Esther Calixte-Bea's Fyète Souhou-te Tribe
Fyète Souhou-te is a fictional tribe created by Esther Calixte-Bea inspired by her culture and personal life. Fyète meaning pride in haitian creole, Souhou meaning divine in guéré an ivorian dialect and te for affaire. Much like her last name being a combination of her haitian mother and ivorian father's last name, she combined haitian and guéré words to create the name of this tribe. Fyète Souhou-te is divine pride or proud to be chosen by God. In this tribe, Calixte-Bea represents hairy black women, their everyday life, traditions and struggles while challenging eurocentric beauty standards. As a hairy women herself, the artist has discovered through her ivorian side of the family that her hairiness is hereditatry and that back in her great grandmother time body hair on women was seen as beautiful and not shameful. She decolonizes beauty through this tribe, discusses the topic of identity, lose of identity while reflecting on her upbringing in Canada. The artist uses painting, drawing, writing, fabric and more to create an immersive world. For Calixte-Bea, creating a fictional tribe is creating a space for healing and allowing the audience to discover an imaginary world they can escape in.