2007 © Eric Boudet

Kettly Noël, a Haitian who lives in Mali, and Nelisiwe Xaba from South Africa correspond. They invented the characters Madame X and Madame Y to celebrate their friendship and to negotiate difficult and easy questions. It is a game of laughing, dance and seduction and a depiction of missed chances, jealousy and devotion. Kettly Noël is not afraid to use the dark side of the images of Haiti as her survival strategy.
“If you want to try to intimidate me, I have my resources. I’m a Haitian and voodoo always generates fear”. Flowing and electric, excessive and clearly drawn, their performance delineates the contours of an ambivalent identity.