The exhibition Memoria : récits d'une autre Histoire embodies the idea of a collective memory made up of a myriad of stories, histories, questionings and experiences scattered throughout our individual, personal and intimate memories. This idea is revealed here through the works of artists whose work reflects the reconstruction of a common whole, a universal whole, which renews our view of contemporary creation from Africa and its diasporas.
When speech and memory are forgotten, killed, erased or truncated, revealing a counter-narrative, making plural histories coexist, and revealing the unspoken, becomes an urgency to which the 22 artists invited to this exhibition respond. Their works stand out for their willingness to shift the boundaries of art, to "bring together the elsewhere" and to show the diversity of our individual and ultimately collective histories. The selected works explore painting, textiles, sculpture, video and performance. They make up a journey that echoes both a demystified reading of parts of history and beliefs commonly divulged about the African continent, and the way in which certain imaginary worlds are still at work, particularly in the fields of economics and resource redistribution. Through this multiplicity of techniques, the works presented testify to the committed practice of artists with a strong narrative power, anchored in their fluctuating geography(ies) and in their time. By questioning our mechanisms of thought, Memoria Récits d'une autre Histoire aims to open a dialogue on our ability to decentralize our gaze. Our ability to listen to different narratives and to (re)question what we believe to be the norm, the reference... The exhibition is thus seen as a stage made up of proposals in the vast task of building a future shaped in common, where our memories, our consciences and our unconscious would finally be appeased and pacified.
In keeping with its new setting in Madagascar, the Fondation H, the exhibition will feature works by artists Joey Aresoa, Olivia Bourgois, Joana Choumali, Dalila Dalléas Bouzar, Justine Gaga, Enam Gbewonyo, Georgina Maxim and Tuli Mekondjo, Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien, Myriam Mihindou, Josèfa Ntjam, Gosette Lubondo, Barbara Portailler, Selly Raby Kane, Miora Rajaonary, Amalia Ramanankirahina, Richianny Ratovo, Carine Ratovonarivo, Vonjiniaina Ratovonirina, Na Chainkua Reindorf, Mary Sibande, Charlotte Yonga.
Specific to the Madagascan stopover: a residency program will enable artists to create works in situ, in collaboration with Madagascan artists and craftspeople, using local materials. The aim is to enable the artists' stories to unfold over time. By integrating a selection of new works created by the artists during their residencies, the visitor's experience will be enriched with each new visit.
