Felana Carol Rajaonarivelo: dreams and fireflies in the night
Felana Carol Rajaonarivelo, 32, is one of just a few female photographer-videographers in Madagascar. The cheerful founder of “Fireflies”, with her team of a dozen employees, captures emotions and “adds a touch of light” to each and every one of her projects. Profiled by Emmanuel de Solère Stintzy.
Rachel Sahondra Ratovoarison’s head is full of images of her daughter, her “little Felana”: “As a child, she was always happy and sociable. We would always hear her singing before she came into the house. She was very pretty and outgoing; whenever her uncle, a photographer, came by, she would ask him to take her photo!” Felana Carol Rajaonarivelo, Malagasy photographer-videographer, 31, confirms: “Even then, I was a dreamer, full of life and curiosity. And still today, when I don’t know something, I’m not embarrassed to just ask.”
During her studies in communications (degree from the SAMIS-ESIC School of Information and Communication, Amparibe, Antananarivo), and with a passion for publicity photography, she also learned to shoot and produce. After this, in 2012, she took a distance-learning course from the Institut de la Photographie in Paris. The following year, her photo “Woman and rice” was one of 20 favourites selected from among 10,000 participants of the “Terre de femmes” international competition organised by the French Development Agency (AFD).
For Felana, one of the few female photographer-videographers in Madagascar, recognising women is natural: “I’m from a modest family. My mum put her life on hold so that we could succeed. In our country, women have to work two or three times as hard to justify their place and make their mark.” It was against this difficult backdrop that, in 2014, she created “Fireflies, light your dreams”, an aptly named audio-visual and event-based production agency: “One evening, while shooting in the middle of nowhere, I was feeling down in the dumps... I dreamed of setting up my own business to add a touch of light to the projects I liked, when the rain stopped and fireflies appeared...”
“Putting the human aspect centre stage”
Since then, requests for photos and videos have flooded in from various institutions and Felana Carol Rajaonarivelo regularly works as the official photographer for several famous people, notably the Secretary-General of the Francophonie, Michaëlle Jean, at the 16th Francophonie Summit in Madagascar in 2016. The same year, Felana produced ten profiles of influential women for the US embassy. Carole Rakotondrainibe, who manages an entrepreneurial platform, is one of the lucky people to be chosen: “During our first photo shoot, I remember a small, pretty woman, under 5’2”, with this impressive photography equipment: her “bazooka”! She was very cheerful and chatted to me during the shoot to put me at ease. Since then, I’ve watched Felana and her team grow.”
In 2019 and 2020, Felana Carol Rajaonarivelo took part in the third promotional campaign for “Afrique au féminin” (a CFI project in partnership with Canal +): “Representing Madagascar gave me an opportunity to attend training courses in scriptwriting in Côte d’Ivoire and production in Senegal. I also received a grant to shoot a short film in Madagascar on the day-to-day life of a mother working five jobs to raise her children. Now, I am able to convince my clients to put the human aspect centre stage in institutional recordings.”
Karine Andrea Rabefaritra, who Felana profiled and who manages a communications agency, concludes: “Having attended a workshop at Studio Harcourt in Paris, Felana knows how to draw out emotions for the profiles, but she also knows how to be invisible on the ground at key moments for our business customers.” Having herself become a company director with a dozen employees, “little Felana” is an expert in the art of juggling personal and professional projects.
In 10 years...
Photographer, videographer and owner of Fireflies, an audio-visual and events-based production agency with a dozen employees, Felana Carol Rajaonarivelo collects hats and projects.
In 2020, she produced “Inspire and be inspired”, a series of profiles of day-to-day heroes “fighting for a better future”, sources of inspiration for young people in Madagascar. Felana also created another series, “Curves’n shadows”, a series about the curves sculpted by light, which took second prize in the Paritana 2020 competition held by the French Institute Of Madagascar, in homage to the beauty of the female body, both healthy and sick. Profiles that will maybe travel thanks to a touring exhibition or a book. Felana Carol Rajaonarivelo hopes that Fireflies and her young team “grows and glows on an international level”.
In 10 years, her mother, Rachel Sahondra Ratovoarison, dreams of seeing her “little princess plying her trade throughout the world”. Karine Andrea Rabefaritra and Carole Rakotondrainibe, who know her in a professional capacity, hope to see her “overcome her shyness and grow beyond the borders” of Madagascar. In future, both see her inspiring other young women and opening a visual arts school in Madagascar.
