New York, naked York – Liberation

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–In her “White Shoes” series, photographer Nona Faustine portrays herself in the streets of slave-holding America.–

It wouldn’t take much to cause a road accident… However, the crossing of this woman with the appearance of an empress, in the middle of New York, does not seem to disturb anyone. She advances, haughty, as if nothing had happened. Does she know, at least, that she is quite naked under the long shawl which gives her the air of a queen? Is she aware that her flesh, her breasts, her belly and her generous thighs are on display for all to see? Of course she is aware of it. She is even proud of it. Her nudity is her strength. His body is a weapon. And her white pumps, so feminine, carry her like Jesus above the waters.

Here is Nona Faustine, American artist, great master of political self-portraiture. To remind that the power of her country was built on the slavery of the African continent, Nona Faustine poses naked in New York in places linked to the slave trade. In the great book White Shoes, a collection of 40 self-portraits published at the end of 2021, it brings back the forgotten memory of the martyrdom of Africa in strategic places in the city. Here she is naked on Wall Street, the first slave market on the continent, with walls built thanks to the labor force resulting from the transatlantic slave trade. By undressing near the first stock market in the world, Nona Faustine, recalls that the very roots of capitalism are inseparable from the exploitation of black bodies. In other photographs, we see her on a shore where slave ships docked, above…

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