Paris Internationale: Mbaye Diop

Colobane

Selebe Yoon is pleased to have been invited at the 6th edition of Paris Internationale to present the work of Senegalese artist Mbaye Diop (b.1981) around his series entitled “Colobane.” Named after the oldest and most dynamic market of Dakar, Colobane situated at the heart of the Senegalese capital. Hundreds of original drawings, an animated film accompanied by a soundtrack and a performance by the artist will be presented in order to recreate the liveliness of the market in the French capital.

Colobane is a point of convergence where the population gather, where anything can be sold, exchanged and bought. While the artist formerly lived in that area, Mbaye Diop wanted to record the effervescence of that location through filmed recordings. These images, first converted in black and white, then each edited by the artist’s hand, have been transferred on paper with acetone. Like a slowed down documentary, the animated film is composed of eight images per second. Through these decomposed sequences, Mbaye Diop deconstructs the market's countless and evanescent movements and forms through nuances of grey and unveils the organic and spontaneous character of that site. The soundtrack is enthralling: cars’ engines and horns, music at every corner, the call to prayers, the endless negotiations of streets' sellers, the friendly exchanges amongst people make the intense liveliness of that location.

This sonic and visual intertwining is symbolic of the oral tradition on which relies a country like Senegal. The streets’ or markets’ signages do not belong to these sites: the spontaneous discussions strengthen the ties amongst the community and allow passerby to locate their desired product in this commercial labyrinth, youngsters to make some savings for their studies, and wandering streets’ sellers to refill their stock for the rest of the day, and eventually for this informal economy to survive. As the market is threatened to disappear owing to real estate pressure, this market resembles a living architecture in constant becoming, an organism in motion inhabited by an exhilarating urban atmosphere.