Subject:
In 2023, I was contacted by a legal expertise organisation to document the repercussions of international fishing on the Senegalese fishing community. Artisanal fishing is facing overwhelming competition from industrial fishing, overexploitation of resources and environmental degradation.
For the 36th Biennial De São Paulo, I’d like to renew this working process, extending the perspectives to the other side of the Atlantic in order to question the common struggles that may exist between Senegalese and Brazilian, African and South American realities. By looking at contemporary issues that involve both environmental and cultural emergencies, it’s also a way of summoning up stories and forms about the historical links that exist between Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas. The aim would be to blend the visual language that inhabits the Senegalese and Brazilian coastlines, and propose a cross-cutting narrative to reveal common struggles.
The central element of my research will naturally be the Atlantic Ocean, which links Senegal and Brazil…
The works presented:
. Wooden and multimedia installation (the pontoon)
In collaboration with Boris Raux, one of the members of The School of Mutants, we want to design a pontoon using fragments of wood from pirogues salvaged from the coast. Open to visitors like a footbridge inviting contemplation, the pontoon would be strewn with objects, petrol cans, rope and other found objects, arranged like a battalion and reworked by hand.
. Image in motion
This installation will show filmed sequences of the daily lives of fishermen, juxtaposed with satellite images tracing the sea routes of ships and archive footage. The mari6me passage of the ships, followed by archive footage, contemporary scenes of a shoreline deserted by its popula6on and an exhausted fishing industry. The works embody both the voice of the ocean and that of the fishing communities, evoking endangered species, marine confrontations between boats, migratory movements and their consequences.
. Paintings
Around this installation, I’d like to present paintings made from recycled materials: doors, window shutters, wood, loincloths, tex6les, woodcuts, etc… These paintings will be presented in the form of a series of paintings.