As a contemporary art curator, I would summarize this artwork as follows:
The image features a striking blue-toned cyanotype photograph depicting a solitary figure against a weathered, textured backdrop. The bold, expressive brushstrokes and muted tones create a somber, pensive atmosphere. The subject's gaze is direct, inviting the viewer to contemplate their emotional state and the narrative behind the image. The artist's use of the cyanotype process, a historical photographic technique, suggests an interest in exploring the medium's inherent qualities and evoking a sense of the past. The overall composition and the figure's contemplative presence convey a sense of introspection and the human experience. ...
Adji Dieye is a Senegalese and Italian artist whose practice is concerned with unpicking cultural stereotypes. Dieye investigates the power dynamics within photography, questioning how images from advertising, propaganda and archives affect an individual’s self-identity. West African photographers of the 1950s and 60s, such as Malick Sidibé, Seydou Keïta and Oumar Ly influence her work heavily. Echoing the aesthetic style of these artists, Dieye combines contemporary photographs of everyday scenes with archival images. Sometimes, she also incorporates 3D models and prototypes of buildings, layering these diverse references in moving image works and installations. In a 2020 project Culture Lost and Learned for example, Dieye printed archival images sourced from the National Archives of Senegal onto long pieces of silk, draping these pieces of fabric through built metal structures. Moving between fluid and concrete matter, this presentation of archival imagery speaks to the construction of identity in post-independence West Africa—a principal concern of Dieye’s work. ...
Galerie Cecile Fakhoury opened its doors in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in September 2012. In May 2018, the gallery inaugurated its second space in Dakar, Senegal and a showroom in Paris, France. Shortly after, in March 2020, a new project space dedicated to emerging artists from Africa opened in Abidjan. In October 2021, Galerie Cecile Fakhoury inaugurated another gallery, opening in the 8th arrondissement of Paris on Avenue Matignon. The gallery promotes contemporary art from Africa and the Diaspora by providing visibility to the artistic diversity and creative spirit from the continent. Through its programming of solo and group exhibitions, participation in international art fairs, biennales, and collaboration with international galleries, Cecile Fakhoury is a leading force putting contemporary African art on the global map. The artists represented by the gallery are distinguished by their cultural identities and stories, they create a new language that crosses geographical boundaries and familiarities. They are observers of the world they live in, critics of society, and committed to their positions living within complex histories. In turn, they ask us to reconsider our own relation to the world. ...
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