Valérie John was born in 1964 in Fort-de-France, and studied art at Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. Starting in her years as a master’s student, she explored the pagne [wrapper] as an object infused with layers of memory that could play an important role in the construction of identity. She began to create art in Senegal before returning to Martinique to teach and continue her artistic research. Her work has been exhibited in France, throughout Africa, in the United States and in the Caribbean.