Marie-France Nevic, who exhibits at the Azimut gallery in Aix-en-Provence, was struck by the magnetic photos of the illustrious Hans Sylvester, a former major reporter known in particular for his environmental activism and his taste for Africa. He celebrates the beauty of these people, magnified by natural artifices such as colored clays, herbaceous crowns, jewelry and other trappings.
“I wanted to honor through my terracotta pieces their beauty connected to the soul of the African continent in their ancestral and timeless tradition. I evoke on a few long-necked busts less the grace than the hardness of these traditions tribals little by little outdated“, explains the artist. This is demonstrated by the examples of female giraffes treated in different ways.
Vase, paintings, collages
Ici, The African woman with the vase shows a pewter vase topped with a head whose worried eyes challenge. There, The blue African from the Ndebele tribe presents a woman with a proud bearing. This tribe is known for their extreme kindness and also for their infinitely colorful and perfectly geometric art. But what is she looking at in the distance?
Jacqueline Ciaravola-Raguin prefers to transcribe the varied and contrasting landscapes of her childhood. “Born in North Africa, I am particularly attached to this land. It offers us human wealth and exceptional nature. Through painting or collage I can express my imaginary Africa“, she says enthusiastically.
In addition to his paintings and his symbolic Kabyle writings, we also find a series of collages with refined forms evoking Nasrid or Yemeni architecture. “I use Nepalese paper in orange, ocher and ‘sand’ tones. This handmade paper made from the fibers of the Lokta shrub allows me to obtain shades of colors and to transcribe an atmosphere specific to this land. I feel like I’m doing haute couture with my assemblies“, she says.
There are a few hours left this Saturday, October 12, 2024 to travel in images on African lands…
Galerie Azimut, 1 bus rue Matheron. 06 60 82 25 22, [email protected]until 7 p.m. Saturday October 12, 2024.
