An abused, dissociated, prostituted, liberated woman

In her book Le Noir est une couleur, Grisélidis Réal tells the story of her years in Germany as an undocumented alien with two illegitimate children and a schizophrenic black lover. Starving and desperate, she clashed with cruel Germans who inflicted terrible ordeals on her. She finally resorted to prostitution to make a living. She also describes satisfying sexual experiences with black American soldiers and exultant encounters with Roms. In every case, she uses imagery to depict the situations. The portraits and caricatures she draws reveal the complexity of male-female relationships. The context fosters games of domination and dissociation, the depths of humiliation and destruction, the issues around prostitution, desire, and love. Although Réal’s impassioned vision of the world may sometimes be unilateral, it incorporates the presence of the shadow and the self.