RESIDENCY AWARD RECIPIENTS

The Consulat Général de France à Quebec and SKOL are pleased to announce the winners of the Villa Sylva cross-residency program: Juan David Molina Velasco (Quebec) and Kafé Bétian (French Guiana). Through a research-creation residency format, this program invites two visual artists from French Guiana and Quebec to discover another region and meet its cultural and artistic communities.

Juan David Molina Velasco will be in residence in French Guiana from March 8 to April 20, and Kafé Bétian in Quebec from April 27 to June 7.

Originally from Colombia, Juan David Molina Velasco is an artist whose practice moves between “Install’Action” and performance. Displaced by violence, he grew up in Quebec, navigating between two cultures and two languages. His identity is in constant redefinition. This state of transition fuels his work, in which he explores liminal spaces and identity in-betweens.

Kafé Bétian is a sculptor and musician. He comes from a lineage of Saamaka sculptors from western French Guiana, whose specialty is wood carving known as “Tembé.” From a very young age, his father passed on to him the gestures, knowledge, and spirituality of wood. Today, he wishes in turn to pass on this knowledge and show younger generations that it is possible to make a living from one’s art. His sculpture is rooted in tradition: everyday objects, seats, paddles, and tembé motifs.

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This first 2026 edition is organized in partnership with CARMA – Centre d’art et de recherche de Mana (Mana, French Guiana), Tiers Lieu 32bis/Guyane Art Factory (Cayenne, French Guiana), MAZ – Maison de la photographie Guyane-Amazonie (Cayenne, French Guiana), Puamuna (Mashteuiatsh, Quebec), and Centre SAGAMIE (Alma, Quebec).

The selected laureates also receive support from the association L’Arbre du voyageur both prior to and during their residency.