Maldives To Be or Not

Maldives To Be or Not Director, Khaled Ramadan Year: 2013 Format: Documentary / video work Filmed: March 2013, Maldives Duration: 30 minutes Collection: Pori Art Museum, Finland The film looks at the tension between Western representations of the Maldives and the lived reality of the islands. It considers the long Western tradition of romanticising images of the East and places the Maldives between what he describes, through Edward Said’s framework, as “West is Culture, East is Nature.” The film also addresses the Maldives’ unusual position as a nation whose contemporary identity is caught between tourism, modernisation, ecological vulnerability, political questions and traditional island culture. Ramadan approaches the Maldivian community, the Dhivehi people, not as an anthropologist, colonialist or journalist, but from his own position as a citizen of the Arab world interested in the shared histories and cultural relationships of the region. Connection to the 55th Venice Biennale The film was shown for the first time at the Maldives Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, which Ramadan co-curated.