Arterial Network Seychelles – an artists' civil society network - has kicked off the year with its first exhibition - 'Untitled 3' - providing artists the platform to exhibit and sell art they have produced during the past month.

The gallery manager at the Eden Art Space gallery, Shelley Morden, told SNA that the network found it important to start the year with an untitled exhibition. 

"Artists have been painting over the Christmas period and through the period of the Affordable Art Fair. We wanted to give them the opportunity to make some early sales at the start of the year to help them roll through the year," said Morden.

Talking about the introduction of the series, the manager outlined that soon after joining the network, she understood that artists tend to paint what they feel as opposed to what a theme might be about. 

"Historically, we have named and themed our exhibitions to go along a certain route or to represent a certain subject matter. With themes being as they are, and artists struggling with materials and their ability to paint many pieces is extremely limited now, I still wanted to make it possible for them to sell their art without having to adhere to a theme," explained Morden.

The 'Untitled' series allows artists to bring in artwork pieces that are not subject to any restrictions of a theme. It allows artists to bring in their best pieces showcasing whatever has inspired them recently. 

Morden added that with the previous exhibition - The Affordable Art Fair - more prints were on sale because artworks had a price cap.

"This exhibition moves completely away from that towards having more originals in the gallery for contrast," she said.

There are over 40 art pieces being exhibited, ranging from sculptures, acrylic on canvas, watercolor, print, and mixed media among others. The exhibition is open to view until March 11.  

On the current art scene of Seychelles, Morden shared that she is seeing artists develop themselves and grow.

"They need our support; they need our recognition and they need us to realise how important art is in our lives. We do take for granted people who produce creative things be it music, art, or poetry as we do not realise how much of an impact it would have if we didn't have those things in our lives," said Morden.

Arterial Network Seychelles has three solo shows lined up, and a group show of a particular group of Seychellois artists coming up. The upcoming group show will be "Nou Lar Sesel" (Our Seychelles Art). This will be a group of artists brought together by well-known artist Colbert Nourrice.

Arterial Network Seychelles, launched in November 2011, aims at supporting and developing art in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. It is part of Arterial Network, a Pan-African civil-society network grouping artists, cultural activists, entrepreneurs, enterprises, non-profit organisations, institutions, and donors active in Africa's creative and cultural sectors.