TOKOTANY: Joël Andrianomearisoa

Tokotany is the Malagasy term for an outside area, a yard common to a number of homes, a space adjacent to a building.

Open ground among different constructions, a plot, a yard… earth.

We can imagine that this plot of wasteland is a Malagasy place from another time, a scene of melancholic, nostalgic regret.

A specific place where young people from the same neighbourhood, meet, chat, mingle and join in games.

So the tokotany is a place for meeting and socialising.

When people visit the tokotany, they encounter others and get to know them.

They can then show interest, friendship or even affection towards those other persons.

With a sign, a sound, a word or a look, a simple fellow player can become a companion. The tokotany, with its intense but tenuous subtlety, becomes a playground of endless possibilities… a theatre of infinite potential with moments of boundless opportunity,

Perceptions of every option converge to forge and dissolve links until they remain imprinted on the memories of different generations…

In relation to this concept conceived on the playground of every possibility, Joël Andrianomearisoa has chosen to present a new body of work in the form of Tokotany, his fifth personal exhibition at the Primo Marella Milan gallery.

Its deep-rooted Madagascan inspirations are accompanied by words of the World.

The project pays tribute to all ‘first times’ – of every kind experienced – and focuses solely on discovery, actions that are like certainties, but always remain subject to the constant tension of experimentation.

The artist has chosen words, fabric and textiles, oil and metal in his approach, reflecting narratives inspired by that tokotany playground.

Here, we see his favourite media – elements of his artistic language – meticulously recomposed in a fresh corpus for this new exhibition.

From the outset, his Malagasy words are displayed in confident, clear, black graphics. They form a manifesto that evokes Madagascar – the playground that runs in his veins – but also uses its assertion of identity to create other manifestations of imagination beyond its frontiers… endless possibilities.

The project continues in a vast new textile marquee: a playground of every possibility, the central chapter of the exhibition. In it, Joël Andrianomearisoa reinvents space, questions the other and expresses his vision of the ideal playground. Here, he insists on the concept of every possibility, free of genders, limits or ending.

Firstly, a striking installation made up of twenty raw textile items invaded by lines of black ink: strokes, words and abrupt crossings-out on the canvas.

This outsize display vaguely suggests a simple way of keeping count of the points won in a game. On its surfaces, Joël Andrianomearisoa presents his memories, sorrows, assertions and hopes as a whole. Hopes of successfully constructing that ideal playground of every possibility.

We should note that this installation was produced and shown in 2024 at the HKW / Haus Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, as part of their Ballet of Masses season.

Then there are imposing textile displays in natural shades of linen, sometimes with contrasting nocturnal shades. A palette that reflects the material conditions of the Tokotany, an environment that is usually dusty because its ground is often bare earth. The works are deliberately repetitive in both their construction and presentation. The strips of dark-brown and black fabric unfold and refold endlessly, stressing the importance of playgrounds in our society. Here, Joël Andrianomearisoa uses the power and grandeur of his materials to emphasise his vision of a world open to every desire and conviction.

The exhibition ends with words: a poetic phrase from Joël Andrianomearisoa engraved in metal.
Here, we see a stele that not only conveys architecture in its form – as if the sculpture were the model of a monument to be deployed on the (play)ground – but also suggests poetry and emotions in its openness and universality, and the choice of English as its language of expression.

In a combination of words and materials with a touch of architecture, based on a pictorial exercise, weaving between poetic thought and radical thinking, Joël Andrianomearisoa unambiguously reflects the emotional tensions in stories of playgrounds of every possibility… emotions he strives to make manifest and allow to exist in the uncertainty of our reality.

– Rina Ralay-Ranaivo