LAURA ARMINDA KINGSLEY & IVONNE GONZÁLEZ NÚÑEZ
Opening in the presence of the artists:
Thursday, 28 May, from 6 pm during Un Soir aux Eaux-Vives
Exhibition on view till 18 July 2026
What does a “story” mean today? We often think of the fleeting images shared on social media, appearing only to disappear again within seconds. In this exhibition, a “story” takes on another meaning: that of a narrative, a poem, a myth. A way of speaking, of passing things on, of remembering.
Afrocaribbean Stories brings together the works of two Afrocaribbean artists, Ivonne González Núñez and Laura Arminda Kingsley. Through their respective practices, they tell stories carried through bodies, territories, and time. Their works are not simply images or performances; they are situated forms of speech, rooted in lived experience and multiple inheritances.
Situated narratives: memory, identity and visibility
The Caribbean is a place of encounters and transformations. None of the peoples living there today are indigenous to it in the strict sense. The history of the region is marked by forced displacements, the processes of colonisation, of resistance, and of métissage. From these intersecting trajectories emerge complex identities, formed from fragments of Africa, Europe, Indigenous America, and Asia. This reality, often described as “creolisation,” runs through the works of Kingsley and González Núñez. But these histories do not all benefit from the same visibility. Certain presences have been suppressed or forced into silence, such as the African heritage of the Caribbean. The artists brought together here work within this tension between visibility and erasure.
Ivonne González Núñez approaches these questions through writing, photography, and performance. Her practice often draws from intimate experience so as to speak to collective realities. She stages everyday situations, at times seemingly banal, which nevertheless reveal deeply rooted forms of racism.
Childhood occupies an important place in her practice. She shows how prejudice can be transmitted from a very early age, almost effortlessly, as though it were self-evident. Gestures, words, and looks become forms of aggression, sometimes imperceptible to those who produce them, but long-lasting for those who endure them. By rendering these situations visible, the artist invites us to recognise their impact and to question their normalisation.
Another dimension of her practice involves revisiting historical images. By appropriating certain representations drawn from European art history, she reveals their underlying violence. What once appeared natural or neutral suddenly becomes disturbing. By reversing roles or shifting points of view, she opens a critical space: what do we truly see? And what have we learned not to see? González Núñez was deeply marked by a work she encountered at the Museo del Prado after arriving in Europe in the 1990s: The Miracle of Saints Cosmas and Damian (c. 1510), painted by Fernando del Rincón. The painting depicts the story of the first successful transplant, made possible through the desecration of the body of a non-consenting Ethiopian man. González Núñez transposes “the miracle of the black leg” into “the miracle of the white arm,” and suddenly the reversal becomes absurd, unthinkable and violent. Through this gesture, the artist, whose anti-racist engagement extends across both her professional and personal life, draws attention to a medical act that passes largely unnoticed at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, yet constitutes yet another violence against a Black body.
Cosmologies and interconnections: rethinking the living
Laura Arminda Kingsley works primarily with painting, digital images, and sculpture. Her creations immerse the viewer in dense worlds where historical, mythological, and scientific references intermingle. She engages both Afrocaribbean inheritances and the pre-Columbian cultures of the Caribbean, which have often remained little known or marginalised within dominant narratives.
Her paintings evoke inhabited landscapes, caves, and subterranean worlds. These spaces are not merely physical sites; they point toward cosmologies, toward ways of understanding the origins of life. In certain Caribbean traditions, such as those of the Taíno peoples, caves are perceived as places of origin, almost as wombs or matrices. They embody a deep connection between human beings, the earth, and the elements. The myth the artist draws upon is known as “Cacibajagua.”
The places of refuge where the Taíno resisted European colonization later became sanctuaries for enslaved Africans escaping plantations, who joined the Taíno in allied revolts. This shared resistance contributed to the emergence of new creole cultures. Kingsley brings these stories into the contemporary moment, where rest and resistance once again become essential to our survival.
In parallel, Kingsley mobilises microbiology as a framework for reflection. She reminds us that all life is interconnected, that human beings are not separate from nature but fully part of it. Through her texts and images, she proposes a shift in perspective: to think of oneself not as an isolated individual, but as the result of a long history of the living, shaped through transformation and adaptation.
This approach also makes it possible to rethink questions of identity. Rather than treating them as fixed or closed, the artist presents them as processes in constant transformation. Identities thus become dynamic constructions, shaped by multiple influences.
González Núñez and Kingsley work through different mediums, yet share a common approach: both place Afrocaribbean and diasporic experiences at the centre of their practice. The “stories” gathered here do not disappear after a few seconds. They persist, transform, and circulate. They remind us that storytelling is also a way of resisting, transmitting, and imagining other futures.
