Artists interpret ‘Between the Lines’ through photography and digital media |17 July 2023

Well-established and emerging artists have depicted the theme ‘Between The Lines’ in an exhibition now on display at Kenwyn House, in Victoria.

Seventeen (17) men and women responded to the call launched in January this year by the Creative Seychelles Agency (CSA) and according to curator, Karyn Zialor, they did not give a lot of information as they wanted the artist to interpret the theme through their own perspective. They were asked to do that through photography or any other form of digital medium.

Ms Zialor said “our way of viewing is different and how each artist chooses to interpret this theme provides for a wide range of artworks that will hopefully leave the viewers understanding there is no one way of seeing things,” she said.

She added that photography exhibitions are common compared to digital media and CSA wanted to include digital media to show the progression of traditional media being interpreted differently.

“We have ended up with a wide array of work, with different concepts from different artists. So when you walk through this exhibition you should be seeing different stories and different ideas from artists,” said Ms Zialor, whose work is also on display – namely ‘Lavi 4’ depicting scenes from Mauritius, and ‘El Costa de la Vida’, which depicts a broken system where she explained that the cost of living goes up and the salaries remain the same.

“More and more we find ourselves on a hamster wheel reliving and being made to believe that in order to live a decent life, struggle is a necessity,” she explained in the catalogue.

Among those whose work is on display is Leon Radegonde, whose career as an artist spans over four decades. He has chosen to depict ‘Between the Lines’ through several black and white photographs, the majority showing people’s faces. Mr Radegonde said although he likes colours he prefers to work in black and white.

“The first photo ever developed was in black and white and throughout my career I have always mastered black and white better than colours,” he said.

Vanessa Lucas’ photograph was titled ‘Let Them be a Child’, which she said depicts child abuse and negligence of a child through a photo.

“Kids should have the freedom to be a kid and I took this picture in 2017 and have never used it. I thought it would be the perfect fit for the theme we were asked to work on,” she explained.

Allen Commettant has two works of art in the exhibition namely ‘Big Blue Sea Coco De Mer’ and ‘Sea Turtles Journey’. He said as an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, his daily work involves protecting the two and that was the message he wanted to send through his works.

Mr Commetant, who does graphic design, said he has used vector art to produce the two pieces. “Graphics is a form of digital media and I used vector art for these two instead of manipulating the pictures in photoshop,” he explained.

Art teacher from the Seychelles Institute of Art and Design, Marcus Finesse has three art pieces on display; ‘Line From Roots’, ‘Element of Line’ and ‘Line Colour’.

“When you are teaching you should also be able to show your students how to incorporate what you are showing them, things like shapes, lines, and designs, into art as well,” he stated.

‘Tinge’, a mixture of watercolour, painting and digital art is from Marquise and Rico Padayachy. Speaking to Seychelles NATION, Rico explained their work depicts an upcoming project later this year, in collaboration with SEYCCAT.

“We will be producing a series of cartoons based on our marine protected areas to highlight the challenges faced daily to protect our oceans and we will be doing this by instilling positive messages in children’s minds through cartoons,” he explained.

For his part, Nigel Henriette is showcasing the importance of the moon through his work titled ‘Moon Series’, while Emmanuel D’Offay through his two pieces, ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, show a close up of a rusty barrel, using a macro lens.

“Most of the time, people look at the bigger picture and ignore the basic little things, thus missing a lot of important details,” he stated.

It was Mr D’Offay who actually opened the exhibition last Thursday at Kenwyn House, in his capacity as the executive director for CSA.

When addressing the guests he stated that the exhibition was another accomplishment for the agency “in promoting another art form, which is already contributing to the creative economy of our country”.

“The creative economy and the arts have huge potential to contribute to our economic, cultural and social wellbeing. But their needs and potential are not fully understood. Together we can develop this sector, which can become the fourth pillar of our economy,” he said.

‘Between The Lines: Photography and Digital Media Exhibition’ is open to the public until August 12, on weekdays from 9am to 5pm and on Saturday from 9am to 1pm.

Patsy Canaya

Photos by Louis Toussaint