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
© » 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...
© » KADIST
Jonathan Hernández
2008In line with Hernández’s interest in catastrophe, Vulnerabilia (choques) is a collection of images of shipwrecks and Vulnerabilia (naufragios) collects scenes of car crashes...
© » 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...
© » 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 ...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
The future of the arts in Singapore and Australia: Highlights from the Statistically Speaking webinar | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles February 12, 2021 ArtsEquator organised a webinar titled “Statistically Speaking: Analysing arts audience engagement in Singapore and Australia” on Thursday, 28 January...
© » KADIST
Jeamin Cha
2018Almost One by Jeamin Cha dives into an uncomfortable meditation on the relationship between socialization, performativity, truth, and childhood, filtered through the optics of a children’s acting class in South Korea...
© » 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)...
© » GALERIE MAGAZINE
The Artful Life: 7 Things Galerie Editors Love This Week - Galerie Subscribe Art + Culture Interiors Style + Design Emerging Artists Discoveries Artist Guide More Creative Minds Life Imitates Art Real estate Events Video Galerie House of Art and Design Subscribe About Press Advertising Contact Us Follow Galerie Sign up to receive our newsletter Subscribe Ralph Pucci’s new gallery space in Miami features murals by iconic French designer Elizabeth Garouste...