Connecting with the Heritages of Slavery
Jean-Philippe Kalonji, painter, illustrator and author

JP Kalonji
Mixed technique. 2024
Não te beija o filho tenro,
Não te inspira a fonte amena,
Nem da lua a luz serena
Vem teus ferros pratear.
Só de sombras carregado,
Da gaiola no poleiro
Vem o tredo cativeiro,
Não te inspira a fonte amena,
Nem da lua a luz serena
Vem teus ferros pratear.
Só de sombras carregado,
Da gaiola no poleiro
Vem o tredo cativeiro,
Mágoa e prantos acordar.
Coleirinho, Luís Gonzaga Pinto da Gama, 1861
The tender child doesn’t kiss you,
The mild spring doesn’t delight,
Nor does serene moonlight
Come to silver-plate your chain.
Burdened only by umbrage,
From the perch in your cage
Enslavement betrays,
Waking lament and pain.
The mild spring doesn’t delight,
Nor does serene moonlight
Come to silver-plate your chain.
Burdened only by umbrage,
From the perch in your cage
Enslavement betrays,
Waking lament and pain.
The poet Luís Gonzaga Pinto da Gama (1830-1882) was born in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Although born free, he was enslaved at the age of ten. Throughout his life, he was involved in the fight against slavery as a self-taught lawyer, politician, abolitionist, journalist, and poet, despite not learning to read until the age of seventeen.

Ivonne González Núñez
Ivonne González Núñez is a lawyer, musician and performer. Holder of a postgraduate degree in European and International Economic Law, she is director of the Black Guiris collective which offers participative artistic performances on the theme of racism and the invisibility of black people. Since 2018, she has run the multilingual "Noircir Wikepedia" project for the visibility of the contributions of African and Afro-descendent culture to universal culture in the online encyclopedia.
©Photo JSD La Journée de la Femme Digitale