Markets, workshops and art galleries in Antananarivo

The Andravoahangy market is undoubtedly the most authentic historical market in the Malagasy capital Antananarivo.

This market, slightly off-centre from the city centre, a real labyrinth, is an open-air market, consisting of a mosaic of hard and covered shop, and rustic wood stalls.

The duality of constructions responds to the duality of the activities of this market: the crafts and the sale of everyday essentials.

Located 3 km from the Niaouly hotel, this market is a lively market, many Malagasy people going there to do their daily shopping. You will have the opportunity to share a moment the daily life of Malagasy housewives.

Even if this market is still a victim of its bad reputation in the 1990s, due to pickpockets, even if taxi drivers continue to discourage tourists from going there, preferring to take them to the Digue market, the taxi fare being higher, ... this market is one of my favourites.

At its southern pheriphery, you will meet shops of Asian products, then entering the depths of this market, you will successively come across the alley of the embroiderers, then the merchants of precious stones and fine stones, recycled metal objects, the stalls of marquetry, carved wood, basketry, silver jewellery, leather goods, ....

Some artisans continue to work on site: eyewearers, jewellers, embroiderers, ....

At the centre of this market, a permanent building bearing the consequences of time contains small colourful shops. 

At the northern end, it is the traditional market, with poultry, spices, medicinal plants, dried fish, vegetables and fruits from the various provinces of Madagascar... a rainbow of colour!

Take the time to discover the medicinal plants of Madagascar... if the virtues of most are undisputed such as Artemisia, Katrafay, ... others on the other hand have virtues ... more unusual: "return of the loved one", "invulnerability / protection against bullets".

Remember to buy a small product to thank the seller for his explanations!

The Digue Market is a market dedicated to Malagasy crafts, located on one of the roads leading to Ivato International Airport.

It was created in the 2010s to face the pressure of artisans and resellers wishing to settle, but not finding a place in the historic markets of Antananarivo.

The wooden stands in a row are arranged on both sides of a quiet paved road over several hundred metres,

Although less atypical than the Andravoahangy market, this market has the advantage of being very easy to visit because of its configuration and low attendance,

You will find many articles in Raffia, leather, wood, recycled materials, ....

Be vigilant because some stands contain very original items that you will not be able to find elsewhere.

The Coum market, also called by Malagasy and residents the 67-hectare market, is located northeast of the city, about 5 km from the Niaouly hotel.

It is essentially a Malagasy craft market that brings together many artisans on Thursdays and Fridays from the peripheral villages in the broad sense of the Malagasy capital, but also many provincial wholesalers.

If in the southern part of the Coum market, which is open-air, wooden furniture, mattresses,... are exhibited, on the other hand, in the northern part, various items are exhibited: raffia bag, statues, aluminum utensils,...

If the products are presented in quantity, on the other hand, the choice is less varied than in the other markets of the capital.

Located near Lake Anosy, known for its jacarandas and ministries, the Antananarivo flower market is a must-see in the Malagasy capital for anyone looking for plants from the 4 corners of the large island.

Succession of small wooden pavilions, the Anosy flower market will allow you to discover the great variety of plants and flowers, from palm to pachypodium, not to mention the orchids.... of Madagascar.

Don't miss the famous "deer horn", an atypical plant that according to belief warns you of the presence of a thief, whose Malagasy name is "ranalahy".

Beyond the markets, Antananarivo also allows you to discover a more discreet, more precise and often even more impressive craftsmanship through its manufacturing workshops.

It is in these places of creation that we really measure the richness of Malagasy know-how, between woodworking, leather goods, art ironwork, models, decorative objects or custom-made artisanal creations.

Visiting a workshop in Antananarivo means entering a more intimate universe than that of the markets: we discover the gestures, tools, materials and the time necessary to make a piece.

This immersion allows us to better understand the value of artisanal work in Madagascar, often done by hand with great precision and a lot of patience.

Depending on the workshops, you can observe the work of sculptors, cabinetmakers, leather goods, ironworkers, embroiderers, painters or creators of decorative objects, in an atmosphere that is both simple, authentic and exciting.

These tours are particularly interesting for travellers who want to discover another face of Antananarivo, more human, more creative and more rooted in local know-how.

Magical! ... this is the word that will come to mind when you discover in Antananarivo, in the Ivato district, the "village of boat models"

Long copied, but never equalled, the "village" is now the world reference in terms of boat reproduction.

In love with wooden boat models, Hervé Scrive and his wife created the workshop "Le village" in 1992.

After more than 20 years at the head of this model shipyard, they sold their company to lovers like them of the sea and sailing, but also anxious to preserve the social soul of the project.

The workshop "le Village" manufactures, in addition to Penduick, L'Hermione, La granvillaise, Sao Mai, La Boussole and L'Astrolabe de La PEROUSE under license: Historical models, large sailboats, fishing boats and any special order on plans of Museums, shipyards and shipowners.

In ebony and rosewood, the models are all numbered and made by hand.

Wishing to share their passion, the "village" team opens not only the doors of their showroom, but also of their workshop.

This is how you will have the opportunity to visit the different parts of this small model ship workshop:

• sculptors
• wood turners
• marquetry artisans
• cabinetmakers, painters
• copper welders
• embroiderers etc...

The showroom covers more than 100 m² and uses the models to illustrate maritime history.

Anxious to expand their know-how, the "village" team also designs planispheres and other marquetry maps.

Installed since 1990, No. 1 in crafts in Madagascar. Sales area about 500 metres spread over a dozen rooms. Has about 120,000 references, more than 80% of the diversity of Malagasy art. Impressive choice in all areas: fabrics, metals, basketry, wood, horn, leather goods, stones, paintings, ...

La Ferronerie d'Art de Violette et Dieudonné was born in the late 90s'

Violette and Dieudonné, a Malagasy couple from the plateaus decided at the time to help their fellow citizens in a precarious situation: young offenders, single mothers, people with disabilities, the elderly,...

Having no personal fortune, no more than sponsors or donors, it is through hard work and determination, with nothing but Dieudonné's knowledge in welding and Violette's artistic taste... that they embarked on the manufacture of recycled wrought iron articles,

Because here, we give life back to fuel barrels, old truck sheets,...

The ironwork was born! ..

Success was not long overdue, word of mouth working perfectly in Antananarivo.

Over the years, after individuals, it was the professionals who came to supply themselves with lamps, sconces, .... both for their hotels and for their rental properties, their galleries, their shops, ...

In the 2010s, it was wholesalers from Europe who came to supply themselves at the Mandroseza ironworks.

At the height of the activity, the ironwork of Violette and Dieudonné was able to employ up to 467 people

School classes, solidarity vegetable gardens, ... and even a recognised football team were born thanks to the relentlessness and unwavering will of Violette and Dieudonné.

In Antananarivo, photography galleries offer a different perspective on the city and Madagascar.
Through portraits, everyday scenes, landscapes and traditions, photography provides a more personal, artistic and often deeper insight into the country.

Visiting a photography gallery in Antananarivo also means taking time to discover another form of heritage: the faces, gestures, places and atmospheres that shape Malagasy identity.
These galleries showcase artists’ perspectives, from contemporary work to documentary photography, highlighting Madagascar’s human and visual richness.

For travellers interested in photography, culture and art, Antananarivo’s photography galleries offer an inspiring, accessible visit and an alternative to the more familiar sightseeing routes.

Discovering Pierrot Men's photographs is to meet a man, a people, the unknown. Memory of Madagascar, it offers a dreamlike, chaotic and luminous approach to life in what it has most experienced and most dignified.

Pierrot Men offers a personal and intimate vision of this island where he was born, and where he lives.

Of Franco-Malagasy and Chinese origin, he carries within him this rich blend of multiple identities from Africa, Asia and Europe.

His photographs reveal a world in balance. Paintings born from a tacit complicity maintained with each inhabitant.

On the border of dream and reality, of humanity and inhumanity. So close and so far from everyday life....

Light invites itself in each of his compositions, enveloping an open-air scene crossed by busy silhouettes, ephemeral tightrope walkers and almost unreal eternal passers-by. Here the sense and emotion go hand in hand with a fair distance and a discreet presence. Few tightly framed shots, no direct intrusions. Its black-and-white images shrouded of morning mist and uncertain fogs modestly soften a simple and brutal life. The expression of a real revolt continues, in the face of unbearable truths.

Because it's all about time. Of patience. Of emotion. Benevolent and lucid, Pierrot Men grasps the soul of a people and the essence of insularity. "A photo is a story of meeting... like love at first sight, it goes very fast and you have to be ready and close at all times. "Discreet humanist, poetic commitment, Pierrot Men is one of those men we can only love. A photographer witness of this Other who escapes us.

Virginie de Galzain

Some key dates:

• 1954: Born in Midongy Du Sud, on the east coast of Madagascar
• 1974: First steps in photography after painting attempts and creation of his first lab, Fianarantsoa
• 1985: First exhibition with the collective of photographers of Tananarive at the Cité Ambatonakanga
• 1991: Creation of the "Labo Men", Fianarantsoa
• 1995: Winner of the Mother Jones International Fund Documentary Competition, San Francisco
• 1997: Gold medallist at the Games of La Francophonie, Antananarivo
• 2010: Represented by the Galerie Capçaza 18330 Nançay (galerie cappizza)
• 2012: Officer of the Order of Arts, Letters and Culture, Antananarivo

Address:

Laland, whose real name is Yves Rolland Rakotoarisoa, can be reached for a meeting by appointment.

Contact:

+261 34 06 947 66
+261 32 40 703 96

Mail :

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Facebook : Laland RAKOTOARISOA

Yves Rolland Rakotoarisoa, known as Laland, was born in Antananarivo in 1966. He has been passionate about photography since 1998. Member of the board of ARA-SARY, an association that organised the Indian Ocean photography biennials in 2005 and 2007, he is also an accredited photographer for UNICEF and UNAIDS.

He works in film and digital, both in advertising and artistic.

One of the dimensions of his work is the valorisation of Malagasy heritage and know-how, an appreciation that can be found in the three books of which he is the photographer: "Antananarivo, Unknown Heritage", "Madagascar, the Great Book of Small Trades" and "Madagascar and the zebu a couple in danger" whose socio-economic as well as cultural value remains omnipresent in the minds of the Malagasy people.

Bekoto of the Mahaleo group writes:

"I had the impression of having visited a secret gallery populated with portraits of endearing characters forgotten by history, and almost marginalised by the (too) rapid development of their environment".

Laland has held several exhibitions in Madagascar and Europe.