Audrey Albert : Belongers
William; green magician, protector of mama later (mother earth) in the Chagos Refugee Group’s garden in Pointe aux Sables, Mauritius.
© Audrey Albert (2024).
Friday 7 February - Saturday 10 May 2025
Public Preview: Thursday 6 February, 6pm - 8pm
Exhibition continues: Friday 7 February - Saturday 10 May 2025, Wednesday - Saturday, 12pm - 5pm
In a celebration of the multiplicity of Chagossian identities, the first UK solo show by Manchester-based Mauritian-Chagossian artist, Audrey Albert, and a team of close-knit collaborators, Belongers brings visibility to the Chagossian community at a time of instrumentalisation of the Chagos Islands and people by domestic and international military and political forces.
Audrey Albert’s work for Belongers is part of the IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund, a national partnership programme led by Imperial War Museums which includes more than 20 artist commissions inspired by the heritage of conflict. The Fund was created following the success of 14-18 NOW, the UK’s official arts programme for the First World War centenary, which ran from 2014-2018.
Belongers looks at how Chagossians represent themselves, how they reclaim and live their identities in countries that have never quite been “home”. Developed as part of the IWM 14-18 Legacy Fund, the commission includes portraiture, documentary, moving-image, cyanotypes, and a Chagossian Kaz (hut) that have been developed by Albert over the last two years. A range of content from Mauritius, Wythenshawe, Crawley, and archival glimpses into the Chagos Islands, centres a diasporic nation, that since the1960s and 1970s has been denied a right to return.
For her commission exhibition, Audrey Albert has also drawn together works by other artists and researchers to consider the many questions around the self-determination of the Chagossians. Responses by Chrisyl Wong-Hang-Sun, Shane Ah-Siong, Ellianne Baptiste and Charlie Bird respond to the unique Chagossian culture, and their guardianship of the archipelago, as belongers of the land, the sea, the flora and fauna. The exhibition at Ffotogallery and programme of events seek to serve as a vehicle for conversation, for the Archipelago nation’s natives and descendants, and their ambition for future world-building, while questioning how they reclaim, live and transmit culture and land as one.
Audrey Albert, artist said, “This commission gave me the headspace and most importantly the time to further explore my practice, develop it and continue the work I had started with the Chagossian community back in 2017. For a lot of us, this is more than only work. It is about survival, resistance and resilience. It is about our lived experiences as Chagossian natives and descendants. It’s how we heal and how we come together to create joyful spaces. I think collective work, co-creation, creative community work are what make the world a better place and it is through my art, that I add my own little stone to the bigger picture. I hope that through this exhibition, Chagossian culture will be celebrated, Chagossians will be truly seen and that our voices will be heard and listened to.”
Rachel Donnelly, Head of Partnerships, Imperial War Museums said, “Working with artists has been a core part of IWM’s practice since the First World War. Audrey Albert’s commission continues this important tradition, telling stories of war and conflict in new and thought-provoking ways. We are very pleased to work with Ffotogallery, and build on IWM's history of artist engagement, to present this commission through our IWM 14-18 NOW Legacy Fund.”
Siân Addicott, Director of Ffotogallery, said, “Belongers is a special opportunity for Ffotogallery to highlight the struggles of communities displaced by conflict. The forced displacement of the Chagossian people by the British government remains a living legacy of historic injustice and colonial policies. Audrey Albert’s sensitive and collaborative use of photography highlights the importance of sharing intergenerational knowledge and experiences to empower new generations and preserve cultural identity. We’re proud to support Audrey’s work through the IWM 14-18 Now Legacy Fund, amplifying the voices and stories of the Chagossian community.
