Exhibition “Sur le fil : de Dakar à Paris” La Galerie du 19M Paris
Including: Arébénor Basséne & Alioune Diouf
May 17 - July 30, 2023
La galerie du 19M Dakar is moving to Paris from May 17th to July 30th and we are delighted to announce the selection of our artists Arébénor Basséne and Alioune Diouf are included in the travelling exhibition “Sur le fil : broderies et tissages”.
From January to March 2023, le19M set up a temporary off-site gallery in Dakar with the help of the Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire (IFAN) on the site of the Musée Théodore-Monod d’Art africain. While the influence of Dakar is recognized on the international cultural and creative scene, the entire country of Senegal is replete with artisanal expertise, a heritage which is of particular importance to le19M. The programme of la Galerie du 19M Dakar consisted of a group exhibition, a programme of talks and workshops that showcase the creative wealth of Senegal and the humanist values of its arts and crafts.
The exhibition presented in Dakar is now on show at la Galerie du 19M. It combines embroidery and weaving, two crafts in which Senegal excels, with other artistic disciplines and contemporary creation mediums. It invites you to a journey through time and space, materials and techniques, styles and signs. It celebrates material dexterity, highlights ingenious savoir-faire, and bears witness to the creative wealth offered by weaving and embroidery, whether on leather, wool, silk, raffia, cotton, or synthetic materials.
This exhibition brings together some thirty works and installations by nearly thirty emerging and established contemporary artists and craftsmen from Senegal, Mali, South Africa, and France. Several works have been borrowed from artists or public or private collections, while others have been specially produced, some in collaboration with the Maisons d’art of le19M, building bridges between Aubervilliers and Dakar.
The exhibition charts certain Senegalese skills: weaving and embroidery are thus complemented by a section on indigo dyeing—a sustainable practice that is particularly widespread in Senegal and continues to be modernised by a young generation of passionate creators—and a focus on Casamance, the cradle of the pagne tissé fabric tradition. Other regional crafts from Senegal are also celebrated, notably those from Saint-Louis, Cayor, and Sine Saloum.
The diversity of this programme speaks to the continued transmission of artistic and craft knowledge demonstrated by the contemporary creators in Senegal invited to this event on the theme of giving and receiving.
The exhibition Sur le fil: de Dakar à Paris is accompanied by a multi-faceted cultural programme of workshops through which to discover the artistic crafts, talks, and performances. Bringing together artists, artisans, and performers whose work resonates with the vibrancy of the Dakar art scene, it honours the geography of Dakar and Senegal’s savoir-faire, explores its civility and artistic effervescence, and examines its perception by the Afropean diasporas.
Text copyright : le 19M