In the organizer's words:

In Outlaw Culture, Bell Hooks wrote in 1994: "The function of art... is to imagine what is possible." The French-Senegalese artist anaiis translates this ethos into sound. On her upcoming album Devotion & The Black Divine, the songs move between emotional clarity and a return to the self, in dialog with nature, inner dignity and the beauty in chaos.

Motherhood characterizes the work: it deepens anaiis' understanding of human unpredictability and creative freedom. The album follows the idea of a moving self, like Octavia Butler's thought "God is Change". Growth does not appear linear, but characterized by adaptation and new beginnings. Where earlier works sought catharsis, this project draws strength from slowness and gentleness. "Something is Broken" opens as a farewell to old pain. The creative expansion began in Brazil, where anaiis improvised live with Grupo Cosmo - with her newborn baby along for the ride.

More recent releases such as the reinterpretation of Lauryn Hill's "To Zion" or remixes of "B.P.E." tie in with diasporic collaborations. Shaped by lives in Toulouse, Dublin, Dakar, Oakland and now London, anaiis developed a perspective full of movement and community. Since their 2018 debut, an acclaimed album, collaborations, tours and festival appearances have followed.

Inspired early on by voices like Ella Fitzgerald and carried by the legacy of Black artists like Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, Baldwin and Sembène, anaiis shapes her art with conviction and curiosity. Her visual works - often in collaboration with Tayo Rapoport and Ronan McKenzie - expand her musical worlds cinematically.

Devotion & The Black Divine combines tenderness and intensity. anaiis focuses less on the past and more on possibility, seeking new vocal spaces and emphasizing gratitude, acceptance and letting go of fear. She shows healing as a non-linear process and makes it tangible through her gentle perspective.