ANTANANARIVO
DECEMBER 2 - DECEMBER 31, 2023
Fondation His delighted to host À la recherche des Betia, the first solo exhibition by Dina Nomena Andriarimanjaka, vice-winner of the 2023 edition of Prix Paritana. The artist received tailored support from Fondation H team, as well as a production grant to support the realization of her exhibition.
À la recherche des Betia, the artist's first solo exhibition, is an act of (re)writing the too poorly known stories of Malagasy female sovereigns, queens and princesses. Dina Nomena Andriarimanjaka, an artist, designer, researcher and visual narrator, proposes an installation based on key Malagasy female figures who are ignored in the collective memory: Betia [1] (1735-1805), queen of the Betsimisaraka Kingdom; Rafohy (reign fl. 1520-1530) and Rangita (reign fl. 1530-1540), the female founders of the Merina Royalty; and Binao Andriamanjakamboniarivo [2] (1880 -1923), queen of the Sakalava Bemihisatra.
By bringing these female sovereigns to light in her works, Dina Nomena Andriarimanjaka initiates a reflection on “female power” and questions the chronology, space and identity of these prominent but forgotten figures. The artist's installation is part of a research process of transcribing and reinterpreting archive images, weaving together pieces of memory and restoring snippets of little-known history.
À larecherche des Betia draws on archive images, letters and book extracts. The fabrics used symbolize femininity (both in the choice of fabric scraps and of the techniques used), intimacy (personal garments) and public representation (royal and drapery fabrics). Through the media of collage, sewing and embroidery – which are repetitive practices activating the memory of gestures – Dina Nomena Andriarimanjaka works out a new memory. By linking her works together by threads, the artist underscores the intimate networks that enable the reactivation of memories and the construction of knowledge.
[1] Betia :the Beloved
[2]Andriamanjakamboniarivo : She who reigns over thousands
BIOGRAPHY OF DINA NOMENA ANDRIARIMANJAKA
Born in 1989, Dina Nomena Andriarimanjaka is an artist, designer, researcher and visual storyteller with an experimental, transdisciplinary approach. A feminist artist interested in society and history, she questions the relationship to the worldand to individual and collective memory and brings out the poetry of archival fragments using a plurality of artistic media and techniques. Her works are strongly influenced by archive images, which she dresses up through mediums such as collage, sewing and embroidery to enable her to (re)write, tell and (re)sew up the past.