Researcher-in-Residence
From left to right: Chemin du Montparnasse, © Margot Montigny/AWARE; Portrait of Clare Patrick; Design by Lisa Sturacci studio, © AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research & Exhibition
AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions is pleased to announce the winner of the second edition of the Marie-Solanges Apollon program, which aims to promote research into transcultural artistic practices, drawing inspiration from Global South and Paul Gilroy’s Black Atlantic concepts.
Clare Patrick is a curator, writer, and educator. During her residency at AWARE, she reevaluates the role of Adrienne Fidelin (1915-2005), who was long regarded as the “Black muse” of the surrealists and Pablo Picasso in the 1920s to 1940s. A Guadeloupean performer and artist, she was a key collaborator of the avant-gardes in France and the UK during the interwar years. Arriving in Paris at the height of the Jazz Age, A. Fidelin performed in iconic venues such as the Bal Blomet, a meeting place for the Afro-Caribbean diaspora and the Parisian artistic scene.
Broadly, the project will interrogate the significance of A. Fidelin’s influence as a contributor to various artistic movements in Paris. Reframing her role as collaborative prompts a reevaluation of the label of “muse” and the texts mentioning her work. By revisiting her relationships with contemporaries such as Man Ray, Eileen Agar, and Roland Penrose, the project repositions A. Fidelin within a lineage of performers, artists, and cultural workers, who activated exchanges between the Black Atlantic and the European avant-garde, highlighting her as a pivotal figure in this vibrant cultural landscape.
Clare Patrick was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. Her practice has unfolded in her home county, the UK, France, Ireland, the US, and Morocco. In 2023/24, she was a Curatorial Fellow at NXTHVN in New Haven. She previously held curatorial positions at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town, and in the UK at mother’s tankstation and The Lightbox. C. Patrick has lectured histories of photography at the Paris College of Art and supports programme development for L’AiR Arts Association. As Art Director for No! Wahala Magazine, she hopes to support the broadening ideas around contemporary African photography.
The selection committee for the 2024-2025 edition of the Marie-Solanges Apollon was composed of:
Françoise Vergès is an author, curator, and decolonial feminist activist. Her research focuses on the “afterlives” of slavery and colonialism, the decolonization of museums and the arts, decolonial feminism, and racial capitalism. Since 2024, she has been affiliated with the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Race and Racialisation at University College London (UCL).
Marie-Ann Yemsi is the director of the Villa Arson art center in Nice. She has curated numerous international exhibitions, including Ubuntu, a Lucid Dream at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2021-2022), and A World of Illusions: Grada Kilomba at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town in late 2022. She notably served as the artistic director of Afrotopia, the 11th edition of the Rencontres de Bamako – African Photography Biennale (2017-2018) and will curate the 19th edition of MOMENTA Biennale de l’image, which will take place in Montreal in the fall of 2025. She is also a recipient of the 2025 Villa Albertine residency program.
As well as Nina Volz and Louise Thurin for AWARE.
