Open Studio at Nalini Treebhoobun’s
Nalini Treebhoobun, a painter from Quatre-Bornes, is opening her studio and home on a grand scale this time, on August 13, 14, and 15. The artist and philosopher will showcase both her older paintings and brand-new works created over the past year, not only in the living room and veranda of her home, as usual, but also in the large studio she recently set up right next door, in her parents’ former home.
She hopes to turn this place into a hub for artistic creation and exchange, where, for example, the artists she has trained at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Fine Arts can lead workshops, and young people can come to nourish their minds… There is no specific theme for this exhibition, other than all the topics that preoccupy her (passing on traditions, the stages of life, the passage of time, invisible bonds, love, women, intimacy, etc.). She simply tells us that for some of her paintings, she used materials featuring embroidery that her late mother hadstitched onto household linens—all of which are tokens of love…
For more information, call: 57 57 69 95.
Wait for Me (150 x 100 cm)
Trou d’Eau Douce: Words and Images
The Trou d’Eau Douce Book Festival returnson October 2, 3, and 4 for a jam-packed weekend that will focus as much on words as on images—both still and moving! Already on the opening night, Friday, October 2, two short films will be screened: *Esprit simple* by French comic book artist Pierre Makyo, who is traveling to Mauritius for the event, and *Wander* by Mauritian painter Alix Le Juge. The usual Saturday-night “Night of Reading” becomes “A Night of Cinema and Autobiographical Stories,” during which we’ll have the chance to see or revisit two masterpieces: *Persepolis* by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi, who passed away in early June, this animated film—based on the graphic novel in which the Franco-Iranian author recounts her life from childhood through her voluntary exile in France—will serve as a tribute to this powerful and insightful voice of Iranian intellectual dissent. This will be followed by the feature film *La promesse de l’aube* (The Promise of Dawn), inspired by Romain Gary’s famous novel—several chapters of which he reportedly wrote in Trou d’Eau Douce, where he stayed in part to recall his memories and write in peace. Pierre Niney and Charlotte Gainsbourg star in this 2017 film by Éric Barbier. From Réunion, Olivier Appollodorus—known as Appollo—returns alongside Natacha Eloy to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the famous comic book magazine, *Le Cri du Margouillat* !
From mainland France, we’ll also meet Pénélope Bagieu, the embodiment of a new generation of feminist cartoonists, who first gained recognition with her comic blog *Ma vie est tout à fait fascinante* and later with her graphic novels *Joséphine*, *Cadavre exquis*, and *Culottées* —Women Who Do Only What They Want… The other international figure is Alexandre Lenot, a writer and screenwriter, and, most notably, the 2026 winner of the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. *Cette vieille chanson qui brûle* (published by Denoël), which earned him this distinction, tells the story of a young man returning to the places of his childhood where he lost his twin brother—a book “carried by an incantatory language, where silence, love, mourning, and the possibility of forgiveness,” according to the jury of the prize organized by the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF).
The painting by Jan Maingard that will be featured on the festival poster
