AFA goes to Kunstenfestival Des Arts: Une Traduction Infidèle
ENG
On may 26, Art For All goes to Kunstenfestival Des Arts: Une Traduction Infidèle
How does an artist with foreign roots find his way in the Belgian tangle? In 2019, Ahilan Ratnamohan – raised in Sydney and with Sri Lankan roots – realizes that despite living in Belgium for seven years, he doesn’t have a single Walloon friend and that everything he knows about Walloons has been told to him from a Flemish perspective. By learning French and immersing himself in Walloon culture, Ratnamohan wonders if he will truly be able to become a Belgian. He learns the French language especially for this performance and brings us, through funny and painful anecdotes, his adventure as a Flemish artist in French-speaking Belgium. He tries to shake off his Flemish identity, an identity attributed to him almost unwittingly by learning Dutch and his artistic practice based mainly in Flanders. Through this exercise, Ratnamohan deconstructs the division of Belgium and in doing so also reflects on his own identity: that of an English-speaking migrant, a Flemish passerby, an artist labeled as Flemish. Ahilan Ratnamohan is also the creator of the performance Le maillot – one size fits all in collaboration with artists from Globe Aroma.
We meet up with the group at Globe Aroma at 18h30.
Interested? Contact Amina: 0496 10 86 57 / artforall@globearoma.be