'Réunion Chroniques', A Travelling Photography Exhibition

Réunion Wed 31-03-2010

'Réunion Chroniques', A Travelling Photography Exhibition
By a Correspondent

Photography and video

On Tour:

February 2010 : Alliance Française of Maseru (Lesotho)
May 2010 : Alliance Française of Mbabane (Swaziland)
June 2010 : Alliance Française of Cape Town (RSA)
July 2010 : Alliance Française of Luanda (Angola)
August 2010 : French and Namibian cultural Center of Windhoek (Namibia)
September 2010 : Alliance Française of Johannesburg (RSA)
October 2010 : Alliance Française of Durban (RSA)
November 2010 : Alliance Française of Port Elizabeth (RSA)

François-Louis ATHENAS, Raymond BARTHES, Thierry FONTAINE, Yo-Yo GONTHIER, Line LECLERC, Edgar MARSY, René Paul SAVIGNAN, Laurent ZITTE.

"Réunion chroniques" is an exhibition of images by photographers working in Réunion Island on the subject of Réunion Island. The works that have been selected are a sort of chronicle of the island, revealing its history, its society, its scenery...

Each artist’s perspective either emphasizes, criticises or exposes their environment and its peculiarities.

It’s a "portrait" of the island through an image-focused approach ; either documentary or conceptual, stills or video, where the sensitivity always comes through.

The FRAC - Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Réunion (The Reunion Regional Fund for Contemporary Art) is a public institution for cultural co-operation, and its mission is to contribute to the presence and development of contemporary artistic creations in the region by promoting and distributing these works internationally, helping the artists to gain exposure.

The FRAC also works on developing exchanges around traditional civilisations of the Island of Reunion.

It is thus in the framework of this mission that the FRAC Réunion wanted to create a partnership with a South African cultural body to work on artistic exchange projects involving contemporary photography and video.

The aim was to establish a close relationship with the Market Photo Workshop and to deepen this relationship through regular artistic exchanges and collaboration, with the hope, in the long term, of contributing to the creation of a production and distribution network for fine arts in the Indian Ocean region.

This exhibition and these artistic exchanges are meant to contribute to the artistic enrichment and professionalization of artists in the fragile visual arts industry in the Indian Ocean region.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

François Louis ATHENAS

Born in Paris in 1958, François Louis Athenas is a Réunionnais who has had a passion for photography since he was a child. However, it was only when he was approaching forty that he began devoting most of his time to this passion.

After a few years doing features for travel magazines, he turned his focus to the world of sugar production in Reunion, publishing Canna criola in 2000.

Since then, he has exhibited regularly in Réunion with a series of photographs on the Indian Ocean islands, as well as landscapes and the cultural heritage of Reunion.

• Vues Intérieures – 2008 (Inside views – 2008) • Exotismes 2007-2009 (Exotisms 2007 – 2009)

Raymond BARTHES

Raymond Barthes is half French, half Malagasy. He was born in Antananarivo in 1957 and has lived in Reunion since 1980, where he did his own research into the visual arts, leading to multifaceted works combining sketching, photography and movies.

In 2005, he exhibited works involving the scraping of Polaroid at the 6th African Photographic Exhibition in Bamako. He remains much attached to a type of photography that is rooted in daily life – one that relates all the « little » stories of life in Reunion.

• Oté l’ancien ! (The old Oté) • Réunion Chroniques (Reunion Chronicles)

Thierry FONTAINE

Thierry Fontaine was born in Reunion. He is the author of photographic works with sound recordings. He defines himself as a sculptor originally, but it didn’t take him long to become very attached to photography as a medium of expression, infusing his personnel interrogation of identity and existence in the images he produces.

• Une Ile au monde (An Island in the world)

Yo-Yo GONTHIER

Yo-Yo is from Réunion, but was born in Niger in 1974. After completing a Masters in the Science and Techniques of Photography at the University of Paris VIII, he began working as a freelance visual arts photographer.

His approach questions how memory is erased in Western society where speed, progress and technology seem to form the bedrock of our value system.

He began with a nocturnal investigation, which he has exhibited on several occasions. He is currently particularly focused on the space between history and colonial memory, questioning the reminiscences of stereotyped racism.

• Les lanternes sourdes (Deaf lanterns)

Line LECLERC

Line Leclerc graduated with a DNSEP from the Ecole des Beaux-arts of Reunion in 2008.Since her debut, she has favoured the mediums of photography and video, focusing on the image of women and their social role in Reunion.

• CRI (CRY/SHOUT)

Edgar MARSY

Edgar Marsy was born in Lille in France in 1973 and lives in Reunion since 2000. He turned to photography in 1990 and very soon began devoting himself entirely to this art form.

His work concentrates mainly on the landscapes and people of the Island. This documentary approach allows him to convert his work into features for magazines and to diversify into editorial writing.

He also participated in the African Photographic Exhibition in Bamako in 2007.

• Société anonyme (Anonymous society)

René Paul SAVIGNAN

René Paul Savignan was born in Reunion in 1970, where he lives and works to this day. He has completed several works in the Indian Ocean region and has participated in a number of collective and individual exhibitions in Reunion, Arles, Switzerland, Madagascar and Bamako, to name but a few.

Since 2005, he has been working with a South African photographer, Andrew Tshabangu, on a project called Bridges which deals with religious practises in South Africa and Reunion.

• Maloyer (Maloyer) • Service Malbar (Malbar Service)

Laurent ZITTE

Laurent Zitte was born and bred in Reunion, and obtained his degree from the Ecole des Beaux-arts of Reunion in 1999. His artistic works have been enriched through various collaborations and meetings. He very quickly developed photographic projects rooted in the everyday realities of life in Reunion, which he also captured on video. For several years now, he has been working on an evolving project called sak nou wa which is a work on memory produced together with the inhabitants of a number of towns in Reunion. He regularly holds video and photographic exhibitions in Reunion, Australia, Switzerland, and Haiti, among others.

For more information
Contact Pauline :
culture.jhb@alliance.org.za
011 646 1169

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