The Carole Kvasneski Gallery presents the exhibition ” Donne la Parole ” by visual artist Ibrahim Ballo, which will be open until February 25, 2023. This exhibition is the result of Ibrahim Ballo’s residency in Marseille, which took place from October 17 to December 13, 2022 at the Centre Montévidéo in collaboration with the Pernod Ricard Foundation and the Sahm Workshops in Brazzaville.
The exhibition ” Donne la Parole ” is a new step in the constantly evolving work of the visual artist Ibrahim Ballo. This exhibition is the result of two months of research, which summarizes several years of work of the artist.
Ibrahim Ballo’s paintings are created from textiles and reflect the warmth, delicacy, beauty and intimacy of his Senufo community, represented by Malian women. Through his travels and experiences, the artist incorporates different threads, techniques and symbols into his work.
The masked subjects in Ibrahim Ballo’s paintings invite reflection on identities, while expanding the concept. The exhibition “ Donne la Parole ” is an invitation to reflect on the channels, means and capacities of communication. The artist’s project is to play with the concept of identity by masking the faces of the subjects and distancing them from the viewer by combining acrylic paint and cotton threads in the space of his paintings.
Ibrahim Ballo’s committed approach: highlighting marginalized identities
Ibrahim Ballo, born in 1986 in Bamako, is a committed artist who gives voice to ignored voices. In 2017, he obtained his Master’s degree at the Balla Fasseké Kouyaté Conservatory under the direction of Salia Malé and Abdoulaye Konaté.
Active in the Tim ‘arts and Sanou’art collectives in Bamako, his work has been presented in several group exhibitions and is part of several collections, including the prestigious OLYM Collection. He also won the 1st prize in Visual Arts at the Sahm RIAC workshops in Brazzaville.
His artistic approach is to weave paintings with lines drawn in acrylic to create junctures that reflect on identities while highlighting the ignored and unheard voices.