ABOUT ME
I was born in Mauritius on August 7, 1968. Very early on, my parents gave me a taste for paintings and sculptures. They were passion triggers. I am a self-taught painter and have never been to fine art schools. I learned painting by observing the paintings of my elders. I studied graphic design and it helped me a lot for the composition and the practice of the Zafer paintings. I started painting in oils in 1986 and quickly became familiar with other techniques such as acrylic, watercolour, pastel, ink, charcoal and engraving on copper and zinc plates.
I held my first solo art exhibition in 1996 at Max Boullé Gallery in Rose-Hill, Mauritius. Encouraged by the critics, I proposed solo art exhibitions to the Mauritian public in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2014. In 2009 I participated in a group exhibition in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2015 I participated in an exhibition at L'Aventure du Sucre on the theme: " Rodrigues " with my friend, the photographer Christian Bossu-Picat. In 2020, I exhibited a painting in a joint exhibition organised by the Australian High Commission, at the Caudan Arts Centre. In June 2022, participated in the exhibition "Samudra art prize" at the Caudan Arts Centre where I exhibited one painting. From the 8th to the 20th of September 2022 I held a solo exhibition at the Caudan Arts centre where I exhibited 49 Zafer paintings.
I am also a theatre enthusiast. I started theatre at the age of 15 at the Collège du Saint-Esprit under the guidance of Octave Pascal, a teacher dedicated to offering students more than teaching; a real education. I had the pleasure of playing in "Les fourberies de Scapin " and " l'Avare " by Molière then in " Topaze " by Marcel Pagnol.
After my studies, I played again in " Topaze ", but this time at the Plaza theatre. In 1996, I played the role of François Pignon in Francis Veber's " Le diner de cons " which we performed at the Port-Louis theatre. In 1998, I played in two small plays directed by Marie Ange Kœnig; " The marriage proposal " by Chekhov and " On purge bébé " by Feydeau. In the same year, I played the role of Félix in "Le père Noël est une ordure ".
In 2001, I played in the musical " Zozef ek so palto larkansiel " — the Creole version of " Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dream-coat " by Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Gérard Sullivan. I was doing the role of " Potifar ". Finally, in 2011, I performed in a play called " Mauritius " directed by Denis-Claude Kœnig.
In 2018, I published my first book of short stories entitled " Petites histoires qui font sourire, peut-être rire ou qui pourraient vachement plomber l’ambiance", a book with a deliberately mile-long title. In 2020, I publish my first novel; "John Berik, Cabri c’est fini !"
I am also a photographer. Since the arrival of digital photography, I embraced this new passion and started creating photomontages which I called PhotoArt. In 2019, I participated in my first collective exhibition at the S’mall & Chic gallery in Curepipe.