Christian Sanna

Nofin'ankizilahy / Boys Dream

The work Nofin’ankizilahy (Boys dream) explore the Morengy, a traditional combat sport practiced on the west coast of Madagascar by the Sakalavas. In the past it was practiced as a game, as a means of self-defense, and as training for warfare. During a Morengy the adversary is not seen as an enemy but a way to build oneself. Today the Morengy has become a popular event generating money, some fighters are now stars and are trying to professionalize themselves.

These images were taken in Nosy Be, an island north of Madagascar where Christian Sanna is from. Although the island is one of the main tourist poles of Madagascar, this new economy leaves aside part of the local youth who cannot be trained and who suffer the disappearance of traditional economies as well as the increase in the cost of living. Sanna has chosen to document this subject which testifies to the enthusiasm of young Malagasy people from the island of Nosy Be for a local and traditional sport. This represents for the latter a beacon from which to set up a process of resilience with regard to the difficulties generated by the modernization of the island to serve the needs of tourism. With his black and white photographs, Christian Sanna mixes portraits of seating wrestlers, moments of warm-ups, trainings, and fights to evoke the preparation for the struggle and a way of rebuilding themselves for the young people left behind by the changes on the island.