Ricardo Crespi Gallery presents Maritime Chronicles, the first solo show in MIlan by international London-based artist Zineb Sedira. Preview 5 June 2014 h. 18.30

In Maritime Chronicles, recent bodies of work by Sedira cast their gaze upon the sea of Marseille, France and Nouadhibou, Mauritania. Featuring photography and video installations, the exhibition speaks of transitional existences and liminal spaces, as well as addresses environmental, geographical and cultural mobility issues.

In the monumental photographs Sugar Silo, Sugar Mountain and Sugar Landscape (2013), the mountains of sugar stocked in warehouses in the Port of Marseille take the form of landscapes and topographical strata. The granulated sugar is extracted from sugar cane in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, from Africa and Oceania to the Caribbean, the West Indies and the shores of Latin America: the different shades of ochre recount the stories of human migrations, the endless journeys through the seas and oceans, and the triangular trade routes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The set of photographs Ship on Sand (2014) and the diptych Comings and Goings (2014) are striking images of skeletons of abandoned and rusted ships, anchored into the sand of Nouadhibou peninsula. Nouadhibou is the natural habitat of exotic migratory birds that stop here each year. It is also both the end of the African journey of candidates for illegal immigration and the departure to a promised land. As a recurrent emblematic symbol in this series, the anchor anticipates the vessel’s arrival and the memories to be kept and transmitted.

Finally, the video installation Transmettre en abyme (2013) draws on the Detaille collection, a living photographic archive in Marseille, spanning from 1895 to today. It is a unique record in its own right of an artist who is herself a photographer and collector of memories: preserving and transmitting memories of the past in order to leave a legacy for the future is at the core of Sedira’s work

Sedira lives in London and works between London, Algiers and Paris. Her works can be found in several major public collections including: Deutsche Bank, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Victoria and Albert Museum, Arts Council of England, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Sharjah Art Museum and the Fond National d'Art Contemporain.

Riccardo Crespi Gallery

Via Mellerio,1
Milan 20123 Italy
Ph. +39 028 9072491
info@riccardocrespi.com
www.riccardocrespi.com

Opening hours

Moday - Saturday
From 11.00am to 1.00pm and from 3.00pm to 7.30pm

Related images
  1. Zineb Sedira, Sugar Mountain, 2013, C-print on dibond, 160 x 180 cm, Courtesy galleria Riccardo Crespi and the artist
  2. Zineb Sedira, Coming and Goings #2, 2014, C-print on dibond, 100 x 125 cm, Courtesy galleria Riccardo Crespi and the artist
  3. Zineb Sedira, Sugar Silo #1, 2013, C-print on dibond, 180 x 200 cm, Courtesy galleria Riccardo Crespi and the artist
  4. Zineb Sedira, Sugar Landscape #2, 2013, C-print on dibond, 70 x 90 cm, Courtesy galleria Riccardo Crespi and the artist
  5. Zineb Sedira, Sugar Surface, 2013, C-print on dibond, 160 x 180 cm, Courtesy galleria Riccardo Crespi and the artist
  6. Zineb Sedira, Sugar Landscape #3, 2013, C-print on dibond, 70 x 90 cm, Courtesy galleria Riccardo Crespi and the artist