Work Down the Isle

Reunion Island a small piece of French territory floating in the Indian Ocean,just east of Madagascar has quite an ethnic mix in its less than 1,000 sq mile area.

Reunion Island a small piece of French territory floating in the Indian Ocean,just east of Madagascar has quite an ethnic mix in its less than 1,000 sq mile area. People from south and east Asia,Europe and Africa have poured into this isle over the centuries. The Bonjour India festival,hosted by Alliance Française,Delhi,brings an art exhibition by 11 artists from the isle,who have worked in 11 different media.

Francine Meoule who is curating the exhibition,Offshore Project,says,Eleven has no special significance except that it seemed like a fair number,not too big and yet enough to represent the cultural and political diversity of the island,its Creoles,the Europeans,Indians and the Chinese. Even the geographical variety of this tiny island is vast,from mountains to volcanoes.

The works range from new-media artist Jean-Claude Jolets subtle meditations on negritude to Louis Pavageaus rather direct comments on politics. Pavageau uses strips of red and white to talk of the protective and prohibitive nature of governance,while making a larger poetic statement on governance. While I was staying in Reunion Island,I had several occasions to see the work of Pavageau,without knowing who he was. The simplicity of his approach is inversely proportional to the effectiveness of his technique, says Meoule.

Kid Kréol a.k.a. Jean-Sébastien Clain and Boogie a.k.a. Yannis Nanguet have done a collaborative work Kid and Boogie. The two have chosen the urban wasteland as the background for their expression derelict housing,abandoned advertisement hoardings and neglected street furniture become signals for their urban graffiti. Their huge cartoons can be seen across the islands wasteland.

Stefan Barniche,Jack Beng-Thi,Patrice Cujo,Jace,Gabrielle Manglou,Yohann Quëland de Saint Pern and Pascale Simonet are the other artists to watch out for at this show.

Over the past 10 years,Meoule has also worked with Indian artists like Bharti Kher,Subodh Gupta and Kriti Arora for exhibitions in Singapore ,Bangkok and Seoul .

Offshore Project will travel to Mumbais Sakshi Art Gallery and Chennais Apparao Gallery.

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The show is at Alliance Française till January 14. Contact 4651 7700.

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Reunion Island

Work Down the Isle

Reunion Island  a small piece of French territory floating in the Indian Ocean,just east of Madagascar  has quite an ethnic mix in its less than 1,000 sq mile area.

Reunion Island a small piece of French territory floating in the Indian Ocean,just east of Madagascar has quite an ethnic mix in its less than 1,000 sq mile area.