"NO APOLOGIES" is the first ever art book from Reiffers Arts Initiatives. It chronicles Kenny Dunkan's solo exhibition, presented from October 22 to November 20, 2021 at Studio des Acacias, under the mentorship of Rashid Johsnon. 

The exhibition "NO APOLOGIES" came from the exchanges between the two artists.

 

Mentor of the first edition of the mentoring program initiated by Reiffers Art Initiatives, the American Rashid Johnson chose to support the French artist of Guadeloupean origin Kenny Dunkan.

 

Nourished by the advice of the famous Afro-American artist, Dunkan proposed an exhibition in the form of an initiatory journey punctuated by three monumental and immersive installations, including sculptures, videos and photographs, and retraced by this exceptional book, witness of a unique creative epic.

 

Drawing on the visual culture of the Caribbean, particularly that of carnivals, his work questions the French colonial heritage and the persistence of its modes of representation. It is also a way for Kenny Dunkan to discuss the post-colonial heritage of his island. The body, a recurring theme of the artist who does not hesitate to stage his own black body, is also at the heart of the devices: a fragmented body, multiple and becoming.

 

The title "NO APOLOGIES" ("no apologies") refers for Kenny Dunkan to all the current violence done to bodies, whether black, gay... and the refusal to excuse them. "I have too often apologized to myself for being who I am," explains the artist. Because of my skin color, my sexuality... Today, I don't want to apologize for being the person I am anymore." - Kenny Dunkan.

 

Created in 2021 by Paul-Emmanuel Reiffers, President-Founder of Mazarine, a communications group specializing in luxury, art and culture, Reiffers Art Initiatives is an endowment fund for young contemporary creation and cultural diversity.

The mission of the endowment fund, whose international artistic committee is composed of well-known personalities from the world of art and culture, is to expose and give visibility to the emerging figures of tomorrow's contemporary art.