People you see/hear in this website...

Egbomi Nancy de Souza is a senior researcher (and daughter of the owner) of the Pierre Verger Foundation. Nancy de Souza worked with the French photographer and ethnographer Pierre Verger from the 1980s until his death in 1996. Her work consisted of examining thousands of photographic slides and identifying them according to the stories of West African traditions as well as Bahia. She has been dedicated to compiling and comparing materials from the Yorubá and Fon traditions in Bahia and Africa, in addition to receiving numerous requests for consulting and reviewing academic works from students and researchers from all over the world. She is an acknowledged intellectual from the African diaspora and a great scholar of Afro-Diasporic cults, languages ​​and movements in the Caribbean, South America and Africa, and Egbomi in theTerreiro Ilê Axé Opô Aganju, in Salvador da Bahia.

Jean-Daniel Lafontant is Hougan and founder of the NA-Ri-VéH vodou temple in Haiti. In addition to running the temple, Jean-Daniel is an advisor to the DAWO Vodou Association and a Gwètode member of KNVA, the Haitian National Vodou Council. His area of ​​specialization focuses on the production and promotion of Haitian culture. In 1987, he created ANAE, an association specialized in the promotion of Haitian art and crafts influenced by Vodou. From 2014 until today, he does consultancies in the field of Haitian art and culture in Haiti and the United States, and works intermittently with several cultural institutions (universities, media and museums). In 2018, Jean-Daniel co-organized “Pòtoprens”, a seminal Visual Arts exhibition inspired by Vodou at the Pioneer Works gallery in New York and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami.

Gloria Wekker is a cultural anthropologist and professor emerita of the Gender Studies Department, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Specializing in Gender Studies, African Diaspora Studies and Sexuality Studies, she is the author of The Politics of Passion; Women’s sexual Culture in the Afro-Surinamese Diaspora (Columbia University Press, 2006), for which she won the Ruth Benedict Prize of American Anthropological Association (2007). Her most recent book is White Innocence: Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race (Duke Univ. Press, 2016), which is an ethnography of white Dutch self-representation. Wekker has published widely on many different topics and also writes poetry and prose. In 2015-16, she served as the chair of the Diversity Commission at the University of Amsterdam. In 2017, she received the governmental Joke Smit prize for her efforts on behalf of women’s emancipation; was elected one of the ten most influential academics in the Netherlands and received a Black Achievement Award for her academic work. Between 2019- 2021 she holds the King Willem-Alexander Chair of Low Lands Studies at the University of Liège, Belgium.

Bayyinah Bello first earned an Administrative degree in New York State University. Then went on to gain a BS in Education and an MS in Linguistics. Her professional teaching career began in 1969 in the U.S.A, while teaching Arabic at Muhammad University of Islam. There she discovered the joy of writing and published several language manuals and children story books. Bello has lived in Liberia, Nigeria and Togo. Visited all west African countries and several others on the continent. As a lover of Art and Artefacts, established and ran an art gallery, in Lomé. Back in the United States she worked as a publicist at the Museum of Natural History. After gaining a master’s degree in Primary Education and more teaching experience, returned to Haiti in 1979. There, she taught Hausa language and culture at the State University of Haiti. She also founded the ‘Citadelle International School’ bilingual school for Primary & Secondary aged children, aiming to aid young Haitians returning home. As one of Haiti’s preeminent anthropologists from the State University of Haiti, Professor Bayyinah Bello is among the professional educators to have dedicated her life’s work to the struggle for human rights and dignity for the Haitian people. A humanitarian and advocate in her own right, Professor Bello continues to contribute time and resources to assist in the development of program based on a procedure conceived by her. It states that the greatest knowledge is the knowledge of Self. Once one has developed the knowledge of Self one has no basis to envy another, to desire that which is not naturally yours, to promote or practice corruption… one is empowered to generate reciprocity which is the foundation from which springs abundance and prosperity. Bayyinah is fluent in Haitian, French, English, Arabic and Hausa.  She is currently working as Professor at the State University of Haiti as well the International Representative of FONDASYON FELICITEE. Publications: 1970, Beautiful Black Words for Beautiful Black Children, AMA Publishers; countless articles on History, Women, Vodoun, Education & Culture in magazines and journals in Afrika, the Caraibes & the United States in 3 or 4 languages; 1995, Almanak Ayisyen/Ayitian Calendar 1995; 1995 Héritage Maternel, poems on audio cassette; 2000, Mwen Rele Kanis Ogis, auto biography of a 123-year-old man; 2015, Bio of Jean-Jacques Dessalines; 2019, SHEROES of the Haitian Revolution. Professor Bello is committed to achieving the primary goal of FONDASYON FELICITEE which is to develop an education system beneficial to all those affected by the Maafa.

Irmãos no Couro is a research group based in Salvador de Bahia dedicated to the comparative study of rhythms and chants of the different Afrodiasporic nations that compose the Candomblé tradition in Brazil. As an integral part of their work, Irmãos no Couro conduct weekly workshops (led by Tonsele Ton) in order to prepare Ogãs and Tatas for their important role in Camdomblé houses.

Clarins da Bahia is an ensemble dedicated to the history of this wind instrument in the context of the African diaspora in the Americas. The use of the Clarin in lithurgic Candomblé rituals in Bahia derive from the ancient use of animal horns to announce and pay tribute to African kings and queens. Along with the drums, agogo, bells, and xequere, the Clarins are responsible for creating the sounds through which humans and deities communicate and exchange energy. Since its foundation in 2001, Clarins da Bahia have performed in some of the important Candomblé festivities all over Brasil.

Onwitscheneider Sanclair is a proeminent young poet and painter, nationally known in Haiti for the song Bagay La Mare, composed in partnership with the musician Zikiki.

Rose-Myrtha Fortuna Vercammen Dorsant was born in Ayiti on the 8th of june in the year 1996. The name Rose-Myrtha is a conjunction of the words Rosacae and Myrthacae. Myrthacae is the name of a plant family consisting of herbs and plants such as  Myrtle, bay rum tree, clove, and eucalyptus to just name a few. It is noticeable that within these plants reside powerful healing qualities. Likewise the Rosacea is also the name of a plant family containing herbs, shrubs, and trees, with equally powerful healing qualities, but more so known for their beauty . The collide of these two words conjured the essence, the soul and the spirit of Rose-Myrtha. A powerful being with healing qualities, passionate by aesthetic pleasure. A passion which she transfigures in her work as an art curator, healer and plantwomen. As a survivor of sexual, racial and physical of violence she realized the importance of aligning herself with the afromfeminist struggle and engaged herself as a member of 'Mwanamke' a Belgian Afrofeminist collective. Being surrounded by beautiful women, with such a vast source of knowledge, stimulated her even more profoundly to broaden her research into topics such as racisme, imperialism, decolonisation, African history, decolonisation, gender inequality, and sexisme. At 19 years old her personal research fruited in the founding of her own non-profit organization 'Kuchukua Hatua vzw'. With Kuchukua Hatua vzw she aims to generate, boost and bundle inner strengths to transform them into sustainable development within our societies. Art for her is the perfect weapon, sword and armour to accomplish this. Curating spaces as centers of knowledge, healing, joy and exploration. Rose-Myrtha organised and curated her very first art exhibition in 2016 called the  ‘African Contemporary Art Exhibition’ in Brussel. In 2017 she organized the ‘Sankofa’ exhibition in Brussel. In this exhibition she showcased pre-colonial art, to debunk the notion that African societies did not have a civilisation before colonisation. In 2019 she organized the ‘Healing through art exhibition’ with the focus to destigmatize the taboo surrounding mental health and spread awareness about the impact of racism on mental health. In 2020 she invited 7 artist to join her on a journey into the erotic. Within this journey she commisioned 7 artist to meditate on the speech of Audre Lorde called: ‘uses of the erotic, the erotic as power.’ During this journey her and her team organized Kuchukua Hatua’s very first artist residency. This residency consisted of workshops, rituals, times of joy and relaxation. The fruits of this journey will be exhibited on the art exhibition  in september 2021 called : Honor&Respect, The deobjectification of black femininity throught the power of the erotic. Next to her passion in art, Rose-Myrtha also pursued her academic dreams. In 2018 Rose-Myrtha graduated with a bachelor degree in ‘Agogische Wetenschappen’ from the university of Brussels. In 2021 she will graduate with a master in Environmental science, from the university of Antwerp, Ayibobo! 

Leandro Nerefuh a.k.a. Libidiunga is an artist self-inscribed in the “brazilian” constructivist tradition. Since 2009, he has been developing a method of formal translation of historical narratives with special dedication to the geographies of SubAmerica and the Carribbean. Around 2013, his work took on an ontological turn and has become mostly concerned with the creation of transambients that converge different crafts into open-ended environments including living beings, spirits, technologies, and things. He is also a co-founder of PPUB - Partido pela Utopia Brasileira, an exofficial political party that was active in brazil, paraguay and uruguay from 2008 to 2015.

Cecilia Lisa Eliceche (Wallmapu, 1986) is a dancer choreographer and dance advocate based between Salvador de Bahia and Brussels. They are traversed by more than 500 years of colonialism in Abya Yala and inspired by ancestral times outside of linearity. The territories she walks inhabit her. They conceive dance as a space to practice otherwise and otherworlds. She has been dancing for more than 10 years with Heather Kravas. Since 2016, they have been sharing life and work with Brazilian artist Leandro Nerefuh and diving in the deep waters of Ayiti. In 2020, with the guidance of Ruro Caituiro, Cecilia with the company of Leandro gave birth to divine Toya. She is thankful to Houngan Jean-Daniel Lafontant and Egbomi Nancy de Souza for their teachings and friendship.