French street artist Shuck One is paying tribute to influential Black figures who have shaped France’s contemporary history, both on the mainland and in its overseas territories.
Hailing from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, which is a French overseas department, Shuck One is a prominent Black graffiti and visual artist.
He is contributing to the “Black Paris” exhibition, which explores the impact and presence of Black artists in France from the 1950s through 2000.
The Pompidou Center, renowned as one of the leading modern art museums globally, will showcase the works of 150 artists of African descent, spanning from Africa to the Americas, many of whom have never been exhibited in France before.
Shuck One is among five selected artists tasked with offering contemporary perspectives.
Identifying as “an activist who became an artist,” Shuck One grew up in Guadeloupe during the 1970s.
Upon moving to Paris in the 1980s, he emerged as a trailblazer in French street art and graffiti, drawing inspiration from the Négritude movement, which opposed colonialism, racism, and Eurocentrism.
His installation, titled “Regeneration,” measures four meters (13 feet) in height and 10 meters (33 feet) in length.
It captures significant moments in Black history through a combination of paintings and collages featuring maps of Paris, archival materials, and photographs.
The installation begins with the “Tirailleurs Sénégalais,” a colonial infantry unit in the French army that served in both World Wars.
It also highlights the May 1967 riots in Guadeloupe, which resulted in the deaths of potentially dozens of individuals, a topic still under investigation by historians.
Additionally, it addresses the BUMIDOM, a French state agency that facilitated the migration of 170,000 individuals from French overseas departments to the mainland for economic reasons between 1963 and 1981, now viewed by historians as a representation of post-colonial oppression and discrimination.
The installation further includes portraits of notable Black figures, encompassing politicians, writers, and civil rights activists.
The exhibition features prominent figures such as U.S.-born entertainer and civil rights advocate Joséphine Baker, poet Aimé Césaire, who was instrumental in the Négritude movement, and American political activist Angela Davis.
Additionally, it highlights lesser-known individuals like writer and activist Paulette Nardal, Eugénie Eboué, the first Black woman elected to France’s National Assembly, Gerty Archimède, who followed shortly after, and Maryse Condé, a novelist hailing from Guadeloupe.
Running from March 19 to June 30, this exhibition is among the final ones at the Pompidou Center before it closes for renovations expected to last five years.
