Zaïra Florance Pourier is a Caribbean-rooted architect. Her versatile commitments encompasses spatial interventions, education, and studies, with a profound emphasis on themes related to colonial history, diaspora, and heritage, stemming from her Caribbean and African roots. Currently based in Amsterdam South East, Zaïra actively engages with her surroundings by collecting traces, objects, and ingredients that speak to her rich cultural background. Through her contributions, she strives to unravel the narratives embedded within these cultural artefacts, seeking to bridge the past with the present.
Curves of Inquiry is a Gerrit Rietveld Academie initiative that showcases the findings of nine artist-researchers who completed a fellowships trajectory in the previous academic year. Each of these projects is carried out in close collaboration with a department of the Rietveld Academie or Sandberg Instituut to foster relationships between educational programs, research activities, and societal issues.
Drums adorned with the vivid pigments of ancestral dances, chairs bearing engravings steeped in the weight of centuries, and baskets woven with the artistry of calligraphy—all once integral to our homelands, now resting in Western homes.
In this dedicated journey, led by our custodian, Zaïra Florance Pourier, who has meticulously curated these objects from various sources, we unveil the stories etched into each grain of wood and thread of fabric, exploring the soft language of craftsmanship and the resonance of diaspora. This endeavour captures not only objects but the sonorous echoes of history, melodies and conversations traversing continents, weaving a tapestry of memory, and offering a deeper resonance, an intimate connection to our origins.
"Resonance in Displacement" seeks to emphasise the enduring significance of these artefacts, harmonising in the space between displacement and belonging.