Workshops, markets, galleries, .... in Antananarivo

The Andravoahangy market is undoubtedly the most authentic historic market in the Malagasy capital Antananarivo.

This market, slightly outside the city center, a veritable labyrinth, is an open-air market, made up of a mosaic of hard and covered stalls, and rustic wooden stalls.

The duality of constructions responds to the duality of the activities of this market: the craft industry and the sale of necessary first products.

Located 3 km from the Niaouly hotel, this market is a lively market, with many Malagasy people going there to do their daily shopping. You will have the opportunity to share for a moment the daily newspaper of Malagasy housewives.

Even if this market is still today victim of its bad reputation of the 1990s, due to pickspockets, even if the taxi drivers continue to discourage tourists from going there, preferring to take them to the market of La Digue, the race being more expensive, ... this market is one of my favorites.

At its southern periphery, you meet stalls of Asian products, then entering the depths of this market, you will successively fall on the aisle of embroiderers, then the dealers of precious stones and precious stones, metal objects recycled, stands for marquetry, carved wood, basketwork, silver jewelry, leather goods, etc.

Some craftsmen continue to work on site: eyewear, jewelers, embroiderers, ...

In the center of this market, a permanent building bearing the aftermath of time contains small colorful shops.

La Digue market is a market devoted to Malagasy handicrafts, located on one of the leased roads at Ivato International Airport.

it was created in the 2010s to face the pressure of artisans and resellers wishing to settle, but who did not find a place in the historic markets of Antananarivo.

The wooden stands in a row are spread over each unpaved paved road over several hundred meters,

Although less atypical than the Andravoahangy market, this market has the advantage of being very easy to visit due to its configuration and the low attendance,

You will find many articles in raffia, leather, wood, recycled material, ....

Be careful because some stands contain very original articles that you cannot find elsewhere.

The Coum market, also called by the Madagascans and residents, the 67 hectare market is located in the northeast of the city, about 5 km from the Niaouly hotel.

It is essentially a Malagasy craft market which brings together very many artisans on Thursday and Friday from the peripheral villages in the broad sense of the Malagasy capital, but also many wholesalers in the provinces.

If in the southern part of the Coum market which is open to the sky, wooden furniture, mattresses are exposed, on the other hand, in the northern part, various articles are exposed: raffia bag, statues, aluminum utensils , ...

If the products are presented in quantity, on the other hand, the choice is less varied than on the other markets of the capital.

The Ironwork of Art by Violette et Dieudonné was born in the late 90's

Violette and Dieudonné, a Malagasy couple from the plateaus decided at the time to come to the aid of their fellow citizens in precarious situations: young delinquent minors, single female mothers, people with disabilities, elderly people, ...

Having no personal fortune, no more than sponsors or donors, it is by the strength of the wrist, with nothing except the knowledge of Dieudonné in welding and the artistic taste of Violette ... that they started to manufacture recycled wrought iron articles,

Because here, we give life to fuel drums, old truck sheets, ...

Art metalwork was born! ..

Installed since 1990, n ° 1 of the craft industry in Madagascar. Sales area of ​​around 500 m2 spread over a dozen rooms. Presents around 120,000 references, more than 80% of the diversity of Malagasy art. Impressive choice in all areas: fabrics, metals, basketwork, wood, horn, leather goods, stones, paintings…

To discover the photographs of Pierrot Men is to meet a man, a people, the unknown. Memory of Madagascar, it offers a dreamlike, chaotic and luminous approach to life in what it has most experienced and most worthy.

Pierrot Men offers a personal and intimate vision of this island where he was born, and where he lives.

Of Franco-Malagasy and Chinese origin, he carries within him this interbreeding revealing of multiple identities from Africa, Asia and Europe.

His photographs reveal a world in balance. Tables born of a tacit complicity maintained with each inhabitant.

On the border between dream and reality, humanity and inhumanity. So close and so far from everyday life….

Light is invited into each of his compositions, enveloping an open-air scene crossed by busy silhouettes, ephemeral tightrope walkers and almost unreal eternal passers-by. Here sense and emotion go hand in hand with a fair distance and a discreet presence. Few tight framing, no direct intrusions. Its black and white, shrouded in morning mist and uncertain fog, modestly soften a simple and brutal life. The expression of a real revolt continues, faced with unbearable truths.

Because it's all about time. Patience, emotion. Kind and lucid, Pierrot Men captures the soul of a people and the essence of insularity. "A photo is a story of meeting ... like love at first sight, it goes very quickly and you have to be ready and close at all times. A discreet, poetic humanist, Pierrot Men is one of those men you can only love. A photographer witness to this Other who escapes us.

Virginie de Galzain

Fabrice is the photographer of the Authentic, the Human and the Universal that lies dormant in each of us.

With him, the Reflex box he wears over the shoulder is never turned off. Better yet, it is constantly preset according to the light or the mobile context or not. Thus, he is always ready to take the snapshot or, more precisely this moment of eternity which makes the difference with the photos of amateurs.

A curtain that flies in front and lets guess silhouettes? Fabrice has his framing in mind and shoots at the right time. A childish look? It’s the whole truth inside if we believe the photographer for whom "children are the complete opposite of the world full of deceit and bad faith of adults".

This quote alone sums up the whole philosophy of the artist, who remained a child like any artist worthy of the name and who has devoted two exhibitions and a book to "Childhood in all states" (Edition Studiopresse, 2010). Always ready to take the snapshot, Fabrice gave his 24mm power of attorney who sees and remembers for him.

His lens has become a real ethnographic tool that allows you to see only the essentials. At the same time close (since a good photographer can already guess at the focal length that he uses) and distant, to better appreciate the differences, he puts in images everything that makes the moment of eternity.

J. Rombi (Journalist and correspondent of the economic monthly "Memento" for Mayotte, Madagascar, Mauritius)