Born in Reunion Island, Yasmine Attoumane is a visual artist. Drawing inspiration from the Rivière des Galets, on the banks of which she lives, Yasmine carries out in situ experiments along shorelines and riverbeds, delineating the unstable and fluctuating natural sites by markings or transitory installations. She touches upon its borders, our interaction with and a sense of belonging towards these precarious territories. The question of inhabiting it, positioning, and encountering these precarious territories have become artistic projects with political and social questions.
Her works are often imbued with a certain poetry, absurdity, and derision, as can be seen in the video installation Starry Sky, which simultaneously evokes the black sand of La Rivière des Galets and the universe as a metaphor for a window to the infinite. This work subtly addresses the concepts of appropriation, colonization of spaces, and the importance of inhabiting the here and now.
Parallel to this, she is developing Along the water – provisional title – a project around rivers and cities such as Betsiboka, Mahajunga – La Seine, Paris – Maas, Maastricht – Tembe, Maputo which can take different forms to reflect her relationship and practice, ranging from action-performances, installations to photographic work or objects. Yasmine Attoumane has been selected as the first participant in the residency program jointly set up by the Jan van Eyck Academie and the Institut français des Pays.