LIVING IN THE COLD
It is still very cold, no changes in that chapter. A bit of warmth comes to us with samba fall’s visit because he is such a sharp, plaseant and funny person not to mention a great artist. Samba lives and works between Dakar and Oslo Norway. Two temperatures, two speeds, two modes that make his heart beat and deliver art that is recognized internationally. Samba comes to us because it is in him to come visit brothers and sisters from the same country that have come from home and are visiting so near by, also because it allows him to exchange about art stories from dakar and finally because he has a great friendship with piniang with whom he studied at the beaux arts and worked for the same cartoon studio back in the days. To me, Samba is like a squirrel, he remained thin as ever, handsom, lively and brilliant.
He was always a curious young man, eating up life from his homestudio in medina Dakar that had a view in the family yard. He could then work and interact with his grand parents, his ants, the young women fixing their hair, the neighbours coming in and out. Samba could breathe in life in medina for days and not produce any art and when he was ready, he would just narrate his world, with his own pictural lettering, moments that are dear to our hearts, moments of communion between human beings, life simply shared. I know why it is so easy for him to practice his art so delightfully: he has understood very early in his life what humility, openness, sociability, generosity, observation and interaction meant to catch the spirit of narrating. Then the medium was his to chose. Samba very early felt that scenography was important to show his works. Samba draws, paints, films, animates, lives, crackes jokes, converses about everything happening in today’s world in English, French, wolof and norwayan. What an asset for our continent.
It seems then we are ready for a face a face.
Piniang and Kristen are getting close, piniang has to adapt to the danish environment and create new textures; his setting lacks things to pick up and bring to life anew. Everything is so neat, organized, cold, flat. He has built this incredible character the minute he found some iron thread. He is impatient to really get started. I realize this is how we are trained in Africa, “hands on” : while we touch the material, we give it volume, content, meaning, form, life as opposed to writing about it, thinking about it, talking and planning it. That is the major difference between us and our partners that needs to be negociated peacefully. What a tough workshop. Negociating difference: that’s what it is about really. Endurance, stamina, strengh of mind, generosity, openness, comprehension.
Kan si and frans are doing marvelously, their work sessions happen at our apartment, at frans’s home while he cooks a meal or during their car rides in Copenhagen. There is a lot of generosity and contribution going on. They are truly in the core of the concept. Frans is a true traveler, it isn’t just countries he visits, it is ways of being a better human being he accumulates from one country to the other. A sum of a great value when one exists in this huge world.
My team has gone through quite a few meetings to recenter and recapitulate a few points specially budgetary wise, but we have got a great subject in our palms that is inticing and challenging and looks like it just might work. We are trying to deal with the subject of belonging-links-connections, answering president poet Leopold sedar senghor’s poetry and theories of identity and borrowing the story of twins that have grown up together and parted as adults, one has gone home to Senegal and the other is still in washington struggling to reconnect truly with his home. We are building a human size mobile, inspired by the “libra sign” that both the twins and the president share, and also the balance of such a piece would symbolize the quest of each of us in our own lives. We are going to be active participants of our work as we are both Johanna and I writing our personal stories and poetry that will hold this story together. We shall add objects to the mobile in part two of the residence in joal and shoot a short film that will work with the structure. We have looked at the possibility of building the structure in iron with master sculpture Guibril André Diop from Senegal.
Now we need to start building the elements content wise and physically.
The darkroom where I am wish I lived
Friday 2:am a tradition in the art center, artists and staff have cake and drinks to celebrate sharing the space. An opportunity to network and make friends.
The tea pot. Kan si baught it in dubai. It was made in china, sold in an Iranian shop and has travelled around in kan si ‘s bags. Its been our best companion these days. Feeding us with warm green tea and
fresh mint.
Johanna, researching on senghor’s life and poetry.
We are building a human size mobile. With elements of our research, moments of conversation on our theme, photos, photogravure, text, poetry, drawing.
Cant sleep early cant wake up early. goodnight
Fatou and Johanna
ReplyDeleteThe work is growing and I am really looking forward to see its developments. I spent last night gathering a list of videos on Kenyatta, thinking about land rights and usage. I wish I did not have to sit and do so much writing.
I realized when I was at my sister in laws house today how much snow is still around in the suburbs.