Mayotte : à la rencontre des mondes (titre provisoire)

Curators: Abdoul-Karime Ben Saïd, director of MuMA (Mayotte Museum); M. Colardelle, chief heritage curator, chair of MuMA’s scientific council; C. Foissey, emeritus chief heritage curator and project officer at MuMA. Mucem presents an unprecedented exhibition devoted to Mayotte, this French island whose culture is little known in mainland France, located more than 7,000 kilometres away in the heart of the Indo-Pacific region. A land of contrasts and cultural mixing, Mayotte reveals itself as a true cultural crossroads, a place of multiple encounters—sometimes conflicting, often fruitful. Volcanic by nature, the island is a melting pot of African, Malagasy, Arab-Muslim and Austronesian influences. These exchanges have shaped its languages, cuisines, knowledge, beliefs and crafts. The dhows, traditional boats, have sailed the seas, carrying spices, gold and enslaved people, but also ideas, traditions and stories. Today, these ancient forms of sociability, a pillar of Mahoran communities, are under threat: globalisation, natural disasters, the dematerialisation of human relationships… The “elders” are disappearing, taking precious knowledge with them. It was to preserve this memory that the Mayotte Museum was founded in 2015. Its mission is to collect, preserve and pass on oral histories, objects, and practices from the past and present. The exhibition at Mucem is one outcome of this ambitious work. More than 100 objects—witnesses to nature, archaeology, history, ethnology, practices and artistic works—give the exhibition exceptional scope. They include volcanic rocks from Mount Fani Maoré—the world’s youngest volcano—recent evidence of the island’s geological evolution; archaeological ceramics; fragments of rock crystal that was carved in the archipelago before being transformed into precious Fatimid art objects; the skeleton of the “sea monster” (sperm whale); a dugout outrigger canoe; a large dhow sail; the original decree abolishing slavery; a fitako (sedan chair); artistic works such as Didier Valhère’s painting La Mahoraise; and intangible works such as oral literature and poems by Nassuf Djailani.