Mauritius: The Minister of Arts and Cultural Heritage, Mr Avinash Teeluck, inaugurated yesterday an art exhibition on the theme ‘Our History, Our Future’ at the Nelson Mandela Centre for African Culture in La Tour Koenig, in the context of the Commemoration of the 188th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery.
This exhibition, jointly organised by the Nelson Mandela Centre for African Culture Trust Fund, operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Arts and Cultural Heritage and the National Art Gallery, brings together the original works of some 25 artists in several mediums, including sculptures, paintings, and installations, and is opened to the public for free as from 27 February 2023 on Mondays to Fridays.
The Chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Centre for African Culture Trust Fund, Mr Olivier Michael Thomas, and other personalities were also present at the inauguration ceremony.
In his address, Minister Teeluck commended the Nelson Mandela Centre for African Culture for the numerous activities they organised last year. He highlighted the importance of encouraging artists to make good use of the art space (Lespas Lar) at their disposal in La Tour Koenig Tower.
The Minister reminded that slaves have greatly contributed not only to the socio-economic development of the country but also to the creation of our culture. As such, he dwelt on the Genealogy Project initiated by the Nelson Mandela Centre for African Culture in 2011, which is ongoing. The objective of this project, he outlined, is to set up a structure so as to assist Mauritians in establishing their slave descent as well as to trace their linguistic, geographic and cultural origins.
On another note, Minister Teeluck stated that the official programme for the Commemoration of the 188th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery will soon be held at the Intercontinental Slavery Museum.
For his part, Mr Thomas recalled that one of the missions of the Centre is to carry out research on the impact of slavery in Mauritius and in other countries. He also highlighted the several activities organised by the Centre back in 2022, among which featured an art exhibition in Lespas Lar.
