Audio commentary in English.

MARTINIQUE, BEYOND THE POSTCARD

Martinique from 1972 to 1974 stood at the crossroads between a tumultuous global context and pressing local challenges, revealing a reality far removed from the usual idyllic images.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT: THE YEARS OF FIRE

These years echoed the post-1968 revolutionary movements, marked by liberation struggles and demands for equity across several continents. The 1966 Tri-Continental Conference had already laid the groundwork for international solidarity between Asia, Africa, and Latin America, foreshadowing a decade of challenges and resistance. The first oil shock in 1973, initiated by OPEC, shook the global economy and caused unprecedented inflation, exacerbating difficulties in Martinique. This period also saw the intensification of emblematic struggles against apartheid in Africa, guerrilla actions in Latin America, the militancy of the Black Panthers in the USA, and the tragedies of the Vietnam War, with their influence reaching Martinique.

NATIONAL CONTEXT: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CRISIS

In Martinique, this era was synonymous with a sharp rise in prices, affecting fuel, basic necessities, and the overall cost of living, plunging the island into a deep economic crisis. Agricultural workers, particularly those in the banana sector, bore the brunt of this situation, with degrading living and working conditions. Exploited, without adequate protection from toxic pesticides, they worked from dawn to dusk for a meager wage, the SMAG (minimum agricultural wage), far below the SMIC (minimum wage) demanded. These years were marked by the persistence of an arbitrary hiring system and unjust pay, worsening workers' precarity. Often, families were forced to involve their children in agricultural tasks, endangering their health and education.

REPERCUSSIONS AND AWAKENING OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The impact of international struggles and the economic crisis acted as a catalyst in Martinique, where consciousness began to awaken. Solidarity with global resistance movements and the demand for social and economic change intensified, marking the beginning of a period of demands and mobilizations for fundamental rights and fair recognition.

This exhibition aims to delve into the complexity of this era, revealing a vibrant Martinique, engaged in the fight for justice and dignity, far beyond the postcard clichés

BETTY RAFFAELLI

Audio commentary in English.

BETTY RAFFAELLI

Amidst the deep upheavals of 1972 to 1974, Betty Raffaelli captured on film a pivotal period in Martinique, a time when social and cultural shocks left an indelible mark on the island’s history. Invited by Jean-Marie Serreau, a theater icon, to document the first Fort-de-France Theater Festival, a commission by Aimé Césaire, she went beyond her initial assignment to capture the soul of a Martinique in transition.

"When I left the theater, I saw that the fiction had escaped and was unfolding right there, in reality, before my eyes..."

Through her lens, Betty Raffaelli revealed the living conditions of the Martiniquan people, highlighting the barely concealed remnants of slavery and the resilience of a colonial matrix that persisted. In 1974, as Martinique was engulfed by strikes and harshly repressed protests, her camera remained steadfast.

She captured the essence of anger, despair, but also the hope of a people fighting for their dignity.

Her works, blending images and sound, painted a rich and nuanced portrait of Martinique, exploring daily lives with a perspective that oscillated between intimacy and anthropological analysis. Raffaelli’s art, beyond simple documentation, was a dance with light, framing, and subject. She embodied the idea that to capture the moment, the photographer must be in motion, integrating body and soul into the creative process. Her black-and-white photographs transcend mere representation, offering a deep and empathetic vision of Martinique, opening windows onto worlds both near and distant, familiar yet mysterious.

In this exhibition, each of Betty Raffaelli's photographs is an open door to the past, a reflection on the lasting impact of colonial structures, and a celebration of Martinique’s resilience and beauty.

By confronting her audience with the complexity of this period, Betty Raffaelli invites a profound dialogue on identity, memory, and the future of an island that, despite its challenges, continues to flourish beyond static images and preconceived ideas.

Betty Schneider discovered her passion for cinema at the Lens film club, launching a prolific career with iconic roles in films by Jacques Tati and Jacques Rivette, for whom she played the lead role in Paris Belongs to Us. In both theater and photography, she excelled as an actress and photoreporter, offering a vision that was both engaged and sensitive, enriched by her work with sound recordings.

La Misére
EN MARTINIQUE

Audio commentary in English.

POVERTY IN MARTINIQUE

Amid the deep upheavals of 1972 to 1974, Betty Raffaelli captured on film a pivotal moment in Martinique’s history, a time when social and cultural shocks indelibly shaped the island’s future. Invited by Jean-Marie Serreau, a theater icon, to document the first Fort-de-France Theater Festival, a commission by Aimé Césaire, she went beyond her initial assignment to capture the soul of a Martinique in transformation.

"When I left the theater, I saw that fiction had escaped and was unfolding there, in reality, before my eyes..."

Through her lens, Betty Raffaelli exposed the living conditions of the Martiniquan people, highlighting the barely veiled remnants of slavery and the persistence of a resilient colonial framework. When Martinique was engulfed by strikes and harshly repressed protests in 1974, her camera did not waver.

She captured the essence of the anger, despair, but also the hope of a people fighting for dignity.

Her works, blending images and sound, paint a rich and nuanced portrait of Martinique, exploring daily life with a perspective that shifts between intimacy and anthropological analysis. Raffaelli’s art, beyond simple documentation, is a dance with light, framing, and subject. She embodies the idea that to capture a moment, the photographer must be in motion, incorporating body and soul into the creative process. Her black-and-white photographs transcend mere representation, offering a deep and empathetic vision of Martinique, opening windows onto worlds both near and distant, familiar yet mysterious.

In this exhibition, each of Betty Raffaelli's photographs is an open door to the past, a reflection on the lasting impact of colonial structures, and a celebration of Martinique’s resilience and beauty.

By confronting her audience with the complexity of this period, Betty Raffaelli invites a deep dialogue on identity, memory, and the future of an island that, despite its challenges, continues to flourish beyond static images and preconceived notions.

Betty Schneider discovered her passion for cinema at the Lens film club, launching a prolific career with iconic roles in films by Jacques Tati and Jacques Rivette, for whom she played the lead role in Paris Belongs to Us. In both theater and photography, she excelled as both an actress and a photojournalist, offering a vision that was both engaged and sensitive, enriched by her use of sound recordings.

THE END OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY AND ITS REPERCUSSIONS

Audio commentary in English.

THE END OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY AND ITS REPERCUSSIONS

In the 1970s, the sugar industry, which had been the economic backbone of Martinique for centuries, experienced a violent decline. This upheaval led to profound changes in the island’s social and economic fabric.

INDUSTRIAL COLLAPSE AND ECONOMIC CRISIS
Over the course of two decades, Martinique saw the closure of three-quarters of its sugar factories and two-thirds of its distilleries: out of 13 factories, only two remained (Lareinthy and Gallion). This brutal deindustrialization contributed to a dramatic increase in unemployment, with the number of jobless rising from 15,000 in 1967 to 20,000 in 1974, representing 20% of the active population at the time.

RESPONSES AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES
In response to this crisis, emigration became a safety valve against social upheaval. BUMIDOM, created in 1961, facilitated the departure of tens of thousands of Martiniquans to mainland France, helping to defuse a potentially explosive situation.
This period was also marked by growing political awareness and mobilization among Martinique’s youth. Social movements such as M10-1 (the January 10 high school student movement) and UCAEM (Union of Action Committees of Martiniquan Students) exemplified this political awakening. Significant strikes across various sectors, including France Antilles, construction workers, and dockworkers, reflected a tense social climate.

ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION: SHIFT TO THE SERVICE SECTOR
As the sugar industry dwindled, the service sector began to expand, becoming a major component of Martinique’s economy. However, this economic transition failed to offset the loss of agricultural jobs, especially in a context of rapid population growth.

BANANAS, THE NEW AGRICULTURAL MAINSTAY
Sugarcane gave way to banana cultivation, which became the island’s main agricultural product. This transformation deeply altered the agricultural landscape of the island’s North Atlantic region, reflecting the necessary adaptations to global and local economic changes.

MONDE AGRICOLE

Audio commentary in English.

TENSIONS IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

By the late 1970s, the banana industry had become unprofitable, plunging the agricultural sector into a deep crisis. This precarious situation threatened the local economy, which was 65% dependent on banana exports, and jeopardized the jobs of more than 10,000 people.

A WORKERS’ MOVEMENT IN TURMOIL
This period of economic tension coincided with a historic turning point in the Martiniquan labor movement. The meeting of young revolutionary intellectuals and agricultural workers, who had been enduring harsh working conditions for years, awakened a spirit of struggle in the countryside. Inspired by the writings of Marx, Lenin, and Mao Zedong, these young people sought to understand their history and engage in the fight for dignity and the emancipation of agricultural workers.
Among banana workers, in addition to the harshness of their work—miserable wages, 12-hour days, deplorable hygiene and safety conditions—the handling of toxic chemicals, such as chlordécone, introduced to Martinique in 1972 without adequate protection, was common. This led to serious accidents and silent poisonings. The workers lived in unsanitary housing, without drinking water or access to proper sanitation, illustrating a life of suffering and neglect.

MORAL AND SOCIAL MISERY
Beyond material hardship, agricultural workers experienced deep moral misery, sometimes worsened by sexual coercion for employment—exerted on women by overseers—and the repression of any attempt to organize or fight for their rights.
This dark period highlighted the urgent need for change and collective awareness to improve the living and working conditions of those who formed the backbone of Martinique’s economy.
Some agricultural workers, feeling abandoned by the CGT union, whose influence had waned since the 1960s with the decline of the sugarcane industry, bore the full brunt of the harsh demands imposed by large landowners. Despite divergences within the labor movement, a united front began to form around the struggle for social justice and cultural development for Martiniquans.

The ideas of responsibility, dignity, and sometimes even independence emerged, revealing a deep desire for change and recognition.