The World Island

A painter by vocation, Nathalie Beras was born on the island of the famous poet Edouard Glissant in Martinique, a French island in the Caribbean Sea.

In her continuous series of Islands and Mountains which she intoduced in her solo exhibition in Paris in spring 2017, she borrows from this great poet of the Antilles the same philosophical approach of his "All-World", inviting visitors to find that "I am an island" and that we are all archipelagos.

Indeed, her islands and mountains are totems or emblems, inviting us to think of our identity beyond geography and instead the aggregate of our experiences and  interactions with people from all walks of life. If we want to share the beauty of the world, we must also learn to remember together. "This mountain, this island in each of my paintings is a place of meditation, a catalyst of common emotions. "

After a stopover in South Korea in 2018, the Islands of Nathalie Beras were anchored in Dubai. What could be a more natural destination than the Emirates that imagined an archipelago of artificial islands in the Persian Gulf entitled the “world islands”, which represent the entire planet!

The artist exhibits a dozen artworks, paying tribute to Edouard Glissant, writer and a wordsmith poet of the French and Creole languages. For this exhibition, Nathalie Beras created a new series of paintings/totems, in search of the link between imagination and esotericism. How can a painted image represent the unity of a human being? How in transcending nature can one cultivate the creativity of human beings, which is indispensable to reach true knowledge and to unveil mysteries? The very essence of Nathalie Beras's paintings is related in their questioning to the mystical experience and philosophical knowledge of Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi, the great master of Sufism, whose thinking defines the man as the perfect image of  an accomplished creation and proclaiming "I believe in the religion of Love, wherever its caravans go. Because love is my religion and my faith. " It is at this celebration of the unity of nature and the strength of feeling that we are invited by her paintings.

Nathalie Beras, a painter, is also a diplomat at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, having held positions in Russia, Central Asia and Ukraine.

 

Ashok Adicéam
Senior Vice President/Director of Public Affairs
DAG
New Delhi-Mumbai-New York