Discussion with Josèfa Ntjam and Wilfried N'Sondé

Speaker(s): Josèfa Ntjam, Wilfried N'Sondé
Duration: 59 min

How do myths travel across time, territories, and technologies? Through the figure of Mami Wata and other narratives drawn from African and diasporic imaginaries, Josèfa Ntjam and Wilfried N'Sondé explore how mythologies evolve, are transmitted, and continue to shape our relationship to the world.

In her presentation, Josèfa Ntjam reflects on an artistic practice that brings together sculpture, photomontage, video, and sound. Drawing on archives, natural sciences, the Internet, and mythological narratives, she combines images, words, sounds, and stories to question ideas of origin, identity, race, and habitability. Her work places particular emphasis on Mami Wata, a water spirit with multiple incarnations whose many transformations reveal the circulation of myths across cultures and historical periods.

Writer and musician Wilfried N'Sondé, meanwhile, considers the role of myth in understanding reality. Through a body of literary work deeply engaged with questions of otherness, memory, and the preservation of living worlds, he demonstrates how mythological narratives can help imagine alternative relationships between beings, territories, and worlds.

In conversation, the two speakers examine the capacity of myths to survive historical ruptures, accompany social and technological transformations, and open up new perspectives for imagining the future.