From September 12 to November 2, the Aapravasi Ghat hosts an exhibition of contemporary art that refreshes our view of the history of engagement and even has the advantage of… playing with representations. Silver Island is the work of Rudy Kanhye and Lauren La Rose, a duo of transdisciplinary artists based in Scotland. Dominique Bellier
Rudy Kanhye knows the weight of the word immigration, thanks to a Mauritian father, a Portuguese mother and a life divided between France and Scotland… the missing link of which was Mauritius. The Passing Isle project, a collaborative research project initiated with Lauren La Rose, explores and transcends these Mauritian origins, with the support of Creative Scotland, in partnership with Glasgow Print Studio and Aapravasi Ghat Trust.
Fund… Entitled Each body wakes up on a wave, the first exhibition was held in 2024 at the Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art, a merchant city with many Mauritian connections.
Port-Louis hosts the second part of the project, under the title Silver Island, in reference to the Arab period where Dina Arobi is said to have hidden some treasures. Here, however, the artists see Mauritius as a treasure trove for reflection, as varied, as profound, as interactive and even as tactile as possible. The physical link with history is created, for example, through a game of ping-pong on a very special table, or with Touch! where photos are revealed when the hand is placed on and removed from them, thanks to the layer of thermochromic paint that covers them. Photos of Rudy’s ancestors, who arrived here in 1870, children accused of vagrancy, small trades, coins and stamps, the symbolism of water and coral, crochet techniques, digital collage, games, drawing and engraving become the instruments of a luminous meditation on the individual in the face of history.
