MENTION SPÉCIALE DU JURY 2026
This work rises from a profoundly Mauritian consciousness, an island existence shaped, bordered, and sustained by water, yet paradoxically distanced from its sacred weight.
Beneath the quiet density of our rivers’ depths, the very arteries of the land that move without spectacle, sustaining life while remaining overlooked, spiritual presences dwell alongside men, women, and child, suspended in a submerged realm that acts as a womb, not a place of danger, but of awakening, fully immersed in revelation. This becomes an embodiment of return: to source, to our very origin, to the primordial current from which all life begins. It reflects a humanity that has finally understood its inseparable bond with nature, not as owners of water, but as extensions of it. Before we can measure its utility, we must first understand ourselves, our fragility, our connection and dependence.
Water, revered as the essential bearer of life, symbolizes purity, renewal, and spiritual nourishment across cultures and faiths. It sustains physical life, cleanses, heals, and accompanies birth, blessing, and transformation. Here, water acts as a mirror, a metaphor for adaptability, surrender, and our capacity to flow and evolve which will in turn help us better understand protection and preservation of our divine flora and fauna.
This artwork invites us to return to an elemental truth: on this island, and on this earth, water is not external to us. It is memory. It is origin. It is life itself.
