Dunking Island, exposition de Capucine Vever

The work reflects on rising sea levels which, whilst affecting the whole of the planet, are posing a particular threat to the Island of Gorée (Senegal), whose looming fate at being swallowed up by the sea risks erasing an ‘island of memory’ in terms of the transatlantic slave trade. This immersion is presented metaphorically in the installation, which takes the viewpoint of the ocean, where the artist has submerged her camera, revealing a swirling aquatic chaos of plastic waste and tropical fish.

In this way, the pressures facing the island, which is experiencing mass tourism, are brought to the fore. The artist’s proposal chimes with the remembrance efforts already underway in Nantes, a city which played an active part in the transatlantic slave trade from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The film alternates shots of Lebu fishermen using traditional techniques with images of stems of factory ships that wreak havoc on the seabed. Music by Valentin Ferré accompanies the Senegalese singer Wasis Diop, who comes from this community, to form an ode to the ocean and to the myriad interlacing narratives it carries within it.

Intrigued by notions of what is invisible, inaccessible and imperceptible, Capucine Vever develops a contextual work. Her creations are inspired by the specifics of a particular region, the human activities that are carried out there and the perceptions to which it is subject. She uses observations, scientific studies, maps, experiments and encounters to craft a narrative that leans towards fiction, a work of poetry, in a sensitive depiction of societal issues. Between the visible and invisible, the macro- and the micro-scale, the artist absorbs and manipulates what we can see to reveal what is hidden – and leave space for the imagination.