My name is February

Identities rooted in slavery

An exhibition by the Slave Lodge Museum
19 December 2023 - 2 June 2024, Musée de Villèle, free admission

My name Is February was conceived and presented by the Slave Lodge Museum (Cape Town, South Africa). This year, it is being shown at the Musée historique de Villèle as part of a partnership with Slave Lodge and Iziko Museums called "Exposition croisées", under which the Musée historique de Villèle, with the support of the Archives départementales de La Réunion, is presenting an exhibition in Cape Town entitled Les noms de la liberté (The Names of Freedom).

Through a gallery of portraits, the Slave Calendar, and the poem by Diana Ferrus which gives its name to the exhibition, My name is February presents the testimony of people who have inherited a name attributed to one of their enslaved ancestors. The exhibition has been enhanced by work produced for the occasion by pupils from Le Tampon's 14th secondary school, who were inspired by the poem.

"Your original surname was completely ignored because you were, after all, just a commodity. It depended on the month you arrived in the Cape region. You arrived by boat and were put into groups: you were the March, January, February, and so on." Felix February