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The opening of the exhibition Nuestra isla de las especias featuring the work of the (mainly Swiss) 20 illustrators - 10 women and 10 men - who took turn on board Fleur de Passion throughout the expedition opened Friday September 6th at the Archivo Generale de Indias of Seville. And on the eve of school re-starting for the Sevillians and holidays for many tourists, crowds of visitors flocked in to discover a rich selection of the amazing sketches, drawings and other watercolors each recounting in the style of their author an aspect of the trip.

The opening took place the evening before in the large central courtyard of the majestic building, in the heart of the city. The ceremony was opened by the director of the institution, Manuel Ravina Martin, in the presence of Daniel Chambaz, Director of the Environment at the canton of Geneva, which at the last moment replaced Antonio Hodgers, president of the canton, who was held in Geneva at the last minute. Among the other personalities present was also the Ambassador of Switzerland for Spain and Andorra, since it was the latter who organized the ceremony of official arrival of the expedition, scheduled to take place on Friday, September 6. For the Fondation Pacifique, its president Pietro Godenzi gave a speech call to « better live together", assisted for the translation by the Spanish skipper of the expedition, Pere Valera.

The exhibition Nuestra isla de las especias, deployed in the two side galleries of the ground floor, will last until March 31, 2020. It benefited from the support of the canton of Geneva and Pro Helvetia.

It should be noted that from September 12, the Archivo will open a huge exhibition dedicated to the first world tour of Magellan / Elcano, called El viaje más largo.

The address of the Archives:

Av. De la Constitución, s / n, 41004 Sevilla

Opening time:

Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30am to 5pm

Sunday and public holidays: 10am to 2pm

The Swiss comics author is back on Fleur de Passion this January 2019. This time, it's happening in Cape Town, in other words more than a year after he came on board in Indonesia in late 2017. The reason is also totally different: every morning, he organizes workshops for local cartoonists or illustrators, students or adults, professional or just practitioners, quite an unusual way to give exposure to the expedition as well as to the Swiss comic scene in a country rather marginal from the major centers of gravity Europe, the US or even Japan.

This Tuesday 8 January, a first group of 4 people inaugurated the sessions, invited by Anton Kannemeyer, the South African exception (with his colleague Conrad Botes and a few others), an internationally recognized talent in his field. After coming on board in November along the eastern coast of the country, the South African cartoonist had very kindly opened his address book.

Once the creative exercises proposed by Baladi were over, participants visited the nearby exhibition "Our Spice Islands" and discovered the entire production of the 17 illustrators who took part in the cultural program of the expedition.

Several other groups will follow until the weekend, of all ages and different horizons, benefiting from an initiative of the Pacific Foundation with the support of the Swiss Embassy in South Africa and Pro Helvetia in Johannesburg.

Renamed "Our Spice Islands" for the occasion, the exhibition initially deployed in 2017-2018 at the Bibliothèque de la Cité in Geneva (the main public library) opened on January 3, 2019 in Cape Town, in the Luggage Hall of the V & A Waterfront, in the immediate vicinity of the boat moored at Quay 6. The exhibition is a first because it's the first time it is deployed outside Geneva as part of a stopover of the expedition.

As in Geneva though made of soft fabric somehow looking like sails, panels display the spirit and the different facets of the expedition, while videos of the history of Fleur de Passion or documentaries along the world bring additional perspectives to the project. In addition to the presence of the sailboat who is open in parallel to public visits as at each stopover, the novelty of the exhibition compared to Geneva is the staging of the cultural component of the expedition, and in particular the work of the 17 artists who have succeeded one another on board since the departure from Seville. Their drawings, sketches, watercolors or engravings are grouped into eight facsimiles of about fifty pages each, which visitors are invited to browse at their own pace. A short biography of the author with a map showing their navigation "in residence" as part of the expedition  help to introduce the local audience to the Swiss-Geneva tradition in terms of comics and illustration.

Another special feature is that children are invited to participate in a drawing contest on the theme of the oceans and the first young visitors were enthusiastic about the game. Swiss and South African cartoonists Alex Baladi and Anton Kannenmeyer will be on the jury.

The exhibition is free access every day until January 24, without interruption from 10am to 6pm.

The exhibition was supported by the Office of Culture of the Canton of Geneva, the Swiss Embassy in South Africa and the Consulate General in Cape Town, as well as Pro Helvetia. May they be warmly thanked here.