Kwir Nou Éxist is a project by the artist couple Raya Martigny and Edouard Richard, born in 2020, documenting the LGBTQIA+ community on the island of Reunion. Investigating the construction of identity inside the insular context, this project aims to put in dialogue two realities, being queer and being Creole, by affirming their existence and the coexistence of these two identities.
The duo collected testimonials and personal stories from the participants, contributing to creating an archive for Reunion’s LGBTQIA+ community. Kwir Nou Éxist s will is to create a recognized community based on the island, despite the cultural struggles LGBTQIA+ individuals may face in the insular environment.
The project will be launched on July 15th in Paris, during the 35th Paris l’été festival and the France-Brazil 2025 Season. With the exhibition at the Jardin des Tuileries, the event will host performances by Brandon Gercara and drag queens from Reunion and Brazil, and festive evenings. The second appointment will take place back to Reunion in September 2025, with debates and performances with locals and Brazilian researcher and transpologist Renata Carvalho, in collaboration with the Requeer Association at the FRAC Réunion. The international tour will conclude in Brazil in October and November, first at Futuros Art Centre in Rio de Janeiro, then at the MIS- Museu da Imagem e do Som in São Paulo as part of the MixBrasil Festival.
Kwir Nou Éxist will create a dialogue between Brasil and Reunion, to share Creole roots and explore common issues such as colonization, slavery, and migration, interconnected with LGBTQIA+ struggles and visibility. With the participation of Renata Carvalho, discussing transvestite and transgender representations, and Brandon Gercara, founder of the first LGBTQIA+ center in the Indian Ocean, who initiated the island’s first Pride, Brasil plays a fundamental role in the recognition and amplification of Reunion s queer reality.
