Vanuatu. The happiest country in the world

The exhibition “Vanuatu. The happiest country of the world " 
 First show: January 2012 
in the halls of the Central House of Artists (CHA), Moscow

Fragile, frivolous from the point of view of the Russian life - wicker houses, like the houses of Naf-naf. The loincloths of the indigenous people, clad in light Vietnamese or in general without them. Sincere white-toothed smiles of children and adults who have not lost their children's cheerfulness. And all this domestic ephemerality is against the backdrop of ambitious natural scenery: centuries-old trunks of banyan trees, rising upwards, it seems that for miles, untouched by civilization beaches, infernal vents of active volcanoes. The country is located in one of the most seismically unstable zones, but its residents, it seems, do not care, with their slow lifestyle of island life. Although the Western lifestyle is gradually appearing in Vanuatu, it is said that there is even a casino in the capital of the country, but globalization is proceeding slowly, without haste. Maybe that's why Vanuatu is the happiest country that few people know about it?

The object of Sergey Kovalchuk's close attention is, first of all, not the colorful, “glossy” nature of Vanuatu, but its inhabitants. According to the author, a lot of things are being done with reference to the tourist interest of Europeans - traditional rituals, dances, music, national clothes. But "Potemkin villages" yet. Everything is very sincere, alive. Even the Museum of the Second World War, the main exhibits of which are bottles from different countries - in those terrible years many military bases were stationed on Vanuatu.

Exhibition Photos