DAKAR – For the creative and cultural elites of Senegal, the monthlong Dakar Biennale of Modern African Arts is a celebratory second.
Each two years, tons of of artists, curators and artwork lovers from internationally descend on the West African capital to attend the occasion, which was based in 1989 by the Senegalese authorities and has over the a long time turn out to be some of the essential showcases on the continent.
Pop-up exhibitions are held in tons of of venues, from trendy five-star resorts to native artwork galleries. Roads are much more crowded than common, with visitors jams stretching out for miles alongside the Corniche, the town’s picturesque seaside boulevard. Each night time, there are music live shows, style exhibits, talks with artists and film screenings held towards the backdrop of palm timber and to the soundtrack of popping champagne bottles.
But it surely wasn’t till this 12 months that the native artisans within the Soumbedioune crafts market, simply off the Corniche and on the doorstep on the Medina working-class neighborhood, realized what the Biennale was.
For years, “we noticed the OFF indicators, however we didn’t know what was happening,” stated Ndiouga Dia, a 48-year-old leatherworker from Soumbedioune, referring to a collection of occasions organized in parallel to the official authorities program, scattered everywhere in the metropolis. “Solely the artists knew amongst themselves what was happening.”
Craftsmanship is deeply rooted within the nation’s tradition. Senegal, like most African nations, has little capability for industrial manufacturing, and historically a lot of its economic system has relied on regionally produced items. For hundreds of years, craftsmen performed a central position in Senegalese social life, sculpting non secular statues and ceremonial masks, stitching boubous (conventional colourful wide-sleeved robes), molding pottery and weaving baskets.
However today, their position is in decline. As dwelling prices rise, many Senegalese go for cheaper, typically Chinese language merchandise. And people that may afford it purchase Western garments and furnishings to mark their social standing.
So when two designers approached Dia, who can be the neighborhood chief of the Soumbedioune artisans, with a proposal for a joint exhibition, he did not hesitate for a second.
It felt good to be seen and included, Dia stated.
Designers Kemi Bassène and Khadim Ndiaye requested 5 artisans — a sculptor, a painter, a jeweler, a leatherworker and a upholsterer — to interpret the theme of “hippo.”
They selected the theme as a result of it was simply recognizable throughout Africa, they stated, bringing collectively folks from totally different nations who reside subsequent to the water.
The exhibition, held within the central sq. of Soumbedioune, surrounded by artisanal boutiques and eating places promoting thieboudienne, probably the most well-known Senegalese dish, has been successful amongst locals. There are hippo earrings and a hippo necklace; an enormous picket sculpture of a sleeping hippo; and a hippo-shaped bag.
Papise Kanté, a 45-year-old sculptor who created two picket hippo statues for the exhibition, stated it allowed him to faucet right into a extra inventive a part of his work, as a substitute of simply producing objects that he supposed to promote.
“I’ve been sculpting since I used to be a younger youngster,” stated Kanté, who comes from an extended line of sculptors. “Each artist needs to get higher.”
But it surely additionally gave his work recognition.
“It’s due to the Biennale that individuals know my work,” he stated. In the event you take part within the Biennale, he added, “you might be proud.”
Bassène, the curator, grew up in Medina, subsequent to Soumbedioune, however is now based mostly in Paris. He stated he wished to bridge the divide between arts and crafts.
“That is the primary time within the historical past that artisans, particularly those that are custodians of conventional craftsmanship, are invited to the Biennale,” Bassène stated. “For craftsmen in Africa, there’s a pure development in the direction of the world of recent design.”
It was “regular,” he stated, to incorporate artisans within the Biennale “if we wished to attempt to decolonize slightly.”
This 12 months’s Biennale is being held as Senegal is present process profound political change, with the newly elected authorities charting a extra self-reliant and pan-African course.
Final month, the governing get together, PASTEF, secured a convincing victory in legislative elections. Its win granted President Bassirou Diomaye Faye a transparent mandate to hold out formidable reforms promised in the course of the marketing campaign to enhance dwelling situations for extraordinary Senegalese — together with better financial self-reliance, revamping the fishing business, and making most use of pure assets.
The theme of this 12 months’s Biennale has been “The Wake,” alluding to the emancipation of the African continent from its remaining dependence on former colonial powers.
The brand new authorities of Senegal has “a transformational agenda,” stated Bassène. “I believe that what now we have skilled politically will affect all of the social sciences and all artwork.”
Within the meantime, the Soumbedioune artisans have large plans. Dia, the neighborhood chief, stated that they’re planning a collaboration with a neighborhood faculty to fabricate backpacks for college kids.
His dream, he stated, was to develop the manufacturing throughout the entire nation so the Senegalese dad and mom “would not have to purchase Chinese language merchandise.”
“We’ve got all of the know-how,” he stated. “We will produce extra.”
___
The Related Press receives monetary help for world well being and growth protection in Africa from the Gates Basis. The AP is solely liable for all content material. Discover AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a listing of supporters and funded protection areas at AP.org.
Copyright 2024 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.