Visual artists make their mark in the marketing of Seychelles

Two of the well-known creative artists of Seychelles, Jude Ally and Egbert Marday, this week presented Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, with a painting done as they were participating at the 2014 edition of the Hamburg Tourism Fair of Germany.

Jude Ally, the Seychellois abstract artist, and Egbert Marday, the known visual artist, were invited along with a group of Seychellois musicians and dancers to showcase the Seychelles culture in the week-long “Hamburg Tourism Fair,” which opened on February 4. Egbert Marday explained they were invited by the Seychelles Tourism Board to participate in the fair to promote visual art paintings.

“We brought to the fair a collection of 15 paintings. The idea was to use our paintings to allow visitors to explore Seychelles’ artistic techniques. We were planning to organize painting classes on the theme of “Seychelles Discovery” for children visiting the stand, but it was difficult to do so, because visitors kept changing on a daily basis,” outlined Egbert Marday upon his return home.

Egbert Marday said that they still managed to drive a large crowd of children to the Seychelles stands, captivated by seeing them painting in the pavilion.

“We distributed painting materials to the children, and they painted their own vision of Seychelles. It was also a great opportunity for the Tourism Board Staff to sell a lot of Seychelles holiday packages,” a thrilled Egbert Marday said.

According to Egbert Marday, the painting presented to Minister Alain St.Ange was painted in the Hamburg Tourism Fair itself. “We both painted this canvas as we were inspired by a destination poster displayed in the Seychelles stand. Together with Jude Ally, we’ve merged our visual arts technique to reproduce this poster, even with sponsors listed on it. The end product turned out to be a painting of mix-media technique,” said Egbert Marday. Alain St.Ange, Minister for Tourism and Culture, thanked Jude Ally and Egbert Marday for this “great painting” which he said will be put in Seychelles record of destination materials.

“But I also want to thank both Jude and Egbert for joining the tourism department in promoting Seychelles. Culture and people are two important ingredients of our marketing approach. What you are producing has a unique Seychelles DNA, and this no one else can claim or copy. You have joined the bandwagon to move Seychelles forward and for this I thank you,” Minister St.Ange said.

Seychelles is a founding member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) .