Notebook 10, l'enfance de sanbras
2021 - Installation (Installation)
11 x 30 cm
Kelly Sinnapah Mary
Notebook 10 , l ‘enfance de sanbras (The Childhood of Sanbras) series by Kelly Sinnapah Mary is a sequel to an earlier series by the artist titled Cahier d’un non retour au pays natal (2015). This earlier work considers the process of reconstructing an identity of the Indian workers who arrived in the Caribbean during the post-slavery period. The work addresses the conditions of recruitment of these Indian workers, the strategies of the recruiters, how they lured them onto ships to bring them back to the plantations. Inspired by two authors, Aime Cesaire and Khal Torabully, the artist reinterprets masterworks of Caribbean literature. The Childhood of Sanbras series approaches another axis of reflection wherein Sinnapah Mary engages with her experiences and memories as a child, and the characters she identified with, while exploring current stories about the Indian diaspora in the French West Indies. Working with the concept of memory, her notebooks function like diaries in which characters take form and retell a story through drawings and sculptures that refer to a ludic universe of children. The series introduces the stories of Sanbras, a little girl in a school uniform and braids—an element so present in the artist’s practice that serves as a metaphor for the construction of identity through the gesture of braiding. The artist’s narrative mixes elements of Caribbean culture, Maroons, and Hinduism. Sanbras, in some of the works, has extra arms, legs, or a third eye. The little girl meets other friends throughout the story and builds a community. This resilient new village formed by Sanbras is a reference to the Marronage, of which she is part and wishes to build a new ecosystem. In the sculptures that accompany the notebooks, the artist explores Sanbras in a more material and corporeal manner, giving another dimension to the character through an ingenuous naivety.
Kelly Sinnapah Mary is a multidisciplinary artist who’s work is informed by the diasporic journey of her ancestors. She is the descendant of indentured laborers sent from India to Guadeloupe by the French Government in the 19th century to replace the free labor of the transatlantic slave trade. Sinnapah Mary’s practice reflects on her Indo-Caribbean identity by unpacking the details of her ancestors’ middle passage to Guadeloupe. Through the lens of science fiction, she often explores the so-called feminine universe; working with floral themes, soft materials, and fairy tales, using techniques that contrast the poignant and politically charged subject matter she addresses. From this friction, Sinnapah Mary traces her ethnic heritage, while questioning her roots as someone caught in two nested worlds—confronting concepts of ‘negritude’ and ‘coolitude’. ‘Coolie’, an expression coined by Caribbean poet Khal Torabully, is a pejorative name given to Indians who migrated to the Caribbean.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » ART & OBJECT
Italian Culture Minister Investigated Over Stolen Manetti Painting | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...
© » KADIST
Karla Kaplun
2019Studying the body in movement, this series of drawings depart from Karla Kaplun’s work A ztec BLAST® Workout (AWB) ...
© » KADIST
Javier Castro
2014In the video Blanco sobre Blanco (White on White) , we see a white man appearing in a white screen embedded into a white wall— alluding to Malevich’s White on White series...
© » KADIST
Sin Wai Kin
2017A woman you thought you knew by Sin Wai Kin originates from a performance series titled A View from Elsewhere ...
© » KADIST
Kubra Khademi
2020Kubra Khademi’s work celebrates the female body and in her detailed drawings and paintings she portrays female bodies floating on white paper...
© » KADIST
Howard Becker in conversation with Franck Leibovici Tuesday, November 26, at 7 p.m On the occasion of the publication of Thinking Together by Howard Becker and Robert Faulkner, within the framework of the investigation (des formes de vie) – une écologie des pratiques artistiques realized by Franck Leibovici at Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers (2012)...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Reading in isolation: ‘Others’ is Not a Race and Interpreter of Winds | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles April 9, 2020 By Kathy Rowland (913 words, 4-minute read) Last November, when there was nary a thought for social distancing, and Corona conjured up visions of lime wedges and grimy bars, I reread Rex Shelley’s 1991 debut novel, The Shrimp People ...
© » KADIST
Karla Kaplun
2019Studying the body in movement, this series of drawings depart from Karla Kaplun’s work A ztec BLAST® Workout (AWB) ...
© » MODERN MET PHOTOGRAPHY
AI Helps Families Forge "New Moments" with Lost Loved Oes Home / Photography AI Used to Help Families Forge “New Moments” With Lost Loved Ones By Jessica Stewart on January 31, 2024 Photographer and lawyer Alper Yesiltas has been an early adopter of AI, using the technology to see how he can manipulate existing imagery...
