The Body in Ritual | BHM Conference Montreal 2026

The exploration of identity and the “human condition,” to use the terms of André Malraux, lies at the heart of an exceptional transdisciplinary collaboration that today brings together photographic art, anthropology, and cultural mediation. This project, whose origins date back to 2010, is preparing to take on new momentum with the exhibition African Rituals and Avatars, presented as part of Black History Month.

The starting point of this aesthetic venture is the meeting between gallery owner Guy Musa Galoussa, director of the Afromuseum, and photographer Claude Gautier. Together, they undertook to “bring to life” a vast collection of African artifacts. “The idea was to make these masks alive, to give them a meaning that would allow them to be showcased,” explains Claude Gautier. For six months, in the studio, models from diverse backgrounds wore these centuries-old pieces, thus creating the collection Mask Bearers.

A dialogic approach

Under the impetus of Professor Normand Cornet, a specialist in “dialogue,” the event is above all conceived as an open space for exchange. For him, interaction with the public is essential, echoing his guiding principle: “There is only one bad question—the one that is not asked.” This approach invites the viewer not to remain a passive witness, but to become an active participant in cultural dialogue.

The evolution of the project in 2025 offers a renewed interpretation at Galerie Éclat Art Contemporain. This time, Gautier’s photographs resonate with the works of painter Julien Lumbada Candolo. This intersection of disciplines is enriched by the perspective of anthropologist Gilles Bibaud, who, according to his collaborators, “transformed into a poet in front of these pieces” to offer an artistic and symbolic reading of the beauty of the masks.

The body as a space of ritual

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication of a guide entitled The Body in Ritual, illustrated by Daniela Muset. This material documents fifteen years of visual research and reflection on African heritage and its contemporary resonance.

By integrating the program of Black History Month, the organizers aim to strengthen public awareness of the richness of these artifacts. Between ancestral rituals and modern avatars, the event highlights that, despite the diversity of forms, the common denominators of the human experience remain universal.

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