Away from Africa

Belatedly, a post about Vickie Fremont's exhibition at HIFA in Harare, Zimbabwe. This exhibition took place from May 1 to May 6, 2018, under the title “Birds of Freedom”, as part of the 18th edition of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), which will run under the theme “We Count”. Vickie Frémont , as we know from various articles and blog posts, "has been conducting workshops around the world, using a hands-on approach for the transformation of rejects or trash into useful everyday objects. Her workshops... take place in schools, community centers, universities, and even in commercial malls. They include lectures on the destructive effects that trash of every kind has on the environment and on climate change. She has conducted her workshops using recycled materials at The Fashion Institute of Technology, Vickie Fremont at HIFA The Bank Street School for Children, The Henry Street Settlement in New York City,...

A photo gallery of new African puppets by Vickie Frémont, representing various regions and fabrics in the continent. Indigo Mudcloth Baule woven cloth Bazin fabric Korhogo fabric The puppets are to be shown at the upcoming SIRA event at the Maison de l'Afrique in Montreal, Canada, on November 7, 8 and 9, 2013. Vickie will be holding three workshops on Saturday, November 9. Maison de l'Afrique: 6256 Henri-Julien, Montreal - for more information: tel. 514-701-1433.

This week's post was published on New York in French . For the first time in years, I wrote in French.... and translated into English ! The post is about Vickie Frémont's latest "Tour of Recycling" in Peru with the Alliance Française.

Vickie Frémont Vickie Frémont has been designing and creating since she was 8 years old, drawing and painting without having ever been taught. At the age of 12 she began to sew, making dolls for her little sister. She was rather shy and spent most of her time as a child alone, reading, writing or knitting, beading… Vickie was born in Cameroon, but left at an early age. With her parents, she lived in Morocco, and many years in the Ivory Coast and in France. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree, in France, and planned to teach Spanish. She also studied anthropology and economics. However, at one point she was working in the neighborhood of the Necklaces Beaux Arts (fine arts) school and started studying Arts techniques, realizing that there was her calling. She operated a knit textile company for several years, employing 10 people, creating knit designs for such well-known brands as Georges Picaud, Anny Blatt, Pingouin, Phildar, Sonia Rykiel, Torrente, Dorothée Bis, Daniel Hetc...