Art and Food Pairing™: Dorothy’s Gallery and Waly-Fay – Part 2

Less than a 10-minute walk from the Gérard Bloncourt photography exhibition at Dorothy’s Gallery is the West African restaurant called Waly-Fay.

Waly-Fay façade
© Discover Paris!
This dining establishment has been operating at 6, rue Godefroy-Cavaignac for 19 years. This summer, it is only open in the evenings. You can go there for dinner 7 days a week, from 7 PM to 2 AM.

Just about everything on the menu at Waly-Fay is fait maison (house made). Fatou Sylla, who hails from Saint-Louis, Senegal, is the chef.

We were seated in the extension of the restaurant to the left of the door at Number 6. This section looks like a traditional Paris bistrot. Its windows can be opened to the sidewalk to permit al fresco dining, which we enjoyed that evening.

We forewent alcoholic beverages as before-dinner drinks and opted instead for jus de gingembre (ginger juice) and jus de bissap (hibiscus flower juice). We found both to be quite refreshing.

Jus de gingembre (left) and jus de bissap (right)
© Discover Paris!
In a futile attempt to avoid overeating, Tom and I decided to split a starter. We selected boudin noir and received two plump, savory blood sausages served with a dollop of chutney made from chopped sautéed bell peppers, cooked onions, and spicy mustard. Three thinly sliced rings of raw, red onion served as garnish. The boudin was finely textured and delightfully spicy.

Boudin noir and pepper and onion chutney
© Discover Paris!
An exquisitely fresh baguette with crispy crust and soft crumb was served with this course. We enjoyed scooping portions of the boudin and small spoonfuls of chutney onto the baguette and finished the entire basket of bread before we knew it. We remembered too late that we’d each get a huge side dish of some starchy substance (rice, sweet potato, or manioc) with our main course and that we’d likely not be able to finish it because we had eaten so much bread!

For the main course, Tom selected a dish called “A Dash of Soul” – a chicken breast coated with a mixture of crushed pecans, paprika, garlic, cumin, and oregano. It was served with a small portion of barbecue sauce, a disk of carrot and cabbage coleslaw, and a large portion of fried white sweet potatoes. Tom enjoyed this dish – he did not leave a single morsel on his plate.

“A Dash of Soul”
© Discover Paris!

I ordered my favorite Senegalese dish, Yassa de poulet. I received a steaming bowl of this delightful preparation of stewed chicken and a plate of long grain rice that could have easily served four persons. The yassa consisted of two drumsticks and a thigh nestled in a sauce of cooked onions, diced carrots, several pitted green olives, a few morsels of chopped tomato, and a wedge of lime. It was exquisitely prepared, but I expected it to have a stronger citrus flavor. A small spoonful of pepper sauce from a tiny goblet served alongside added just the right “kick.”

Yassa de poulet with rice
© Discover Paris!
As I feared, indulging on the bread during the first course left me with insufficient appetite to enjoy this dish fully. I chose to leave part of one drumstick, some of the onion mixture, and 90% of the rice unconsumed so I would have room for dessert.

And speaking of dessert, what could be better on a warm summer evening than ice cream and sorbet? I ordered glace au gingembre (ginger ice cream) with rum-soaked Corinth raisins and Tom ordered sorbet au corrosol, which is made from soursop. He had to choose another dessert when the waiter emerged from the kitchen to tell us that the restaurant was out of this selection. He chose the flan de coco as a replacement and devoured it with pleasure.

Flan de coco
© Discover Paris!
The ginger ice cream was more like a ginger ice – it was not exceptionally creamy and it was not as sweet as I had anticipated. I received two American-sized scoops of this iced dessert, which was artisanally made, but not on the premises. The fresh morsels of ginger provided marvelous bursts of flavor and I ate it with relish.

glace au gingembre
© Discover Paris!
We conversed with our friendly servers for a while after finishing our dessert, happily paid our bill, and wandered off into the evening.

WALY-FAY
6, rue Godefroy-Cavaignac
75011 Paris
Open every night from 7 PM until 2 AM
Last call for orders at 12:30 AM
Telephone: 01 40 24 17 79
Metro: Charonne (Line 9)
Internet: http://www.walyfay.com/

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Art and Food Pairing™: Dorothy’s Gallery and Waly-Fay – Part 1

Currently on display at Dorothy’s Gallery is an exhibition of over 70 photographs by Haitian artist Gérald Bloncourt. Called Gérald Bloncourt: Un demi-siècle de mémoire photographique (Gérald Bloncourt: A Half-century of Photographic Memory), the show explores four themes: Celebrities, Social Engagement, Paris – Eternal and Working Class, and The Worker’s World.

Bloncourt is the son of a Guadeloupian father and a French mother. In addition to being a photographer, he is a painter and a writer of prose and poetry. He was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2012 and was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2015. He is a founding member of the Centre d’Art, an organization whose mission is to support the international recognition and distribution of Haitian art.

While I have seen many exhibitions of Bloncourt’s paintings at Dorothy’s Gallery, I did not realize that he has amassed a significant body of work as a photographer. I was intrigued by the opportunity to see this exhibition, but Tom and I were disappointed to find the gallery unexpectedly closed on the day we wanted to visit. I was able to take these photos through the window.

Angela Davis at the Humanity Festival - detail
1973
© Discover Paris!

Ray Charles
May 1962
© Discover Paris!

A couple of paintings were on display in the window as well.

Hoèdic, Bretagne
2000, Aquarelle on paper
© Discover Paris!

Sabine Haïti
1989, ink on paper
© Discover Paris!
Gérald Bloncourt: Un demi-siècle de mémoire photographique will be on display through September 23, 2016. Toward the end of the run, the gallery will install a greater variety of Bloncourt's work, including additional paintings, drawings, and etchings to accompany his photographs.

During the month of August, Dorothy’s Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 2:30 PM to 7:30 PM.

In September, normal hours resume:

Wednesday through Saturday from 1 PM to 7 PM
Tuesday and Sunday from 4 PM to 7 PM
and by appointment

dorothy’s gallery
27, rue Keller
75011 Paris
Telephone: 01 43 57 08 51
E-mail: dorothysgallery@gmail.com
Metro: Bastille (Lines 1 and 5), Voltaire (Line 9)
Internet: http://dorothysgallery.com/art/

In Part 2 of this article (to be published next week), read about the meal that Tom and I had at the nearby West African restaurant, Waly-Fay.

Waly-Fay sign
© Discover Paris!
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The Necessity of French Cafés - Part 2

Exploring Lisa Diane Wedgeworth’s Acknowledgment of the Black body through Installation

By Sojourner Ahébée

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth’s installation, The Necessity of French Cafés, raises some really important questions for the future of the Black-American presence in Paris.

Wedgeworth attested to feeling very light and free during her stay in the city, and she even noted that she did not experience any micro-aggressions or overt forms of racism/anti-Blackness while in Paris. She explained to her audience during the exhibition that “It is a complex and liberating experience, being Black in America, then traveling and being seen as an American first.” She continued by saying, “Although my skin color is definitely seen, I have not experienced any behavior from the French that would suggest that I was less than, seen as a threat, or perceived as negative.” Wedgeworth prefaced this testimony by stating that the experiences of Arabs, Africans, and French-Caribbean people in the city will/may greatly differ from that of her own.

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth recounting her experience in Paris
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée

I think it is essential to note the weight of such a preface and to consider the relative privilege Black-Americans living in Paris hold in striking comparison to their Black counterparts.

As the evening unfolded and Wedgeworth relayed her story in the gallery, a Black-American woman in the audience who has been living in Paris for many years raised her hand to recount her own encounters with racism in the French workplace. She explained that Wedgeworth’s experience was relatively lucky, and could have been a result of her position as an artist-in-residence in the city.

My own experiences in Paris differ greatly from those that Wedgeworth presented. When I visited last winter, the city relentlessly asked questions of my Blackness that complicated my ability to view it as a place of refuge. Most of my interactions with white French citizens were problematic at best. For example, if I entered a place of business, the reception was cold or hostile, and I attribute this to being falsely perceived as an African immigrant or an Afro-French citizen. But, as soon as I spoke and my American-accented French sprung from my mouth, the reception I received completely changed. It is almost as though my being American erased my Blackness, my being African.

Audience members share their stories surrounding Blackness in Paris
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée

Aside from the contesting narratives that surround Black-American life in Paris, I do believe Wedgeworth’s installation was incredibly successful at shedding light on this sense of displacement that has plagued the countless pursuits of Black-Americans (and Black peoples, more broadly) in search of freedom and liberation. The fact that Paris -- a city that Black peoples across the diaspora are historically not native to -- serves as a breeding ground for generations of Black liberation constantly astonishes me. Black people in the diaspora are constantly faced with placelessness. As the young poet, Danez Smith, once said of Black diasporic people, “As Black people in the diaspora, we are not native to the land...but we are native to our people.”

Singer Gwen Sampé and dancer Samuel Mwamé
perform freedom songs in front of the installation
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée

There is a certain French fascination and obsession with American culture, and also with Black-American culture. So in many ways, Black Americans continue to be well received in Paris. But at what expense?

When Black Americans like James Baldwin were in Paris, escaping the violence and hate that was America, the French empire was one of the biggest colonial powers in the world and the French were exacting heinous crimes against humanity upon Black Africans in their colonies. So while the reception of Black Americans at the time was one to be “celebrated,” can we really call this liberation when other Black bodies were being colonized across the Atlantic Ocean?

I think this same question applies to contemporary Black Americans in Paris today. African immigrants and Afro-French citizens are constantly treated as second-hand citizens in Paris. And most recently, Adama Touré, a young African man, died in police custody just last month. It is evident that anti-Blackness permeates many levels of French society.

Sojourner Ahébée pictured holding a coffee cup from Wedgeworth’s installation
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée
So even if Black Americans continue to receive equal treatment in Paris, is this sense of freedom disrupted by the injustices enacted on other marginalized groups in the city?

In other words, are we free if there are others who do not know this freedom?


Sojourner Ahébée is a 2016 BOSP Continuation International Fellow for the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University. She is currently serving as the Paris intern for the Wells International Foundation.

Read more of Sojourner's work at Sojourner Ahébée.

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

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The Necessity of French Cafés - Part 1

Exploring Lisa Diane Wedgeworth’s Acknowledgment of the Black body through Installation

By Sojourner Ahébée

On July 27, 2016, Paris’s Galerie Couteron transformed into a space for healing and freedom. None other than the brilliant Lisa Diane Wedgeworth exhibited a visual installation that served as powerful acknowledgment and memorial for the Black American body in France and in the United States.

Wedgeworth is an L.A. native who spent two months in Paris this summer as the 2016 Georgia Fee Artist-in-Residence. Inspired by the African-American legacy in Paris -- as the City of Light was a safe haven for many African-American artists and scholars, especially during the height of American racial violence in the 20th century -- she spent her time in the city exploring this history and the lives of contemporary Black-American expats living in Paris. Through a series of interviews with Black-American locals, writing workshops she organized for the expat community in Paris, as well as personal journal and blog entries she wrote detailing her experience here in Paris, she tirelessly worked to uncover some of the racial dynamics in the city that contributed to this sense of black liberation many Black-American expats have attested to over the years.

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth presents her installation
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée

Wedgeworth’s installation, entitled The Necessity of French Cafés, upheld and celebrated Black lives around the world with haunting intention and love. As you entered the gallery, you were greeted by a long line of white espresso cups and saucers that graced the wooden floor. Some cups were filled with coffee, some were only half filled, and still others held the brown residue of a dry coffee stain. During the opening reception, Wedgeworth informed us that each espresso cup represented every Black American killed while she was working in Paris during the months of June and July 2016.

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée
Wedgeworth was quite intentional in her positioning of the cups. She provided her audience with a guide to interpret each cup, and by extension, each Black life and its own human positioning. In her Artist Statement, she writes, “ The varying levels of café in the cup represents whether the person was… non-threatening (full cup), unarmed and threatening (half-full cup), armed and threatening (residue), armed, threatening and committed a violent act or homicide (empty cup).” The direction in which the handle of each espresso cup faced also represented whether the person was unarmed (right facing) or armed (left facing).

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée

But the question becomes “Why the espresso cup as a metaphor for Black death?” The answer is actually grounded in the history of French café culture and the liberatory role it has played for the many African Americans who have ventured to Paris over the ages. The French café was and is often the place in which many Black-American expat communities -- from writers like James Baldwin to visual artists like Beauford Delaney -- met with each other in Paris to talk, to organize projects, to share stories, and to exist without the burden that their racial identity created for them back home. It was a space where the Black mind could find repose and joy.

Musician Tommie Lee McKenzie and dancer Samuel Mwamé
perform freedom songs during Wedgeworth’s installation
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée
Black Americans throughout the 20th century were often welcomed by the French, and this welcome certainly extended itself to the space of the French café. So when Wedgeworth asks us to imagine Black death in terms of espresso cups, she is essentially naming a kind of Black loss that functions in a trans-Atlantic mode of history. She is asking us to imagine the kind of freedom Baldwin and Delaney felt in the French café, and she demands that we envision what that freedom could have looked like if experienced by the now dead, Black-American citizens back home. Later in the evening she explained the following:

I was in London when I learned of the death of both Alton Sterling and Philando Castille and I began to wonder if they had had the opportunity to come to Paris, to learn and feel that their Black bodies were not on the radar of the Parisian police, would they have chosen to stay in Paris or some other part of France and still be alive today?

Many of the people I have met here will never return. The lives they are living, the freedom they feel will never be sacrificed for the illusion of dreaming in America.

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth explains her installation to audience
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée
But is there a certain illusion that also accompanies the supposed freedom Black-Americans feel in Paris today? Poet Langston Hughes once wrote of Paris and said “ There [Paris] you can be whatever you want. Totally yourself.” And Hughes’ sentiments and love for Paris were certainly replicated in generations of Black Americans who would, too, come to see Paris as a place where race did not dictate the way people treated you, your very life and death. and.

Yet, as a Black-American woman navigating the city throughout these past few weeks, I am constantly reminded that I am Black.

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth (left) with Sojourner Ahébée (right) at the installation
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée
Also, with the relatively recent emergence of African immigrants in the city and the complicated (and often violent) colonial history that informs the relationship between Africa and France, Blackness in Paris and the way Blackness is both perceived and received in the city,have been completely transformed. There is a significant sense of anti-immigrant sentiment present in the city. There is also a charged history between French-speaking Africa and France and this relationship most certainly serves as an explanation for the racism many Africans face in the city.

But, the big question is, how does this “new” African presence affect the reception of Black Americans in Paris? Is Paris still a refuge for Black Americans? Would Philando Castile and Alton Sterline have felt safe in Paris if they had traveled to the city?

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth
The Necessity of French Cafés
Galerie Couteron, 2016
Photography by Sojourner Ahébée

Sojourner Ahébée is a 2016 BOSP Continuation International Fellow for the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University. She is currently serving as the Paris intern for the Wells International Foundation.

Read more of Sojourner's work at Sojourner Ahébée.

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

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