My starting point is my world – the Colobane district – “between words, behind images”… Sometimes I recur to writing to describe this world, other times to painting, when it seems more expressive. But every time I keep on asking myself the same question: between words and images, where is my reality?
(Dakar, 1989) Lives and works in Dakar, Senegal
“Ever since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated with drawing and writing. I live in Dakar, in the Colobane district, a commercial area where all sorts of indescribable things happen every day. It is a great inspirational place for an artist, offering constant exposure to colors, urban scenes, social atmosphere, order and disorder of everyday life. Piles of discarded objects are dumped in this place, each with its own shape, its message to convey, an experience to share. My work has been influenced by a recurring concern: why keep on painting when I see all these objects scattered around? For an artist, any event, object or action is worth becoming a subject for painting. So I started collecting objects and putting them in contact with each other under a glass plate. There is indeed a tight connection between an object and its environment, which becomes clear under the glass. I developed a personal glass installation technique, which I find absolutely innovative and creative, and through which I can best express my imagination.”
