Sama, a nomad with a tale

We’re pleased to present the first UK exhibition of French photographer Sébastien Muñoz’s new series of work inspired by Mongolian nomadic life; featuring a selection of colour portraits and black and white landscape works. We invite you to see the exhibition at the Museum of East Asian Art, Bath during 23rd December 2008 to late April 2009. For more details, please go to the Exhibitions page on the menu. For any enquiries, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Let’s cast our eyes briefly away from Mongolia, and turn to the exotic island of Réunion, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Blue Rim Gallery is proud to showcase the work of Sébastien Marchal for the first time in the UK. An established photographer in Réunion Island and co-founder of the art collective Ligne 11, Marchal’s work lets us peek into the traditions and daily rituals of this unique island. His series ‘Bichiques’ follows the time-honoured fishing tradition of this rare breed of fish found in the mouth of only a few rivers in the East, in the stretch between Sainte Rose and Sainte Marie. In this lush part of the world, vanilla, litchis, sugar cane and bichiques abound. Bichiques are known as the ‘caviar’ of the island, and are therefore much sought after. Fishermen use a traditional vovo net (Malagasy word for ‘trap’) made from coconut trees and raffia to capture the fish. Marchal is interested in Réunionnais’ daily rituals which are rooted in tradition, and values what they do to safeguard the island’s unique identity and natural environment.

See Marchal’s extensive work on bichique fishing here. If you are interested in discussing his work, do get in touch with us.