On behalf of the curatorial team, Rencontres de Bamako has announced the selection of the 30 artists who will participate in La Panafricaine, the group exhibition of the 14th edition of the Bamako Photographic Biennale.
TOP LEFT TO RIGHT: Lassana Igo Diarra (Mali), General Commissioner & Artistic Director; Nadine Hounkpatin (Benin), Commissioner; Manthia Diawara (Mali), Commissioner. BOTTOM LEFT TO RIGHT: Soufiane Er-Rahoui (Morocco), Commissioner; Oyindamola (Fakeye) Faithfull (Nigeria), Commissioner; Patrick Mudekereza (DRC), Commissioner.
This year, the impressive number of applications received from around the world is a testament to the exceptional creative vitality of the African continent and beyond. This turnout confirms, once again, the central role of the Bamako Encounters as a leader and essential event for photography in Africa and on the international scene.
The selected artists are:
Victor Adewale (Nigeria), Bernard Akoi-Jackson (Ghana), Héla Ammar (Tunisia), Nabil Boutros (Egypt), Cédrick-Isham Calvados (Guadeloupe), Caroline Déodat (France/Mauritius), Jeannette Ehlers (Denmark/Trinidad- and-Tobago), Willow Evann (France/Ivory Coast), Mounir Fatmi (Morocco), Ismaël Mahamoudou Laouli Illa (Niger), Arnold Tagne Fokam (Cameroon), Zara Julius (South Africa), Massow Ka (Senegal) , Kevin Kabambi (DR Congo), Seyba Keita (Mali), John Kalapo (Mali), M’hammed Kilito (Morocco), Cynthia R. Matonhodze (Zimbabwe), Primo Mauridi (DR Congo), Mariam Niaré (Mali), Osakpolor Omoregie (Nigeria), Amine Oulmakki (Morocco), Marc Posso (Gabon), Arilala Ophélia Ralamboson (Madagascar), Nuno Silas (Mozambique), Kanni Sissoko (Mali) and Yvon Ngassam (Cameroon), Maheder Haileselassie Tadese (Ethiopia), Dior Thiam (Germany/Senegal), Sethembiso Zulu (South Africa South).
We look forward to unveiling the works of these talented artists and sharing this rich and inspiring experience with you.
Igo Diarra,
Artistic Director of the 14th edition of the Bamako Photographic Meetings,
and the curatorial team.
The Word as a theme
The word was asked if it has a master.
The word answered: My master is called memory;
My merit is memory with which I go hand in hand;
It is my acolyte and my companion!
Only those who have memory as their companion
deserve to hold the word.
They will be worthy of recognition.
And those who have no memory
do not deserve to speak.
For their words will be senseless and disrespectful.
The word according to the Griot Bourama Soumano. Interview in Bamanankan conducted by Igo Diarra in the Niaré family (founding family of Bamako). Transcription and translation: Pr Oumar Kamara Ka
Photography, by its very nature, is a silent art. Silently, it appeals to our visual senses.
Choosing Kuma, the Word, as the theme of the 14th edition of the Bamako Meetings / African Photography Biennial may seem strange, but it is precisely in this paradox that the interest lies. For the artists, it is about exploring new forms, experimenting with dialogues between the word and the image, making plastically exist the moments of speaking, eloquence, anger, but also hope, meditation, silence, cacophony and noise.
The word in all its forms, the given word, the whispered word, the big word, the little word, the new word, the old word. The spoken word, the written word, the declaimed word, the narrated word, the sung word, the rapped word, the slammed word.
Can we “listen” to photography?
A photo can tell a thousand stories. It can convey emotions, ideas and messages through the power of the captured moment, the framing, the lighting or the staging. Photographers have the power to “make an image speak” thanks to this genius.
Furthermore, let’s not try to oppose words and images. It is in reality a constant dialogue between the two forms of expression. Words can be used to describe a photograph, to give it a context. Similarly, a photograph can illustrate or reinforce words, by capturing a precise moment that supports the verbal message.
Photography speaks by bringing the past back to life.
For eternity, it remains the memory of a moment, of an era, of a gesture and the witness of a present which is conjugated with the future.
Sometimes it is gestures that speak
and silence becomes committed…
For the 30th anniversary of the Biennale, let’s look at the representations of photographic speech.
This is an invitation to photographers, videographers, sound artists, visual artists, thinkers, writers, researchers, curators, to reflect on the quintessence of the profound ideas of speech or non-speech.
Are there any words that have left a mark on you? A word? A silence? A noise?
Visualize these moments – their beauty, their depth, capture the signs they reveal.
In our contemporary reality where the media and information organs churn out an infinite quantity of words, sound or written messages that are almost anonymous and circulate without interruption and in constant proliferation on global social networks, mixing truths and lies, using true words on false images and vice versa, to serve disturbing propaganda, conspiracy theories, advertisements or simply by desire to play games or to show off the transmitters’ personal assets, how can we make our words heard? What view should we take on this cacophony?
Faced with the challenge of artificial intelligence, what will become of African intelligence?
With all boundaries between the real and the virtual being erased, what place is left for photography?
What “angle” and “point of view” should we adopt?
Today, new voices are emerging from the ”Everybody”.
Change of speech or climate change.
Nature urges us to make its word heard.
Let us marvel!
Let us question ourselves through a new, innovative and unique discourse, collective or personal, which defends the aspirations of future generations…
The world is rustling
silence!
Salif Keita: Ambassador of the 14th edition
Aye
Aye
Aye
The word boils in me like water in the pot on the fire.
Chorus: The Master of speech has arrived, he has arrived.
Speaking is an art that is learned,
It is only acquired from a master.
Speaking is an art that is learned,
He who speaks the truth is unpopular.
Speaking is an art that is learned,
Ask the lawyers!
I went to the people of speech {jeli]
I could not sit among them.
I fear to offend them
Because he who has no blood [jeli] cannot survive.
I went to the Fina
There too, I could not find anywhere to sit.
I was afraid to sit because the Fina are from Mecca
and I do not want to be banned from the pilgrimage
I went to the blacksmiths, and among them too,
I could not stay.
I was afraid of displeasing the masters of the forge,
the holders of powerful magic.
Ayé, ayé, ayé
The word boils in me like water in the pot on the fire.
Chorus: The Master of the word has arrived, he has arrived.
Who should I ask?
Those who are in the rice fields because I do not speak out.
Who should I ask?
Those who are under the palaver tree?
Who should I ask?
Those who are in the offices?
Come and help me!
I need a few pennies to buy the cola of anger.
Anger wells up in me because every word waits its time to be said.
Beware of the masters of the word
They are formidable lawyers.
Hold your tongue, hold your tongue.
Death spares no living person; Siramory of Kéla has gone.
The revered bard of the Malians, Bazoumana, has disappeared.
Let us pay tribute to Kandia, the master of speech
He lies underground now.
Beware of people of speech
They are great lawyers.
Lyrics from the song “Kuma”
For more information, please visit Rencontres de Bamako 14.
