Daily life in Madagascar

Violette and Dieudonné product commission ideas: Chiminea/Stove/Wheel Barrow

Cooking in Madagascar is done inside the home without a chimney which is the cause of many fires and lung related diseases especially in children (who tend to be the ones responsible for lighting the fire.) It is strange to view homes throughout Madagascar with black windows and roofs instead of a chimney pot, why the houses have no chimneys is still a mystery.










A basic metal chiminea adapted for smoke extraction is a possible solution to this problem. As the story goes, chimeneas originated hundreds if not thousands of years ago by Mexican tribesmen who developed the chimeneas as a means of providing heat for their family as well as a vessel for cooking and baking.

Fuel wood and charcoal production. The endemic spiny forests of Madagascar are being cut at an alarming rate for charcoal production. In eking out a living selling little piles of charcoal along roads in southwestern Madagascar, local people turn towards the nearest plant source, which are often Alluaudia trees.

The charcoal is transported on yolks on peoples backs this system is used everywhere as there are so few roads in Madagascar, walking is the main transport often balancing along the ridges of the ubiquitous rice paddy fields. We are also going to commission the antique wheel barrow in the photograph as a second product for the factory workshop.

First visit Violette and Dieudonné

The first project visited on arrival in the capital Antananarivo was the brilliant factory run by Violette and Dieudonné. They employ 450 workers and have built a school for their families. There is a factory out-let shop built into the main house which is a huge folly visible from the road, tourists and locals are bought there via taxis. They prefer to be independent from any government sponsorship for fear of being compromised by them. Once the workers have money they build their homes on land purchased by the company.
The raw material used for the products is tons of disused steel cylinders which are sliced up and beaten into shape becoming plates, mirrors, boxes and ornamental Baobab trees to name a few. Their elegant work was evident in many of rooms we stayed in during our travels. We will propose new designs for their product range.

Artist support for health and culture

Project proposal by Paula Cox and Julienne Dolphin Wilding

We have been invited by Samantha Cameron of Feedback Madagascar
to use our individual skills to support their projects. As artists we will be working on specific initiatives to benefit the Malagasy people.

Paula will be designing posters for human rights, topics will include: Better hygiene and sanitation to reduce disease. Land security (as often women do not have the same rights to inherit) and equal rights to education. We shall document ongoing projects with Feedback Madagascar with images to use for their publicity and catalogs.

There is a need to develop income-generating activities for communities, as well as assisting the creativity of new sustainable crafts. The visual inspiration will be developed to create a collection of fine art prints celebrating the Malagasy people, these together with Paula’s photography will be exhibited at venues in London, Barcelona and Paris, these exhibitions will honour and promote Malagasy people.

We will be funding our own time and combined skills to accomplish our specific initiatives to benefit the Malagasy people.


An appeal for charitable funds for artist lead project

Please contact us artformadagascar@gmail.com 

Donations direct to Feedback Madagascar

Paula Cox

Artist printmaker and photographer Visit Paula Cox website

My work is figurative using fluid lines and carefully chosen colours. One of the major themes of my artwork is a celebration of different cultural identities around the world and in relation to this I have worked in association with Amnesty International as an ‘artist for human rights’ since 1988. I have recently completed a project ‘Celebrating the Life of Palestinian Women’ for which I received a grant from the Arts Council to be an artist in residence in Palestine.
Working together with my project partner and associate artist Julienne Dolphin Wilding we are planning an initial visit to Madagascar in November 2009 to research and develop our ideas and start our art based project with Feedback Madagascar. After we have successfully secured sponsorship we will return in 2010 to complete phase one of the project. I intend to use my skills as an illustrator to highlight hygiene and sanitation concerns to reduce disease and assist a water project with PHAST public health and action support team.

I shall document on going projects with Feedback Madagascar with images to use for publicity and catalogues.

I will create a series of fine art prints from sketches and Madagascan inspiration that will celebrate the cultural traditions and ethnic diversity of the Malagasy people.

I would also like to create and audiovisual presentation from all the collated images and work with Malagasy musicians for the sound track.

An exhibition of my work together with products and designs by the Malagasy people including basketry and woven silk by the women from the silk cooperative would take place independently and highlight the glory of this unique island nation.

Julienne Dolphin Wilding

Artist and Designer. Visit web site Julienne Dolphin Wilding
My work has developed specifically within environmental concerns. I have a large range of work, including site specific sculpture, furniture, product, interior and garden design. I am very interested in visiting Madagascar to run a project working with sustainable and waste materials that are widely utilized there.

In my work I use durable materials that do not break and survive the life of the product; recycled materials; materials fabricated from factory production waste, and sustainable raw materials. The materials take on a new role which exploits their natural individuality and irregularity, precisely those characteristics which preclude their use in most applications.

I am able to work with local crafts people as a group, or as an individual 'artist as a mentor'. I have taught design, art and craft at university level for fourteen years and feel strongly that I have something to contribute to the new crafts initiatives in Madagascar.

• I would like to support the Malagasy crafts women and help to make informed and meaningful decisions about their products.

• Developing new sustainable Malagasy crafts as income-generating activities for communities, as well as working on the creativity of the current silk and basketry products.

• Promoting Malagasy craft products and Paula's exhibition prints that can be exhibited in venues in London, Barcelona and Paris in 2010. These exhibitions will celebrate and promote the work of Malagasy people and support community action to save the rain-forest.

Feedback Madagascar

Feedback Madagascar is a unique, well respected organisation that aims to alleviate poverty through an integrated approach, recognising the inter-relationship between poverty, environmental degradation and poor health.

Their focus encourages local people to identify their problems and needs helping them to create their own solutions. By working in a participatory way, with community consultation at all stages of programme design and implementation, they ensure that projects are effective and sustainable.

They implement activities which promote the social development of local communities and the improved management of natural resources. Since 1993, Feedback has improved the lives of thousands of Malagasy families. Their unique sustainable approach has seen impressive results, everything that has been achieved has come through direct consultation and partnership with local people and they are still going from strength to strength!

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