“À l’affût du monde” [On the Lookout at the World], the first retrospective exhibition in tribute to visual artist and poet—with French Guianese roots—Serge Goudin-Thébia (1945-2013), is on view at Fondation Clément in Martinique, until November 2, 2025. A guided tour of the artistic world of Goudin-Thébia will take place on October 18, 2025, at 10:00am. [Also see the accompanying catalog at Fondation Clément.]
In Outremers360, Éric Boulard explains, “At age 33, Serge Goudin-Thébia discovered his Guianese roots, which were a true revelation for him. It was in French Guiana, where he taught as a visual arts professor, that he forged his career as a visual artist and poet. After French Guiana, in 1986, he settled in Martinique, in Tartane facing the sea where he joined the Fwomajé group, composed notably of Victor Anicet and Ernest Breleur, who carried out research on a Caribbean aesthetic.”
Description (by curator Franck Doriac): “Serge Goudin-Thébia à l’affût du monde” [Serge Goudin-Thébia on the Lookout at the World]
“Ho hatama estoy na no me! Quelque chose de puissant me fait trembler!” – Cheyenne saying often repeated by the artist.
The work of Serge Goudin-Thébia (1945-2013), known as Thébia, is remarkable, plural and profoundly singular. A visual artist and poet, but also an art critic and professor, he was interested in many fields, read extensively, being as passionate about literature, poetry, sociology, or Taoist philosophy as he was about biology or quantum physics.
Land Art, conceptual art, the relationship between art and nature, Beuys, Fluxus, Hundertwasser, Yves Klein, Mircea Eliade… the artist was a little over 20 years old when these artistic movements, these artists, or these thinkers became known on the international scene. His visual practice, his acuity of vision and his view of the world were then influenced by it, with the strong bond of poetry that was intimately linked to his life.
At the same time, at the age of 33, he found his biological father in French Guiana: it was then a true (re)birth for him. Everything that was buried within him was then brought to light because, to use his phrase, “what is true inside takes shape outside.”
His artistic practice was consequently nourished by all this “Amazonian magma” made up of various contributions on art, the sacred, Creole identity, and hybridization. His work reached its full maturity in Martinique, a place that greatly inspired him and provided the quintessence of his work.
From a selection of around one hundred works (objects, sculptures, engravings, drawings, etc.), but also poems, writings, and videos, this retrospective dedicated to Serge Goudin-Thébia was designed around three themes, reflecting the three founding pillars of his emblematic poles: Seeker of the Gold of Time / Geopoetics / Where We All Go.
Essay excerpts translated by Ivette Romero. For the original text, see chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.fondation-clement.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Catalogue-A-laffut-du-monde-Serge-Goudin-Thebia.pdf
For more information, see https://www.fondation-clement.org/
See catalog at https://www.fondation-clement.org/publications/serge-goudin-thebia/
“À l’affût du monde” [On the Lookout at the World], the first retrospective exhibition in tribute to visual artist and poet—with French Guianese roots—Serge Goudin-Thébia (1945-2013), is on view at Fondation Clément in Martinique, until November 2, 2025. A guided tour of the artistic world of Goudin-Thébia will take place on October 18, 2025, at