Paulette Gomis is a Paris-based PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the INALCO University. She is currently working on a project thesis entitled: Transmission of Manjaku culture (Guinea-Bissau): woven fabric as a communication tool. She is particularly interested in the phenomenon of migration and its impact on the transgenerational transmission of Manjaku culture in France. Her research work is part of a multidisciplinary approach.

She plans to design a communication tool that will take the shape of an art installation with the help of contemporary artists, weavers and young people. This tool, which is intended to be universal, will enable the new generation to reconnect with its history. Textiles, present in all societies, will be the main medium and will aim to re-establish the social bond between individuals. Born in France from Guinea-Bissau parents, she has always heard about “Guinendade” since childhood. That philosophy of life which ties all individuals together aims at creating one Guinean culture and has always been a source of inspiration for her project.

Last summer, while visiting the “Olhares de Guinendade” exhibition in Lisbon, she caught on what could bind individuals to a unique culture through “guinendade” and as a result she decided to integrate the concept into the heart of her work. As a newly resident at Air 351, Paulette Gomis is willing to further explore  the “guinendade” with the local community and to find out how this common culture enables the ethnic mosaic of Guinea Bissau to exist.