lives and works at Paris, France

Born in Paris to a Central African father and a French mother, Dénètem Touam Bona is part of the “Afropean” authors with a border-crossing identity, who seek to build bridges between worlds that still, to this day, cling to the “color line.” As a regular contributor to the Institut du Tout-Monde (a center dedicated to the work of Édouard Glissant), he is the author of three philosophical and literary essays: Fugitif, où cours-tu? [Fugitive, where are you running to?], Cosmopoéticas do Refúgio [Cosmopoetics of Refuge], and Sagesse des lianes. Cosmopoétique du refuge I [Wisdom of the vines. Cosmopoetics of Refuge I]. In his works and projects, Dénètem Touam Bona seeks to make “marronagem” (the art of escape and evasion of enslaved people) a philosophical object in itself, a utopian experience from which we can contemplate the contemporary world. In recent years, he has regularly collaborated on creative projects, primarily as a playwright and in the field of dance, in addition to curating the collective exhibition A sabedoria dos cipós [The Wisdom of the Vines] (2021-2022) at the Centre Internationale d’Art et du Paysage de Vassivière, where he aims to implement a “cosmopoetic refuge.” His latest creative project, inaugurated in November 2022, combines performances, sculptures, and VR, with the aim of celebrating the memory of the creative struggles of the colonized: “Spectrographies, tales from the starry island.”

He participated in the Study Program: “Saberes em convívio: o que eu não vejo também existe” [Knowledge in coexistence: what I don’t see also exists] – Pivô Research 2023.