Françoise Vergès (Reunion Island) is a political theorist, an antiracist and decolonial feminist and independent curator. She has written extensively on the afterlives of slavery, South-South solidarities, the decolonization of the public space and of the museum, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, decolonial feminism, the circulation of textiles, ideas and tastes, neoliberalism and the economy of predation. A co-founder of the non-profit Decolonize the Arts (Paris,2015-2020), she has been convening L’Atelier a workshop cum public performance with artists and activists of color, contributes to The Nomad Colony created by artist Kader Attia and organizes decolonial visits in museums. Recent publications: Programme de désordre absolu. Décoloniser le musée (2023), A Feminist Theory of Violence. A Decolonial Perspective (2022), A Decolonial Feminism (2020), De la violence coloniale dans l’espace public (2021) Resolutely Black. Conversations with Aimé Césaire (2019), The Wombs of Women: Race, Capital, Feminism (2020).

She will be giving a keynote lecture entitled “Breathing: A Revolutionary Act”, answering the question:

How do we turn the right to breathe into a struggle that is decolonial, feminist, queer, anti-racist, pro-Indigenous, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and internationalist? 

The right to breathe is a call for revolutionary action.