The Diplomat
As part of the Photoalicante competition, Casa Mediterráneo last week presented the book and the opening of the photography exhibition Tabarkinas by the visual artist Carma Casulá.
This project has the support of the diplomatic institution and the Cervantes Institute of Tunisia, for “merging and creating threads that connect” the “four distinct enclaves” that make up the Tabarkinas in the Mediterranean, such as Tunisia, the Genoese neighbourhood of Pegli, the towns of Carloforte and Calasseta on the island of Sardinia and the Alicante island of Nueva Tabarca.
The presentation and opening ceremony was attended by the director of Casa Mediterráneo, Héctor Salvador; the councillor for Culture of Alicante City Council, Antonio Manresa; the sub-delegate of the Government, Araceli Poblador; the Tunisian ambassador in Spain, Fatma Omrani, and the Italian ambassador in Spain, Riccardo Guariglia.
Tabarkinas is a photographic and documentary project in which Carma Casulá analyses the historical, cultural, linguistic and ethnographic links shared by the descendants of the Tabarkina people. “It is an interesting subject that involves Spain a lot, but there is not much narrative or writing about it”, said the author, explaining that there is research, transcriptions of conferences and books of poetry, which is why “it seemed more interesting to me to make Tabarquinity known in a very visual way and always supported by texts. I write with images and words”.
In this sense, Casulá explained that the book “is a shared journey” between the mixture of images and texts, which in addition “is written by eight hands” because throughout the process of documentation and production of the project the author has held meetings with Tabarquinos to find out “their feelings, their memories, their information and what they knew about the other Tabarquinas”, she said.
The exhibition Tabarkinas will remain on display in the Blue Room of Casa Mediterráneo until 31 May and can be visited from 9am to 2pm with prior registration by emailing comunicacion@casa-mediterraneo.es.
