Waves, shells and sugar. Fragmented memories, lost, then rediscovered and mended. These are some of the themes that weave the red thread of this Mauritian exhibition. But just like the island of Mauritius, the exhibition wayfarers and intersects multiple geographies and histories.
The title of the collection recalls the natural elements of the island and the movements of its inhabitants and diasporas, where the latter reconnect via an oceanic, yet digital dimension. The movement that is performed is partly circular. It reminisces Glissant’s words in ‘Introduction to a Poetics of Diversity’, where the author explains the diasporic paradox of an “all [that] starts from one place and comes back to it, moving in a circle.” Yet at the same time, such movement moves from its point of origin and extends outwards. Not a closed circle, but a spiral that infinitely extends from its centre.
The collection is curated by Vashish Soobah, a multidisciplinary artist, who during his London years, found himself elaborating a new dimension of racialization and multiculturalism, quite different from the Italian one in which he grew up. There, he met numerous communities and creatives who had migrated multiple times, and whose identities had been perpetually shaped into new geographies. A process as old as history, and as old as the Mauritian archipelago. As part of his wider mapping practice, Vashish weaves together works by different artists and experiences. Some narrate the island whilst having their feet immersed in its waters and hands in its sands, and others recount it from afar, seeking the islands in the stories of the elders.
S. Himasha Weerapplige
at Almanac Inn, Turin
until July 17, 2022