The most recent exhibition at Bait Muzna examines the relationship between Oman and Zanzibar. Ania Gruca's photography collection, titled Waliorejea, Returnees, is on display, with Aisha al Kharousi serving as the exhibition's curator.
“From courage and determination grew a stronger people, and through their endurance and desire to achieve, they excelled in various professions for the benefit of the growth of modern Oman,“ said Sayyida Susan al Said, founder of Bait Muzna.
According to Ania, "Waliorejea" refers to the word "returnees," relating to the Zanzibar Omanis of Arab origin. Waliorejea interweaves an intimate dialectic between memory and forgetting, speech and silence, as well as presence and absence.
French photographer Ania is a freelance documentary photographer and videographer based in Paris. This is her third visit to the Sultanate of Oman. She first went to Zanzibar in 2008 and started working there in 2010. Her interest lives in the lives of under-reported communities and individuals, whether it is through current social issues, the collection of memories, an investigation of the past, or new cultural trends as forms of expression.
Ania’s work raises questions of identity and belonging.
“To me, the exhibition is a celebration of Omani and Zanzibari cultures intertwined after centuries. In terms of selection for this exhibition, I believe Ania has done an excellent job," she said."For me, it was more about placement and looking for quality in keeping this theme,” said Aisha al Kharousi, the exhibition curator, and pointed out, “What I love about the exhibition is the fact that this journey you will go through within the gallery will reflect on the Omanis of Zanzibari background and help you understand that Oman and Zanzibar have a fusion of cultures, and the similarities are truly spectacular." You see that with the portraits taken in Oman that are of the present versus the black and white landscapes that reflect the daily life of a Zanzibari.”
The exhibition which is to be officially inaugurated on February 28 and open for the public on March 1 will continue until March 21.
Ania's first trip to Oman was with a grant she had received from the Center of National Arts in Paris, the second one was residency from the French Embassy and the current exhibition comes under the patronage of the French Embassy in Oman.
In her photography, she uses techniques such as pointillism and impressionism and, in some photographs, brings in elements of grain that look like paintings.
There are two sides to the exhibition. The black-and-white photographs were taken over many years in Zanzibar. They express culture and daily life, and there is also a search for identity as well as a representation of Zanzibari culture. In Oman, Ania Focused on color images that include a series of portraits taken during two different residencies in Muscat, as well as a few landscapes of Oman.
What she also has in mind is a book with many specific chapters dedicated to her findings.
She has already started to work on it but says it is a long way to go, “I am still editing the interviews and finding the best way to present this whole body of work.”
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