President Danny Faure welcomed representatives of Arterial Network Seychelles (ANS) at State House this morning, who presented him with the first copy of “Art in Seychelles Then and Now”. The landmark publication, written by Martin Kennedy and designed by Mariaan Laubscher, covers the development of visual art in Seychelles, and features more than 400 individual works of art.

During the meeting, President Faure expressed his honour at receiving a copy on behalf of the people of Seychelles, and congratulated ANS for documenting Seychelles’ artistic history. “Culture is the soul of the Nation, and it is important to have a record of the rich culture in Seychelles. Thank you to the team behind this book for your hard work, and for taking the initiative to get it published. You have done a marvellous job,” said the President.

The publication of the book was backed by the Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF) who saw it as a chance to encourage the self-employed, such as artists, to contribute toward their pensions, whilst supporting the arts in Seychelles. SPF will be donating 100 copies of the books to various educational institutions in Seychelles.

All proceeds from the sale of the books will go to Arterial Network Seychelles, a registered NGO that supports cultural projects and especially young artists in the local community.

Present for the meeting this morning was the Chairperson of ANS, Mr George Camille, Secretary of ANS and author of the book, Mr Martin Kennedy, designer of the book, Ms Mariaan Laubscher for Silkwater Graphics, volunteer for ANS, Ms Shirley Yu, and the CEO of Seychelles Pension Fund, Mrs Lekha Nair.