Every year in Guadeloupe, the effigy of Vaval, King of the carnival is burned on a pyre, and every year he returns. Born to die, Vaval embodies perpetual renewal and the power of the present.
His annual death creates order among the people, removing resistance, corruption and excess. Yet, even as the celebrations recede, and people return to their homes, a poison continues to flow through the land, and forests and cities continue to burn.
How To Live From Fire to Fire is a story that moves from one blaze to another, from the 1791 Haitian revolution to the 1981 New Cross fire that killed 13 young black people, in an archive of flames that haunt and pursue people wanting to live freely.
Olivier Marboeuf is and author-storyteller, independent curator, cultural theorist and film maker from Guadeloupe. He has made significant contributions bringing postcolonial ideas and thought into the French art and cultural scene.