Acquisition - Alioune Diouf: La Maison des Esclaves de Gorée

Alioune Diouf, Porte de retour, 2021, Acrylic, natural pigments and embroidery on canvas, 216 x 200 CM

Selebe Yoon is pleased to announce the acquisition and the permanent exhibition of Alioune Diouf‘s work “Porte de Retour” (The Door of Return) by La Maison des Esclaves, located on the island of Gorée in Senegal, as part of the restoration of the historic site with the participation of the Ford Foundation, the Site of Conscience and the Senegalese government.

Built between 1780 and 1784, transformed into a museum in 1962 and classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, the Slave House, remains a place of symbolic importance as an emblem of the slave trade and the first place to commemorate colonial slavery in Africa.

About "Porte de Retour” Alioune Diouf states: “People describe Gorée as ''the door of no return", yet countless number of people today are walking through this door today…If the door could speak, what would it say?” This commissioned piece features an assembly of embroidered and painted individuals standing next to one another. The artist’s pictorial realm is characterized by intertwined figures, animals and cosmic and floral motifs and a spiritual and sacred symbolism. For the artist, these anonymous companions,  in quest of a humanity, are searching for the unspoken language of the world.  At the top, three main figures embrace the group and act as personifications of time for the artist: the left figure with the crown evokes the past and the time of slavery; the central figure, alluding to our current time, represents a door and a passage; and the right one suggests the future with its bird representing the messenger of spirit and freedom for the artist.