PAST EXHIBITIONS

A Monographic Exhibition by Mialy Razafintsalama
6 January 2024 – 20 April 2024

Curated by
Joël Andrianomearisoa
Samuel Ramaholimihaso

Hakanto Contemporary
Alhambra Gallery · Ankadimbahoaka
Antananarivo · Madagascar

Sedran’ny tany

As part of Hakanto Contemporary’s renewed reflection on the theme Patriotic Land and Ecological Land, we wished to give an artist the floor — through images — to express her emotions and ideas around this question. Enter Mialy Razafintsalama, a photographer with a singular voice, presenting a new series entitled Sedran’ny tany (The Trials of the Land), a special commission conceived along a journey from Antananarivo to Toliara, with the collaboration and support of Filatex Énergie.

Fa iza moa ianao ry Tany? Land — who are you? Our first conversation with Mialy Razafintsalama was, above all, an exercise in persuasion: inviting her to speak about the land — her land. Yes, speaking of patriotism is always difficult, and engaging with ecology is even more complex in today’s world, where every action must be weighed, measured and assessed.

Yet
Mialy Razafintsalama responded with a playful gaze, subverting preconceptions and playing between the lines of the notion of land — in her words, and even more so in her images. Her photographic proposal is structured around a duality in which she weighs the pros and cons, the question and sometimes the answer, yes and no, black and white — but above all, the colours of life.

The journey begins in Antananarivo, follows the southern road of Madagascar, and extends as far as Toliara. Along the way, she gathers a land that burns, that converses with solar panels announcing a more hopeful future. A marine horizon in Mangily questions the limits of land when confronted with a thermal power plant. A hopeful cactus blooms before the window of Isalo, opening onto the promise of a radiant tomorrow.
…

The work presented is a heartfelt outpouring — a way of questioning her own senses, while also calling upon the viewer to engage with a question that may have no solution: Patriotic Land and Ecological Land.

Amid these words, let us find the response: Irin’ny tany, sarin’ny tany, fofon’ny tany, feon’ny tany, endrin’ny tany, hiran’ny tany, tsiron’ny tany, sedran’ny tany… sy ireo tarainan’ny tany rehetra.
The desires of the land, the images of the land, the scents of the land, the voices of the land, the appearances of the land, the songs of the land, the flavours of the land, the trials of the land — and all the cries of the land.
Let us not attempt to understand each photograph.
Let us turn the pages and seek the words in between.
Between times, between airs, between lands.

Joël Andrianomearisoa
Samuel Ramaholimihaso
2024