A new exhibition which highlights four Malagasy sovereigns who left their mark on history is now open at the Fondation H. This is the first personal exhibition of Dina Nomena Andriarimanjaka, the vice-laureate of the 7th edition of the Paritana Prize, entitled “In search of Betia”.
As a reminder, the Paritana Prize rewards each year three artists at the French Institute of Madagascar, chosen for the artistic quality, originality and prospects for development of the projects they respectively submitted, as well as their effectiveness.
On April 26, the jury of this competition and the H Foundation unanimously decided to award the second ex-aequo prize to the project “Mental Walk” by Arilala Ophélia Ralamboson, previously exhibited at the H Foundation in the month of last November, and to the project “In search of Betia”, by Dina Nomena Andriarimanjaka.
The latter is an artist designer, researcher and visual narrator. Through this installation, she proposes to put major Malagasy female figures in the spotlight, more precisely Malagasy queens, princesses and sovereigns, hidden in the collective memory and too little known, according to her.
Thus, this exhibition will highlight Betia, the queen of the Betsimisaraka Kingdom, Rafohy and Rangita, both founders of the Merina Royalty and finally Binao Andriamanjakamboniarivo, queen of the Sakalava Bemihisatra. By highlighting these sovereigns in her works, Dina Nomena initiates a reflection on “feminine power” and questions the chronology, space and identity of these strong but forgotten personalities. She therefore places this installation within a research approach, transcribing and reinterpreting archive images, weaving pieces of memory and restoring snippets of little-known stories.
“In search of Betia” used archive images, letters and extracts from books. The designer also used textiles. This material symbolizes both femininity (both in the choice of fabric scraps and in the techniques used), the intimate (personal clothing) and public representation (royal fabric and furnishing fabrics). The artist wishes to demonstrate repetitive practices evoking the memory of gesture through collage, but also sewing and embroidery. Connecting each painting with threads, Dina Nomena highlights the intimate networks that allow the reactivation of memories and the construction of knowledge. Good reasons to delve back into the past, to discover the destiny of these almost “forgotten” sovereigns. The exhibition will be there until December 31.
The fragrance of God
