Clement Siatous: Chagossian Islands History

About

Clement Siatous was born in 1947 on the Chagos Islands, a small isolated archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean. He spent most of his childhood on the island of Diego Garcia until he and his family were forcibly evicted. The entire population was expelled by the British Government to make way for a US naval base in 1973. The base on Diego Garcia, also known as Camp Justice or Footprint of Freedom has become one of the most strategic, integral bases for the US global War on Terror and known as a transit site for CIA rendition exercises.

Working with acrylic on canvas, Siatous renders a counterpoint to official and traditional modes of record. He creates sequential canvases that draw from memory, photography and film. Through his practice he reclaims ownership of his own history, while becoming a voice for his community in defying their culture’s eradication.

Siatous’s decision to paint is striking. It is partially about creating a counter-memory, using one of the oldest technologies in the world - painting, to reassert the presence and identity of a culture distrustful of newer imaging technologies with their guise of objectivity. But it is also about an activist sense of time; the sum of the marks that went into their own slow creation. Patience a radical gesture. - Jace Clayton, Frieze. 

Join the artist, local leaders and organizers for an opening reception on Saturday,  2nd October, from 12 noon to 4PM. MarieSabrina Jean will speak about Chagos Island History and the culture of the Chagos community.

The exhibition is organised by Marie Sabrina Jean of The Chagos Refugees Group UK, and curator Paula Naughton. 

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Clement Siatous (b. Chagos Islands, 1947) lives and works between Mauritius and London. For the last fifty years Siatous has been building a visual archive of the history of the Chagos Islands. Recent exhibitions include NADA House, New York, USA, 2021; Condo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2018; Retrospective, Port Louis, Mauritius, 2017; The Chagos Embassy of Puerto Rico, Embajada, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2016; Future Nature, Jack Hanley, New York, USA 2016; Sagren, Simon Preston Gallery, New York, USA 2015. Siatous was awarded the Member of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (MSK) by the Mauritian Government for his on-going advocating for the culture of the Chagossian community through his painting.

CONTACT

Artist Website: www.clementsiatous.com 

Crawley Museum: www.crawleymuseums.org
103 High St, Crawley RH10 1DD, United Kingdom

Diverse Crawley: www.diversecrawley.org.uk

The Chagos Refugees Group website: http://thechagosrefugeesgroup.com/ 

For further information about the Chagossian history and advocacy, contact: Marie Sabrina Jean, Email: sabrina.aristide@gmail.com 

For further information about artist Clement Siatous, contact: Paula Naughton, Email: naughton.paula@gmail.com