Untitled – Border with hydrangeas
La Réunion duo Kid Kréol & Boogie were invited in August 2023 to create original urban murals for EXTRA, an art residency in public space run by Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brest and the city of Gouesnou,
Formed in 2008, Kid Kréol & Boogie, alias Jean-Sébastien Clain and Yannis Nanguet, met at the School of Fine Arts, La Réunion. As a duo, they’ve produced large-scale murals in which setting, symbols and imaginary beings from the culture of the island appear. They conjure images from Creole history and tradition, mostly passed down orally.
For the city of Gouesnou, the artists propose three murals on residential buildings in town center related to the history and landscape of the peripheral city of Brest.
On the artist’s intentions:
This work seeks to highlight the importance of nature, it’s poetics, magic/mystique and mythology. This is an idea we’ve maintained throughout our work. We note that the relationship is also important in Breton culture; we seek to connect the two worlds,
inscribing this view of nature in urban space, putting it into perspective by drawing inspiration from the history of Gouesnou.
During our visit in June, we were touched by the warm welcome from the team working for the city and residents of Gouesnou. Our experience was marked by a visit to the village, its restored field, the church, and individual accounts of the massacre of Penguerec*.
We’d not only like to pay tribute to the people who died in this tragic event, we’d like to portray their presence mythologically as guardians watching over the city.
Echoing our work in La Réunion on setting and mythology, we’d not only like to present the natural heritage of Gouesnou, it’s flora, but also pay tribute to its history by bringing the spirits of these victims to life in the form of colored, radiant stones: between real and magical worlds. These 42 stones (for the 42 victims) – are like forest spirits.
As in La Réunion, the beloved lost remain quietly among us in the spirits of our plants and our forest.
* In 1944, German soldiers shot down 42 citizens at Penguérec in Gouesnou.
Interview of Kid Kréol & Boogie:
Directed by Margaux Germain
Produced by Passerelle Centre d'Art, Brest and Ville de Gouesnou
References:
The murals in Gouesnou are inspired by other works:
Light: https://ddalareunion.org/fr/artistes/kid-kreol-boogie/oeuvres/lumiere-murs
Plantlife | Landscape: https://ddalareunion.org/fr/artistes/kid-kreol-boogie/oeuvres/vegetal-murs
Transalation: Elaine Krikorian