Artists working to save the natural environment of the local mangroves
Mangroves from the Water (MFTW) is excited to announce the In Love with Mangroves exhibition at the Médiathèque de Janville library in Beauce, France. The exhibition is curated by the artist Geraldine Chansard and Pauline Dupin. The exhibition is from September to December 2023.
Mangroves from the Water (MFTW) is happy to announce the in-progress publication of our first illustrated story about the mangroves and saltmarshes, The Gini Fatouhah. The story is based on the fabled Gini Fatouh, a much-loved Emirati folk tale featured in Dr Abdulaziz Almusallam’s Al Wahri (2022, الواري).
Our aim with this story is to highlight the beauty of the mangroves and their importance to the environment. The story of a young gini provides a message of the importance of being close to nature. The story also contributes to the updating of heritage stories to celebrate the role of females and environmentalists in the UAE, all of whom are playing an important role in protecting nature.
Zahidah Zeytoun Millie authors the story and the illustrations are a result of a collaboration with the artist Géraldine Chansard. Our illustration process involves Géraldine characterising the story within Zahidah’s own water colour sketches that she has painted from a kayak among the mangroves of Umm Al Quwain. Géraldine designs the layout of the book.
We would like to thank and acknowledge the great support that MFTW research and art exhibition projects have received from the Sharjah Institute for Heritage since 2017, especially for publishing our first short story the Gini Fatouhah in 2023.
Our deep gratitude goes to the Chairman of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage, Dr Abdulaziz Almusallam, for his vision in linking art, heritage and the environment. We also acknowledge the support of the publishing director Dr Mini Abdelkader and all the staff at the Institute for their patience and continuous support for the benefit of the environment. This connection of heritage storytelling and contemporary environmental stories is an important reference point for cultural identity and popular memory, as Dr Abdulaziz writes in his introduction to the Mangroves Festival 2017 catalogue:
The mangrove tree has a lot of encompassed forms of expression in the community’s memory and it has produced values, customs, traditions, experiences and popular ethics, artistic creations and experiences of traditions, which add to the totality, the depth, and richness of heritage.
إن ارتباط شجر القرم بحياة الإماراتين قديمًا، وتفاعلهم معه، وتشكيله جزءً كبرًا من هويتهم الثقافية والاجتماعية يجعل من ضرورة المحافظة عى تراث هذه الشجرة أمرًا من الأهمية، لنر الوعي حول أهميتها وضرورة الحفاظ عليها، لمكانتها وموقعها المهم في الراث الثقافي الإماراتي والملهم في نفس الوقت، لذلك فهي تعتر عنرا أساسيًا في الموروث الثقافي والتقاليد الفلكورية للتجمعات السكانية في الدولة.
Faithfully,
Zahidah Zeytoun Millie
Founder & Curator at Mangroves from the Water (MFTW)
17 September 2023
Winning Short Film Announcement, 8 February 2023
Congratulations to the team behind the short film ‘The Girl who Fell in Love with the Mangroves’ for winning the first prize in the RAK Fine Arts Festival 2023. This film was part of the Mangroves from the Water 2021 exhibition in Geelong, Australia. We hope the prize will encourage film producers to create more inspiring films for the mangroves.
We’d like to congratulate the writer and film director Pauline Dupin, and also Rakhi Sawalani who acted the main character ‘the Girl’.
We also acknowledge Geraldine Chansard, the film executive and the creator of Woman from the Mangroves, the sculpture featured in the film.
On this occasion we’d also like to thank the Sharjah Institute for Heritage and the Chairman Dr Abd Aziz Al Musallam for their continuous support to the mangroves and our art campaign, Mangroves from the Water (MFTW). We thank the Institute for publishing extra issues of a special edition of Marawed magazine that focuses on the mangroves as part of Emirati Heritage.
To follow up the news about the winning film, please open these links:
https://mangrove-girl.webador.fr/about
https://www.instagram.com/mangrove.girl/
Zahidah Zeytoun Millie
MFTW Founder and Curator
The short film ‘the Girl who Fell in Love with the Mangroves’ is to be podcasted by the Dubai Culture Authority during the ‘Al Marmoom – Film in the Desert’ festival on 10 December, 10:00pm to 12:00 pm.
Rakhi, founder of the Desert Art Collective, will represent the filmmaker Pauline Dupin and the artist Geraldine Chansard of the ‘Mangroves from the Water’ group.
For more info about this film festival you can clic on this link https://dubaiculture.gov.ae/en/events/Al-Marmoom-Film-In-The-Desert
Zahidah Zelda Zeytoun Millie
Founder & Curator
Mangroves from the Water
It’s with great pleasure that we are able to share these images with you from our official opening on Saturday 14 August 2021.
Thanks to the Gordon Gallery, the City of Greater Geelong, Sharjah Institute of Heritage, , the Barwon Estuary Project and Humans of Geelong for their support in realising this show.
The opening began with a Welcome to Wadawurrung Country by Elder Nikki McKenzie, supported by Norm Stanley on the didgeridoo; a ceremony we all acknowledged as befitting the themes and depth of our project and our regard for the mangrove landscape.
We were honoured that Libby Coker MP officially opened the event and we’re grateful for her important words and interest in our project.
Curator Zahidah Zeytoun Millie acknowledged the support of our partners and introduced the work of our 13 artists, all focused on raising awareness of the beauty and importance of mangroves.
To Peter Martin, thank you for presenting the opening oration so eloquently.
The afternoon gave our 50 visitors (we were restricted by Covid 19!) a fascinating range of perspectives that included a human element in addition to the multi media artwork. Choreographic artist Jacqui Dreessens performed a sensorial interpretation of mangroves in dance with video, and Richard Collopy presented a passionate talk on a traditional owner’s perspective of mangroves. Viewers were enthralled by the depth of thought and detail presented in the multi media Mangroves from the Art exhibition.
We are very grateful to everyone who came out to support us, especially during this difficult time with lockdowns. We were sad to miss a few of the artists not being able to attend – some stuck locally (Nicola Cerini and Kerrie Taylor), and some abroad (Geraldine Chansard in Belgium, Stephanie Neville in the UAE and Alexis Gambis in France).
Credit for all images goes to photographer Phil Hines. Our thanks to MC Daniel Zeytoun Millie.
We are so proud of the variety of multi-media on offer at the next Mangroves from the Water exhibition.
Here is a preview to entice you to visit the Gordon Gallery.
Geraldine Chansard collaborated with director Pauline Dupin to create this heartwarming tale in a short video.
You can follow the news thread on Geraldine’s crowdfunding page to see the development of this project, as well as contribute to realize her dream:
https://fr.ulule.com/la_jeune_fille_tombee_amoureuse_des_mangroves/news/
Geraldine Chansard’s sculpture Woman from the Mangroves is the catalyst for the creation of the video project The girl who fell in love with the mangroves.
A crowdfunding campaign has been created in aide of the logistics involved for Geraldine to participate in the Mangroves from the Water touring exhibition in Australia this year.
You will have to wait for the final product to find out what happens!
To participate in the crowdfunding and for more information on Geraldine and this project, please visit:
https://fr.ulule.com/la_jeune_fille_tombee_amoureuse_des_mangroves/#faq/
Mangroves from the Water artists and quest speakers are artists are:
Alexis Gambis, Nicola Cerini, Enrico Santucci, Deb Taylor, Richard Collopy, Jacqui Dreessens, Geraldine Chansard, Helen and Peter Martin, Malcolm Gardiner, scientist Oskar Serrano and Zahidah Zeytoun Millie
We are all excited to share this special day with fellow international eco-warriors passionate about the preservation of the mangroves!
Here is the schedule of talks, events and performances during our exhibition:
Mangroves from the water
Gordon Gallery, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
26 July – 15 August
The exhibition will provide viewers with a range of media to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. The artists also hope to see discussions occurring throughout the exhibition in a series of colloquia.
The artists are:
Alexis Gambis, Nicola Cerini, Enrico Santucci, Deb Taylor, Richard Collopy, Jacqui Dreessens, Stephanie Neville, Geraldine Chansard, Peter & Helen Martin, and Zahidah Zeytoun Millie.
The exhibition event will open on International Mangroves Day, 26 July, and end on 15 August 2020 during National Science Week (15-23 August). Workshops on weaving, printing and painting will run during the multimedia exhibition and guest speakers will present related talks on mangroves and the Barwon region.
Guest speakers:
| Date/Time | Guest Speaker | Location | Title |
| 15 Aug,
1000-1100 |
Oskar Serrano | Deakin University | Coastal wetlands as weapons for climate change mitigation and time capsules of the human past |
| 15 Aug, 1100-1200 | Peter Martin | Deakin University | For the Beauty of the Earth |
Workshops schedule:
| Date/Time | Presenter | Workshop | Location | Materials |
| 31 Jul,
1000-1200 14 Aug, 1000-1200 7 Aug, 1000-1200 |
Zahidah Zeytoun Millie | Kayaking/water colour sketching. | Barwon River, Barwon Heads
Hovells Creek |
Water colours, sketch book, kayak (self provided) |
| 1 Aug, 1000-1600 | Helen Martin | Eco printing | Point Lonsdale | |
| 2 Aug,
1000-1200
|
Deb Taylor | 2 hour collage
and paint workshop |
Project Space Gallery | |
| 26 Jul,
1400-1500
8 Aug, 1400-6500
22 Aug, 1400-6500 |
Jacqueline Dreessens | Environmental Dance Interpretation | The Project Space Gallery
Hovells Creek School theatre TBC |
|
| 15 Aug,
0930-1230 |
Nicola Cerini | Interpreting the mangroves: printing on plywood | The School of Lost Arts |
Live Performances
| Date/Time | Presenter | Performance | Location | ||
| Live music | Project Space Gallery | ||||
| 26 July
1400-1500 |
Jacqueline Dreessens | Environmental Dance Interpretation | The Project Space Gallery | ||
Mangroves from the Water (MFTW) 