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Madagascar

Madagascar borders the Mozambique Channel off the east coast of Africa. Since the early Christian era, the Great Red Island has been a melting pot for successive waves of Austronesian, African and Arab settlers.

Malagasy spirituality is intimately related to the ancestors. It has remained primordial for the islanders, despite colonisation and the coming of the missionaries.

Rajonah, Madagascan Artist

Rajonah (active before 1907) followed a pictorial tradition that began in Madagascar when the monarchy was established and developed during the colonial era. Unfortunately, there appears to be no information available about the life and career of the ‘Hova’ painter (Hova, meaning ‘freeman’, is one of the Merina casts). At the beginning of the twentieth century, Rajonah was part of the new generation of painters, who mostly came from the Merina elite and attended the missionary art schools to study Western techniques. Photography played a major role in this creative effervescence, and in only fifty years a fully developed Madagascan academicism emerged.

Even though his technique and composition were influenced by European artistic norms, Rajonah’s style was unique in its genre. He was, in fact, the only Madagascan artist known to practise grisaille painting directly on unprepared canvas, which allows the natural colour of the raffia to show through. The iconography of his subject matter is of great documentary importance as it illustrates the daily lives and religious practices of the Merina people on the Great Island at the time.

Ody, Amulets and Talismans

In Malagasy spiritual practices, magical objects or ody forge a link between the world of the ancestors and the world of the living.

This "talisman" takes many different forms and is mainly composed of organic materials. It is made and consecrated by the ombiasy, the sorcerer and therapist, and then given to its future owner(s). The protective ody will keep a couple together, make the owner invulnerable, protect children from an early death or ensure victory in a battle. Other ody have a votive function, supposed to bring the owner(s) wealth, prosperity and good health.