Africa report
Madagascar: the collection of the Museum of Photography enriched thanks to the photos of individuals
Audio 02:30
Observation of slides to feed the museum's photographic collection.
This is the first time that images on such a medium will be digitized by the Museum of Photography.
© RFI/Sarah Tetaud
By: Sarah Tétaud Follow
3 mins
The Museum of Photography of Madagascar, which has just celebrated its four years of existence, offers the public exhibitions on various themes, which are regularly renewed.
Today, this private museum holds more than 20,000 negatives, paper, on glass plate, or digitized, the oldest dating from 1853, the date of the beginnings of photography on the island.
The institution owes this wealth of historical documents essentially to individuals wishing to share their family treasures.
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From our correspondent in Antananarivo,
“
It's amazing!
The photo is 50 years old and it looks like it was taken today
”, exclaims Tsiory Randriamanantena, the director of the Museum of Photography of Madagascar.
He discovers with enthusiasm the thirty slides presented to him by Mondane, a Frenchwoman who arrived on the island a year ago.
How do you know that the photo is fifty years old?
Tsiory Randriamanantena immediately spots the striking detail.
"
It's about clothing.
All the men wear the lamba and a hat
,” he says.
Mondane's parents lived in Madagascar in the early 1970s, in the midst of a student and political revolution.
These shots taken by his father, Mondane discovered them for the first time a few months ago, stored at the bottom of a drawer in the family home.
“
These are not photos of “my parents on vacation”, they are scenes of life in Madagascar.
And we thought that if we were moved, it would certainly interest other people.
And that I had no interest in keeping these slides just for myself.
That there was an interest to share.
It so happens that I heard about the photography museum's approach, which corresponds exactly to what I wanted to do.
To be able to share these testimonies, quite humble, of a time of 50 years ago in Madagascar.
»
An essential step
An initiative that is indeed highly appreciated by the Museum of Photography, which has built up its image bank solely thanks to the contribution of institutions and individuals.
Obviously, an approach like that of Mondane is essential for us.
We assume that an image is information, historical data, we take everything.
So we digitize all the images that are brought to us.
Whatever the period.
Afterwards, we are particularly interested in photos dating from before the 1960s for reasons of heritage value because we know that the average lifespan of a photo is 100 years and that consequently there is a real urgent need to preserve them through digitization
.
Cleaning, digitizing and indexing each iconographic document takes between fifteen and thirty minutes for the five employees responsible for safeguarding these precious resources.
Today, the museum holds more than 20,000 photographs, the oldest dating from 1853, when photography on the island was in its infancy.
Secure the use of photos
The contributions are not remunerated, but are all contractualized, in order to secure the use of the photos.
The terms of the contract are decided by the owner of the image.
"
It's also a pledge from the museum to the partner, we're going to use the fund properly and we're going to showcase it as much as possible
," says Tsiory Randriamanantena.
Once scanned, the slides will all be returned to their owner.
They will be identified under the name “Fonds Michel Mazuet”, named after Mondane's father, which has now become the museum's 35th photographic collection.
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