Shiraz Bayjoo Screening and In Conversation

About

Screening of Shiraz Bayjoo's film Ile de France which was filmed during a Gasworks/ Triangle Network Fellowship at pARTage, Mauritius, in 2014, followed by conversation with art historian, critic and curator Christine Eyene. 

Ile de France is a non-narrative film, focusing on objects, architecture and environments that act as historical images or documents revealing encounters between Mauritius and its colonial past. Mauritius, an important stopover in the eastern slave trade, also came to be known as the “Maroon republic” because of the large number of escaped slaves. This film is a testament to the powers of globalisation and the impact of colonial rule, where a more complex layering of cultural takeovers and integrations have occurred and remain visible today.

Following the screening Christine Eyene will be in conversation with Shiraz Bayjoo and will discuss the narratives in the film. She will draw on some of her research in the region, particularly neighbouring Reunion island, and discuss the complexities and continuing importance of post-colonial questions in the region.

Shiraz Bayjoo is a London-based artist currently working in the Indian Ocean region, whose practice considers ideas of nationhood and the exploration of identity and histories. Originally from Mauritius, Bayjoo was artist in residence at Whitechapel Art Gallery, he has exhibited with Tate Britain, and is a recipient of the Triangle Network fellowship. Recent solo exhibitions include Operativa Arte, Rome, 2016, Greenlease Gallery, Missouri, USA, 2015, the Institute for International Visual Arts (Iniva), London, 2015, among others.

Christine Eyene is a curator, art critic and Research Fellow in Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire where she is collaborating to Making Histories Visible, an interdisciplinary visual art research project based at UCLan’s Centre for Contemporary Art and led by Professor Lubaina Himid.

She is member of the acquisition committee of FRAC, Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain, Reunion Island headed by Béatrice Binoche. In this role she is contributing to broaden the FRAC’s collection with new acquisitions and develop projects and artistic activities involving artists from Reunion and the Indian Ocean. She is also co-founder of YaPhoto, Yaounde’s new photography platform developed with Cameroonian curator Landry Mbassi.