Maida Chavak

Laureate of the 2022 Arts programme

Maïda Chavak is a scenographer, illustrator, and writer. She creates exhibitions, rural and urban installations, designs educational tools, and develops narratives about territories through field research and archival exploration.

She is an associate artist at the cultural urbanism cooperative Cuesta, collaborates with psychologist Anouch Sarafian on a collection of psycho-playful notebooks, and continues to draw...

Maïda Chavak is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris.

The project

Title: Slithering Cures. Snakes and Venoms in South India. Giving Shape to the Multiple Conceptions of Snakes and Their Venom.

"Slithering Cures is a traveling exhibition that explores the diverse perceptions of snakes and their venom. It sheds light on the experiences of envenomation victims, the analyses of biologists and herpetologists, the role of pharmaceutical industries in the production of antivenom serums, and the expertise of marginalized communities specializing in venom collection for industrial use.

By bringing together these various actors in a collaborative investigation and restitution process (through objects, images, and sounds), the project seeks to make tangible the interactions between humans, animals, and the environment. It also aims to highlight the often-overlooked contributions of certain groups, particularly Adivasi communities in India and animal populations, within industrial societies.

Led by an international and multidisciplinary team, the project integrates expertise from molecular biology to anthropology, as well as visual arts and scenography."

Institution: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)