Nicola Lo Calzo, Italy
Suriname – French Guiana
Despite having played a fundamental role in the anti-slavery struggle and identity construction of the African diaspora in the Americas, marronage is still poorly understood.
Marronage created communities that wrested themselves free of slavery and proclaimed their sovereignty in the New World. These communities of runaway slaves were found throughout the Americas, from Louisiana to Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Brazil and the Guianas. Some of the descendants of these societies continue to exist today. They are the gatekeepers of a little known self-emancipation narrative. This is the story of the Maroons of the Guianas, also known as Businenge or Bushinengue.
The Obia photographic project ―undertaken in the historical Maroon territories of Saamaka and Maroni, in both Suriname and French Guiana (1)― seeks to examine the links between the exceptional magical-religious legacy of Maroon people and the new challenges that stem from modernity: the ongoing acculturation among new generations and the counterweight produced by deculturation. Additionally, Obia calls for a rethink of the connections between historical marronage and challenges pertaining to contemporary immigration and, not least, between the memories of the colonial past and accommodations with the postcolonial present.
Nicola Lo Calzo
(b. 1979) Turin, Italy/ Paris, France
Nicola Lo Calzo has focused his photographic practice and research on issues of identity, colonialism, and inter-sectionality. His images show how minority groups interact with their environment and devise strategies of survival and resistance. Over the past seven years, Lo Calzo has been engaged in an ambitious research project, entitled The Cham, about memories of the slave trade and slavery, which includes various series of photographs taken in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Under the Kehrer Verlag imprint, he has published Regla (2017), Obia (2015), and Inside Niger (2012). He is a contributor to Le Monde, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.
1. This region, known now as the town of Saint-Laurent-du-Maronio, is located on the Maroni River, between French Guiana and Surinam.