About Audrey Albert
Audrey Albert is a Mauritian-Chagossian, visual artist and creative facilitator. Based in Manchester, Audrey’s research-led practice enables her to consider and investigate themes of mixed identity, collective memory and displacement. Her work Matter Out of Place was part of the “Practise Til We Meet” exhibition at the ESEA Contemporary in Manchester in February 2023.
Matter out of place is about hidden truths, concealment and forced displacement. It sheds a light on an unfair and shameful page of Mauritian and British history in which the entire population of The Chagos Archipelago was forcefully displaced from their homeland due to political agendas between 1968 – 1973.
Building narratives around specific artifacts and around The Chagos Archipelago as an invisible location, Matter Out of Place draws attention to the aftermath of colonialism and the struggles of the Chagossian community.
This body of work, although not always in its entirety, has also been showcased at The Holden Gallery (2018) and HOME (2020) in Manchester, alongside the Voies-Off photographic festival in Arles in France (2018), at the Beyond Camera exhibition in Pingyao in China (2018), at Borderlines (2019), Lafrik dan mwa (Africa Within Me - 2021) and Ble Kouler Lakaz (2022) in Mauritius.
Selected for the Future Fires 2020 programme at Contact and the 2021 Creative Fellowship for Manchester International Festival, Audrey is currently working on Chagossians of Manchester (CoM) and Ble Kouler Lakaz (Blue is the colour of Home), both socially-engaged art project about Chagossian culture and heritage.
Audrey’s work highlights stories of empowerment that celebrate Chagossian culture and heritage. Through these works, she pay homage to Chagossian ancestors, including her own, whose descendants are still affected by forceful displacement.
Portrait by : Ajay Boodhoo