Bal Pays

Barontini's work questions the historical canons which permeate cultures and territories which have experienced slavery and colonization. His approach invites us to explore new imaginaries, as well as narratives that encompass a diverse history. His representations, banners, tapestries and ceremonial capes interrogate representations of power, its ceremonial aspect and its potentially carnivalesque subversion. To do so, he uses a unique technique of visual collage that combines painting, serigraphy and digital prints. He defines himself not as a historian but as a storyteller. His research work opens narratives and representations that are unique to him. His practice builds alternative narratives that put forward various heroes and heroines – real or fictional.

Raphaël Barontini was born in 1984 in Saint-Denis, where he lives and works. For the 2024 Nuit blanche event, he created the performance Déboulé céleste. His personal exhibition, I live a journey of a thousand years was presented in the spring of 2024 in the Currier Museum of Art (Manchester, USA). In 2023, he created a unique exhibition and performance in the Panthéon in Paris, We Could Be Heroes. Among his most recent collective exhibitions, we can name Des grains de poussière sur la mer (Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille, 2024), Globalisto. Une philosophie en mouvement(MAMC +, Saint-Étienne, 2022), Possédé·e·s (MO.CO, Montpellier, 2020). He is represented by the Mariane Ibrahim Gallery (Chicago, Paris, Mexico)