In And Then, Perhaps, a Memory, Michaëlle Sergile, a Montreal-based artist and independent curator, creates a new body of work that combines video, sculpture and woven artworks. This exhibition portrays the immigration stories of three Haitian women and how these relate to the larger socio-political landscape in Haiti at different times in the 20th and 21st centuries. 

I first became familiar with Sergile’s work at her exhibition To All the Unnamed Women when she was artist-in residence at the McCord Museum in 2024-2025. As a researcher and archivist, the artist’s emphasis on the importance of archives and storytelling in her practice immediately captivated me. It was inspiring to see the various ways in which the presentation and dissemination of archival materials can be approached in contemporary art. Sergile’s textile art centres on the histories of Black people, particularly the experiences of Afro-descendant women. Her artworks often incorporate video installations, enabling her to reclaim the voices of these women and rebuild their narratives from a postcolonial perspective. This year’s exhibition at VOX, centre de l’image contemporaine proved no different.

In And Then, Perhaps, a Memory, Sergile provides a platform to understand Haiti’s recent history, where episodes of violence, repression, destruction, corruption and human rights violations have occurred under the Duvalier dictatorship (initiated by François Duvalier, from 1957 to 1971, and continued with his son Jean-Claude

…