Fasquelle, 2007.
SALA-MOLINS Louis, Le code noir ou le calvaire de Canaan, PUF, 1987.
VERGES Françoise, La mémoire enchaînée : Questions sur l’esclavage, Hachette Littératures, 2008.
CRAFTS Hannah, Autobiographie d’une esclave, Payot, 2007
DOUGLASS Frederick, Mémoire d’un esclave, Lux Canada, 2007.
EQUIANO Olaudah, Ma véridique histoire : Africain, esclave en Amérique, homme libre, Marcure de France, 2008.
PRINCE Mary, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave Narrative, Dover Publications, 2004.
DAGET Serge, La traite des Noirs. Bastilles négrières et velléités abolitionnistes, Editions Ouest-France Université, 1990.
DAGET Serge, La répression de la traite des Noirs au XIXe siècle. L’action des croisières françaises sur les côtes occidentales de l’Afrique (1817-1850),Paris, Editions Karthala,1997.
DORIGNY Marcel et GAINOT Bernard, La Société des Amis des noirs, 1788-1799. Contribution à l’histoire de l’abolition de l’esclavage, Paris, Editions de l’Unesco, 1998.
ELTIS David et WALVIN James, The Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade : Origins and Effects in Europe, Africa and the Americas, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1981.
Les abolitions de l’esclavage. De L.F. Sonthonax à V. Schoelcher, 1793, 1794, 1848, Actes du colloque de 1994, Université Paris VIII, publiés par Marcel Dorigny, Presses universitaires de Vincennes, Editions de l’Unesco, 1995.
PETRE-GRENOUILLEAU Olivier, Abolir l’esclavage, Editions des Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2008.
SCHMIDT Nelly, Victor Schoelcher, Editions Fayard, Paris, 1994.
SCHMIDT Nelly, L’abolition de l’esclavage, Cinq siècles de combats, XVIe – XXe siècle, Editions Fayard, 2005.
VERGES Françoise, L'Homme prédateur, ce que nous enseigne l'esclavage sur notre temps, Paris, Albin Michel, 2011
VERGES Françoise, Abolir l’esclavage. Une utopie coloniale. Les ambiguïtés d’une politique humanitaire, Editions Albin Michel, Paris, 2001
VERGES Françoise, La Mémoire enchaînée. Questions sur l'esclavage, Paris, Albin Michel, 2006
DORIGNY Marcel et GAINOT Bernard, Atlas des esclavages, Traites, sociétés coloniales, abolitions de l’Antiquité à nos jours, Editions Autrement, 2006.
GIARD Mathilde, L’esclavage de l’Antiquité à nos jours, Castor Poche-Flammarion, 2007.
Le Code noir et autres textes de lois sur l’esclavage, Editions Sépia, 2006.
PETRE-GRENOUILLEAU Olivier, Les traites négrières, La Documentation Française, 2004.
SAUGERA Eric, La traite des Noirs en 30 questions, Geste Editions, 1998.
THELIER Gérard, Le grand livre de l’esclavage : Des résistances et de l’abolition, Orphie, 2010.
BLANCPAIN F., La colonie française de Saint-Domingue, Karthala, 2004.
CAUNA Jacques de, Au temps des îles à sucre, histoire d’une plantation de Saint-Domingue au XVIIIe siècle, Karthala, 1987.
COHEN William.B., Français et Africains – Les Noirs dans le regard des Blancs, 1530-1880, Gallimard, 1981.
COLLECTIF, Les Anneaux de la Mémoire, Catalogue de l’exposition, Nantes, décembre 1992-mai 1994.
DAGET Serge, De la traite à l’esclavage, du XVe au XVIIIe siècle, actes du colloque de Nantes, 1985, Centre d’étude du monde atlantique, Nantes, Société française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 2 vol., Paris, 1988.
DAGET Serge, Répertoire des expéditions négrières françaises à la traite illégale, 1814-1850, Centre de recherche sur l’histoire du monde atlantique, Nantes, 1988.
FILLIOT J.-M., La traite des esclaves vers les Mascareignes au XVIIIe siècle, ORSTOM, 1974.
FUMA S., L’esclavagisme à la Réunion, 1794-1848, L’Harmattan, 1992.
GASTON-MARTIN, Nantes au XVIIIe siècle – L’ère des négriers, réédition Karthala, 1993.
GLISSANT ÉDOUARD, Mémoires des ésclavages, Hors série Connaissance, Gallimard, 2007
GLISSANT ÉDOUARD, Le Discours antillais, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1981
GLISSANT ÉDOUARD, Poétique de la Relation, Paris, Gallimard, 1990
GUILLET Bertrand, La Marie-Séraphique navire négrier, Editions Memo
Guide des sources de la traite négrière, de l’esclavage et de leurs abolitions, La documentation françaises, 2007.
HURBON L., L’insurrection des esclaves de Saint-Domingue (22 – 23 août 1791), Karthala, 2000.
MBEMBE Achille, Critique de la raison nègre, Paris, Éditions La Découverte, 2013
MBEMBE Achille, Sortir de la grande nuit : Essai sur l'Afrique décolonisée, Paris, Éditions La DécouvertE, 2010,
MEILLASSOUX Claude, L’esclavage en Afrique précoloniale, Editions F. Maspero, Paris, 1975.
METTAS J., Répertoire des expéditions négrières françaises au XVIIIe siècle, Société Française d’histoire d’outre-mer, 1978.
MEYER Jean, L’armement nantais dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle, École Pratique des Hautes Études, SEVPEN, 1969.
MOULIER BOUTANG Yann, De l’esclavage au salariat. Economie historique du salariat bridé, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1998.
PETRE-GRENOUILLEAU Olivier, Les traites négrières, Editions Gallimard, 2004.
QUENUM Alphonse, Les Eglises chrétiennes et la traite atlantique du XVe au XIXe siècle, Paris, Editions Karthala, 1993.
REGENT Frédéric, La France et ses esclaves, de la colonisation aux abolitions (1620-1848), Editions Grasset et Fasquelle, 2007.
SALA-MOLINS Louis, Le code noir ou le calvaire de Canaan, PUF, 1987.
VERGES Françoise, La mémoire enchaînée : Questions sur l’esclavage, Hachette Littératures, 2008.
CRAFTS Hannah, Autobiographie d’une esclave, Payot, 2007
DOUGLASS Frederick, Mémoire d’un esclave, Lux Canada, 2007.
EQUIANO Olaudah, Ma véridique histoire : Africain, esclave en Amérique, homme libre, Marcure de France, 2008.
PRINCE Mary, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave Narrative, Dover Publications, 2004.
DAGET Serge, La traite des Noirs. Bastilles négrières et velléités abolitionnistes, Editions Ouest-France Université, 1990.
DAGET Serge, La répression de la traite des Noirs au XIXe siècle. L’action des croisières françaises sur les côtes occidentales de l’Afrique (1817-1850),Paris, Editions Karthala,1997.
DORIGNY Marcel et GAINOT Bernard, La Société des Amis des noirs, 1788-1799. Contribution à l’histoire de l’abolition de l’esclavage, Paris, Editions de l’Unesco, 1998.
ELTIS David et WALVIN James, The Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade : Origins and Effects in Europe, Africa and the Americas, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1981.
Les abolitions de l’esclavage. De L.F. Sonthonax à V. Schoelcher, 1793, 1794, 1848, Actes du colloque de 1994, Université Paris VIII, publiés par Marcel Dorigny, Presses universitaires de Vincennes, Editions de l’Unesco, 1995.
PETRE-GRENOUILLEAU Olivier, Abolir l’esclavage, Editions des Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2008.
SCHMIDT Nelly, Victor Schoelcher, Editions Fayard, Paris, 1994.
SCHMIDT Nelly, L’abolition de l’esclavage, Cinq siècles de combats, XVIe – XXe siècle, Editions Fayard, 2005.
VERGES Françoise, L'Homme prédateur, ce que nous enseigne l'esclavage sur notre temps, Paris, Albin Michel, 2011
VERGES Françoise, Abolir l’esclavage. Une utopie coloniale. Les ambiguïtés d’une politique humanitaire, Editions Albin Michel, Paris, 2001
VERGES Françoise, La Mémoire enchaînée. Questions sur l'esclavage, Paris, Albin Michel, 2006
