“L’Imaginaire du carnaval: Ancrage mémoriel” [The Imaginary of Carnival: memorial anchoring] is a photographic exhibition by Philippe Virapin. The opening takes place at the Deshaies Botanical Garden [Jardin Botanique de Deshaies] in Deshaies, Guadeloupe this Friday, March 31, 2023, from 6:00 to 9:00pm.

Description: The carnival, which reserved its decorations for the street, was particularly locked up for the past 2 years on the premises of the associations. The ban on parades, due to the COVID period, led me to meet some groups in their headquarters in order to finally put the carnival at the service of photography. This preparation time (dressing, makeup) reserved for fashion shows, was finally dedicated to photographic sessions offering me true free range. All these resources allowed me to appropriate an unsuspected imaginary.

Indeed, I realized that by photographing “snare drum” groups (groups à « caisses claires » one of the 4 categories of carnival groups), I imagined freezing [in time] in this luxuriant nature, the first Amerindian peoples settled on the Archipelago of Guadeloupe. Also photographing groupes à po (one of the 4 categories of carnival groups) in the middle of nature evoked the illustration and highlighting of the marronnage that represents a vital part of the history of Guadeloupe today.

The costumes, the carnival clothes, are revealed in their natural settings of our beautiful Guadeloupean nature. They reveal to us the history that is anchored in the carnival imaginary of photographer Philippe VIRAPIN.

For more information, see https://www.pinpin-art.com/

Excerpt above translated by Ivette Romero from the press release. For the original text, see https://www.pinpin-art.com/_files/ugd/30b041_7ef276159ccf4c9e8204daf45c108dfb.pdf

For more on the botanical garden, see https://www.jardin-botanique.com/en/home/