On the 5th of March 2026, Angels and Muse welcomed its inaugural resident of the year, Belgian-Nigerian actress Emmanuelle Gilles-Rousseau, for a rigorous research-based residency at the Lagos location.
Gilles-Rousseau works primarily in theatre in Belgium and France, and also appears in film and television.
Alongside acting, she takes part in collaborative stage writing processes. She contributed to the writing of productions such as L’avenir by Magrit Coulon, presented at the National Theatre of Wallonia-Brussels in 2024, and Le Sbeul by Jonathan Kibani (2021-2023). She also collaborated on the writing of Ceci n’est pas un film français, a feature film by Tom Adjibi in which she plays, scheduled for release in 2026. In 2024, she wrote and co-directed the absurd episodic short film Bebe.
Her artistic practice explores questions of representation and the intersections of race, class, and gender. She is currently developing a short film on mixed-race identity in provincial Belgium.
During her month-long stay at Angels and Muse, Gilles-Rousseau conducted research towards an imminent feature film centered on the colonization of traditional Igbo spirituality by Christian religion. This has found her interrogating historical works of Igbo provenance, and interfacing with scholars and artists versed in her research subject.
In the course of her research, Gilles-Rousseau has visited scholars at the Department of Linguistics, University of Lagos and made stops at other cultural touchpoints in the city such as Signature Gallery, Jazzhole, and +234 Art Fair.
To close out her successful research-based residency, Gilles-Rousseau had a public presentation titled “Ndi Igbo, kedu ka ụnụ di?” The presentation featured a conversation centered on the research conducted during her residency, which casts a critical eye on the colonization of traditional Igbo spirituality by Christianity. Gilles-Rousseau also presented Bebe, an episodic short film she wrote and co-directed with Julie d’Hennezel.