Palm Leaves, Sails, and Stories: Exploring Liminal at Gallery 350

MV+ News DeskSeptember 21, 2025

Gallery 350 in Malé is currently hosting Liminal, the latest solo exhibition by self-taught artist Eagan Badeeu, running from 10 September to 11 October. The mixed media works offer a contemporary exploration of Maldivian folklore, transporting viewers into a living archive of the islands’ memory.

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Eagan’s pieces trace the delicate threads of traditional oral narratives — stories once carried by voices, winds, and tides. Central to the exhibition is the tale of Koimala, guided by a bird toward a sacred island, a beacon of destiny now reimagined in paint and form.

The first work presents a figure lying horizontally beneath two coconut palm leaves, which appear to slowly melt into the body, evoking a sense of connection and transience. Another series, a quadraplet of four pieces, depicts white sails of traditional riyaa dhoani bound by palm leaves, symbolising restriction and the constraints on freedom. This is contrasted by a subsequent seven-piece set, where singular palm leaves flow freely against a golden-hued sunset, representing liberty and movement.

Photo: MV+

Across the exhibition, Eagan experiments with different styles, from portraits to landscapes, using light and shadow to explore memory and emotion. Canvases layer the ritual of tying sails with echoes of forgotten rhythms — the chants of crews and whispered rhymes of passengers traversing the seas. Some works immerse viewers in darkness, while others flare with warm orange light, like dawn breaking across the horizon.

Photo: MV+

What emerges in Liminal is not mere nostalgia but a bold contemporary reimagining. Eagan departs from earlier styles to create a space where memory and modernity converge, making the exhibition both an act of remembrance and reinvention. Through these works, the artist meditates on how stories survive, transform, and continue to guide.

Photo: MV+

Visitors to Gallery 350 are invited to step into this visual archive, where the islands’ folklore is both preserved and renewed through the language of art.