Christian Sanna (born in 1989) is a Malagasy-Italian photographic artist from Nosy Be, an island in the North of Madagascar. 

Graduated from the Ecole Supérieure d'Art (ETPA), Christian Sanna is introduced to analog photography, which becomes his preferred medium. Through his work, he explores scenes of everyday life, questioning what we perceive and thus our relationship to reality. This way of seeing "differently" in order to imagine other interpretations of the Malagasy culture.

Beyond the photographic image, Christian Sanna also exploits its plastic form, creating a superposition of narratives and emotional experiences by mixing images and photographic objects during his exhibitions.

Since 2015, his works have been the subject of different exhibitions, collective and solo ones, both in Madagascar and internationally: “”Moraingy” at the French Institute of Madagascar, “Traversé(e(s)” at the Paul Dupuis Museum, “ Afrotopia” during the Bamako Encounters, “The Way We Live Now” at the time of the Aperture Summer Open (New York), “Les Promenades Photographiques de Vendôme”, “ALMOST HOME” curated by Joël Andrianomearisoa at the Galerie RX (Paris). His works have since entered several public and private collections in Madagascar and abroad.

More recently, Christian Sanna devotes himself to his new series “Mihavasoka noho ny Masoandro” / “Everything fades under the sun”. The first drafts of this work were presented during two successive exhibitions within the H Foundation. The first one, “Lettres à Embona”, within their Parisian gallery and the second one, “Chère Embona”, in Antananarivo. 

He currently lives and work between Antananarivo (Madagascar) and Paris (France).

 

Solo exhibitions

  • 2023 :  Fady Kambana, Institut Français d'Antananarivo, Madagascar.
  • 2021  :  Chère Embona, Fondation H Antananarivo, Madagascar.
  • 2020 :  Lettres à Embona, Fondation H Paris, France.
  • 2018  :  Moraingy, Institut Français d’Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Collectives exhibitions

  • 2023  :  LAMBA FOREVER MANDRAKIZAY, Hakanto Contemporary, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
  • 2019  :  ALMOST HOME, Galerie RX, Paris, France.
  • 2018  :  Fady Kambana, Les promenades photographiques de Vendôme, France.
  • 2018  :  The Way We Live Now, Aperture Gallery, New York, USA.
  • 2017  :  Afrotopia, Les Rencontres de Bamako, Biennale panafricaine, Mali.
  • 2017  :  Traversé(e)s, Résidence 1+2, Musée Paul Dupuis, Toulouse.
  • 2016  :  Fady Kambana / Moraingy, Festival Manifesto, Toulouse.
  • 2015  :  Fady Kambana, Sommet Africain de l’ONU, Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Prize, books and residencies

  • 2021 : Livret Chère Embona, lors du solo à la Fondation H Antananarivo, Madagascar.
  • 2018 : Mention spéciale prix LCC Program, Casablanca, Maroc.
  • 2017 : Édition collectiveTraversé(e)s Résidence 1+2, aux Éditions Filigranes, France.
  • 2016 : Grand Prix ETPA, Toulouse, France.

Public and private collection

  • Collection du Musée National du Mali, Bamako.
  • Collection de la Fondation H, Madagascar.
  • Collection Yavarhoussen, Madagascar.
2023 © Christian Sanna.
All rights reserved.
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