It all starts with a LinkedIn post. Nothing too spectacular, on the surface. I saw some buzz around Noor-Sharina Grondin, I read it, I quickly understood, and without overthinking it – which is often the start of good or bad ideas – I added her and wrote to her. A pretty simple message: Would you like to do a residency in Martinique?
Said like that, of course, it makes you question things. Someone you don't really know, based far away, offering you a residency somewhat out of the blue... it could look like either a great opportunity, or something a bit suspect. And then, most importantly: this offer perfectly matches what she's looking for. Coming to Martinique for her thesis research. And sometimes, when reality aligns a bit too perfectly with desire, you wonder if you truly deserve it.
So, we take our time. Several video calls, discussions, adjustments. And then, at some point, she says yes.
A little while later, she is there. In Martinique. The same day that Gareth Taylor Scene. Two residents passing each other at the airport, taking a photo, almost like an improvised handoff. It’s beautiful, but also a bit hectic. Probably the kind of situation you experience once and then look back on with a smile, saying, “Okay, we tried that.”.
Quickly, one understands that this residency will not be conventional. No deliverables, no tangible object to produce. A territory. Noor-Sharina is a researcher; she works on shatta, and I... let's just say I'm not exactly the most qualified person to talk about it for hours. Which makes the situation quite interesting: I'm not here to explain it to her, but to enable her to meet. To open doors, create conditions, support. And sometimes, simply to be present.
We eat together, we move around together, we string appointments together, we talk—a lot. And without really realizing it, something is settling in. A kind of shared daily life. After her return, she writes to me that we lived together. And that's exactly it. Not a long-distance residence, not a succession of fragmented moments, but a dense, continuous, almost total immersion.
We traverse places, people, contexts. Tropiques Atrium To begin by setting the scene, there's the university, exchanges with the dean, discussions with his thesis advisor. And then, most importantly, the field: Blicassty, Régi, PSK, Ven'L, General Shizzle, VLG Rocki. Names, but more importantly voices, presences, realities that give substance to his subject. With each encounter, something becomes clearer. And I, in passing, discover a part of my own culture that I actually knew very little about. It just goes to show, sometimes you have to accompany someone to learn yourself.
At some point, you come to laugh about it. Common references, manga, video games. And without really knowing how, I find myself in a position of senpai. Not official, not claimed, but present. A position linked to the territory, to experience, perhaps to the age difference. Something simple, natural. And strangely right.
What this residency has taught me is quite clear. I had already understood what this tool could do for us: create, structure, transmit. But I had not yet measured what it could do for others. Very concretely. Accompanying research work, facilitating fieldwork, accelerating encounters, making possible what would otherwise have taken months. Not intentions. Conditions.
The word that remains is perhaps this one: edifying.
Since then, Noor-Sharina has continued on her path. Invited on France Inter, publications, visibility. And somewhere, part of that trajectory passed through here, in this somewhat suspended moment where everything aligned without it being entirely planned.
Ultimately, this residency produced nothing visible. No objects, no forms. But it produced something real. Connections, access, movement. And for me, a very simple idea: sometimes, sending a slightly too direct message on LinkedIn is exactly what was needed.
