Arthur Francietta & Michael Roch

The Alliance Française Miami Metro is hosting a conversation with acclaimed French author on tour, Michael Roch, and with Arthur Francietta, recipient of this year’s Caribbean Cultural Institute (CCI) Artist Fellowship at the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Together, they’ll explore fresh perspectives and experimental techniques in re-imagining Caribbean identities and narratives.

At the confluence of speculative literature and the graphic arts, Arthur Francietta and Michael Roch explore Caribbean imaginaries from a new angle. Both aspire to create new narrative and poetic forms that capture the complexity of Caribbean societies. Through literature, visual arts, and multimedia, Roch and Francietta push the boundaries of cultural representation, offering new lenses on Caribbean heritage, history, and futurity.

Michael Roch is a writer and screenwriter of Caribbean science fiction, born in Lyon in 1987, highly acclaimed for his novel Tè Mawon (2022, La Volte). He is currently publishing a collection of short stories in the same universe, Lanvil emmêlée (2024, La Volte). Since 2015, he has led several writing workshops on the theme of Afrofuturism – a literary movement developing Afrocentric counter-dystopias – in prison and university settings. Today, he hosts Latilié, a creative writing workshop dedicated to literatures of the imagination on Twitch. He teaches storytelling at art schools. He is also a member of the Fabrique décoloniale.

Arthur Francietta is a Martinique-born artist, designer, and typographer who seamlessly blends graphic design, visual art, and cultural heritage in his work. His innovative approach to asemic writing – a form of writing without literal meaning – creates symbolic visual languages rooted in Caribbean history and traditions, drawing on influences like Anaforuana and Vévé. Francietta’s art explores themes of ancestral memory, the sacred connection between humans and nature, and the deep cultural legacy of the Caribbean. As founder of Studio de Création Bureau Blindé, he has made a significant impact on the visual and graphic design landscape of Martinique and the broader Caribbean, pushing the boundaries of contemporary art in the region. In 2025, Francietta will be in residence at the Villa Albertine in San Francisco.