SDC

Traditionally trained in animation, research and visual artist, Meghan Judge, is currently involved in making space for arts outside institutional structures.  In her work, she is particularly concerned with the production of knowledge through the complication of historiography by way of creative interruptions and openings in the present.

This residency provides the opportunity to deepen ongoing research into the ‘Gong Fu Riots’ that took place in Madagascar in the late 1980s. It will allow for the exploration of creative methods between artists, outlining possible ways for sharing an alternative narrative about the events with a broader audience.

The research within this residency focuses on a series of autobiographical comic strips by ‘Master Avoko’; this autobiography reads as an alternative history of the events.

“During the residency I will have the opportunity to spend more time with ‘Master Avoko’ to document a conversation about his autobiography, as well as to explore the possibilities that sound and animation hold in sharing the narrative digitally,” says Judge.

Is’Art Gallerie in Antananarivo, Madagascar, will host the residency, thus allowing for a strengthening of networks in the arts between Madagascar and South Africa that has been growing since 2009.

Judge has been involved in art initiatives across South Africa and in other countries in the region, including Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Ethiopia. She is a co-founder of the movement Africa|Nosy Art Echange (ANAE), a collaboration between artists that sought to connect artists in the Indian Ocean islands with the continent of Africa.