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This is the first personal exhibition in Europe for the Senegalese painter Kassou Seydou. « Guiss guiss » (an expression in Wolof that might be freely translated into French as “the visions”), at the Cécile Fakhoury gallery in Paris, shows a singular universe: an evocation of contemporary Senegal which keeps many mysteries.
Characters at work or at rest, in the countryside or in the city… Kassou Seydou’s acrylic paintings reflect present-day Senegal, its relationship to tradition, the tensions linked to globalization. Nature plays an important role here. Masks or more or less mythological animals also appear in certain works, the titles of which are inspired by popular Senegalese wisdom (“You cannot use a porcupine as a pillow”…)
But if Kassou Seydou’s paintings retain a part of mystery, it is because of the signs that partly cover them, spirals similar to letters: « The line effectively recalls the work of a calligrapher, the writing of hieroglyphs in cartouches, observes Francis Corabœuf, general manager of the Cécile Fakhoury gallery in Paris. Kassou Seydou’s work is linked as much to his spirit as to his hand. Certainly, we can speak of a writing, but not of an alphabetical writing, rather of an artistic writing ».
The memory of the Joola »
A « writing » which acts as a veil over works that are always very colorful. But make no mistake. For Kassou Seydou, 51, from Casamance, color is not always synonymous with lightness, as evidenced by his paintings on the sinking of the Joola. In 2002, this overloaded boat which provided the link between Ziguinchor, the main town of Casamance, and Dakar, sank off the coast of Gambia. Result: at least 1,800 dead, one of the worst disasters in maritime history.
« It was a big loss, asserts with emotion Kassou Seydou, joined in Senegal. Nobody knows what the people who died might have brought to our country, to Africa or to the world…Let’s also not forget that what caused this tragedy – Corruption – keeps repeating itself. When a boat planned for 500 passengers embarks almost 2,000, inevitably that poses a problem ! »
« Leaving is not my choice »
Facing the paintings of Kassou Seydou, the visitor understands that the drama of Joola echoes the shipwrecks of candidates for emigration, who left Senegal and drowned in the waves of the Atlantic. In this case too, it is a section of the country’s youth that is disappearing. Engulfed at the beginning of September, the Joola embarked many Casamance high school students destined to pursue higher education in the Senegalese capital.
When he talks regarding immigration, Kassou Seydou confides that he too has been confronted with this temptation to leave. « It was in 2006, reveals the painter. I was in residence in Joal [village de pêcheurs au sud-est de Dakar, NDLR] and a man approached me to tell me that boats were leaving for Spain. I said to him: “Me, I stay here, I prefer to wait to see what my pictorial research will give rather than looking for something else somewhere”. I respect the choice of those who leave, but it is not mine ».
The future proved Kassou Seydou right. Represented by gallery owner Cécile Fakhoury since 2014, he was exhibited in Dakar and Abidjan, then in Paris, first at the International Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC) last October as part of a collective exhibition.
If the painter rejoices that « more and more people find themselves in [son] job », he does not however run social events. To give free rein to his « visions », Kassou Seydou paints his canvases in the middle of nature, in Déni Birame Ndao, 50 kilometers from Dakar.
► Guiss guiss, exhibition by Kassou Seydou at the Cécile Fakhoury gallery, in Paris, until January 29, 2022.
► To read also: Cheikh Ndiaye paints the memory of cinemas in Africa
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