Passages
Noémi Michel invites you to enter Passages, the evolutive space devoted to the recent history of the movement for Black Lives in French-speaking Switzerland. Over the months, words will be added to the sounds, like so many traces of the conversations she will have had with commited collectives.
Active in Switzerland for decades, the movement for Black lives has increased in scale since 2020 and the global «Black Lives Matter» demonstrations. It denounces racial systemic and police violence and breaks the silence surrounding the weight of colonization and slavery in Switzerland. Devoted to collective writing and attentive listening to this movement’s recent history in French-speaking Switzerland, Passages is a space that evolves.
To begin with, a sound piece brings together traces of the movement’s passage through our streets; posters and cards relay the questions that the latter asks us. Over the months, more posters and cards are inviting the public to interact with traces of my conversations with the collectives engaged for Black lives. Gradually, the walls are being adorned with a constellation of key voices for imagining reparation for colonial violence, decolonization and liberation.
Noémi Michel
Noémi Michel is Black feminist researcher and teacher, activist and cultural worker. Since 2017, her research, “the Politics of Voice”, sketches strategies for listening to and taking care of the voices of colonized people and their descendants. Rooted in the critical traditions of the Black diaspora, her exploration uses various media – text, radio, installations – favouring collective conversation as the source for thinking and dreaming a more just future.
©Photo Johnathan Watts/MEG
A teaser of Vies manifestées [Manifested Lives]
Piece composed from the sonic archives of anti-racist demonstrations and gatherings in French- speaking Switzerland (2020-2023)
Sound composition and creation: J. A. Santschi
Archives’ recording and curation of the sonic fragments: Noémi Michel
Length: approx. 7 min.
2024
With excerpts from speeches by the Alliance Against Racial Profiling, the CUAE, Président de la Suisse, Hervé Mandundu's sister, and the collectives A qui le tour, Faites des vagues, Outrage and lutte des MNA.
Thank you to all the other collectives involved in the rallies were: BLM Swiss Rom / Geneva, AEA, CIPINA, Jean Dutoit, Afro-Swiss, Réflexion Décoloniale, Kam'Af, Corpus, L'Etat de l'Union, Club économique africain, Amani, Kiboko
Two important initiatives for obtaining justice in Switzerland:
Quotes from conversations and story sharing organised and animated by Noémi Michel at the MEG with the groups A qui le tour?, Outrage, Réflexion Décoloniale, BLM Geneva, Afro-Swiss and Amani (May-September 2024).
Graphic Design: Netillo Rojas