Today, more than ever, Africa is at the heart of the contemporary art scene. Contemporary artists from the continent and its diaspora are gaining ground on the art market, and by dint of innovation, are transforming previously degrading narratives and outlooks with relevance and aesthetic appeal. Art houses, museums and private collections are striving to keep pace with this new era, positioning contemporary African art as a new and enriching component of the artistic universe. African artists are encouraging this euphoria with their profound creations, rich in histories and cultural values, contributing to a restructuring of post-colonial imaginaries and a reconquest of narratives that have become decisive.
Geneva, as an international hub, is a living symbol of growing pictorial diversity. The city has recently seen the emergence of players who are striving to offer greater visibility to artists from the Global South. Charlotte Diez-Bento (This is your Heart) and Adeline du Chastel (Tinina Art) belong to this generation of players eager to unveil to the world the relevance and richness of art from the South, particularly from the African continent. Developing a partnership between their two institutions, This is your Heart and Tinina Art, the two curators are organizing an immersive exhibition presenting two up-and-coming artists from the African art scene.
In an unprecedented pictorial setting, they are pleased to announce Manel Ndoye and René Tavares in a group show around the Salon Art Genève at Mabe Gallery. Entitled “Femmes en communauté”, this artistic presentation will run at the espace apprêter until January 28, 2024. The group show represents an in-between of the personal experiences and realities of the two African artists, and a springboard for exploring through their art the notions of cultural, historical and social heritage in a broader sense.
René Tavares, born in 1983 in Sao Tomé et Principe, and Manel Ndoye, born in Senegal in 1986, belong to this generation of artists who explore socio-political themes through strong roots in their home communities. If ancestral Santomean culture is part of René Tavares, Manel Ndoye grew up among the Lebous fishing communities. Their divergent backgrounds in no way detract from their collaborative study, which focuses on the notion of cultural heritage and encourages the search for points of convergence between their personal histories and a broader socio-historical sense.
The “Femmes en communauté” exhibition appears as an allegory aimed at inscribing at the heart of our thoughts, the safeguarding of roots, of the link to the nourishing earth or sea and to traditions that allow a solid rooting to the mother source favoring a futuristic projection influenced by cultural values and doctrines. The future of a continent where the harmony of communities remains a vital weight, with women as accreditors. René Tavares and Manel Ndoye use distinct pictorial methods, with layers and an approach bordering on photography for one, and decomposition of strokes and abstract treatment for the other, to precisely materialize the archaeology of collective memories and histories in progress, crossed by social variations and narratives of resilience.
The two contemporary artists invite the public to take part in the daily lives punctuated by the work of their communities of origin: those of the Lébou people, the fishing communities of the Dakar region from which Manel Ndoye hails, and those of the descendants of plantation slaves on the island of São Tomé, from which René Tavares hails. The harshness emanating from this period is not enough to subtract all the gentleness and poetic features depicted by the artists in their works, for gentleness and vitality are inseparable elements of the feminine essence, and both Manel Ndoye and René Tavares pay magnificent tribute to this subtlety in their compositions.
The two African protagonists studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Dakar, with Manel Ndoye graduating top of his class in 2010. Today, their creativity is showcased at numerous exhibitions in Africa, Europe and around the world. Their artistic practice is centered on painting, but they are also experimenting with other media, notably drawing and installation, followed by weaving for Manel Ndoye and photography for René Tavares. Each of these media accompanies a technical and aesthetic search for resonance and materials to produce an archive in which the past and present intermingle.
This pertinent choice of mediums and portrait techniques establishes a connection with the archive, which in itself presents a representative link to contemporary identities in the midst of growing reconstitution, particularly in Africa, and through the migratory experience. The themes addressed by Manel Ndoye and René Tavares echo their respective experiences, the ongoing upheaval and growing affirmation of Afro-descendant identities beyond a single place of origin and the categories determined by the experience of colonization or transatlantic slavery.
“Femmes en communauté” is an exhibition that bears witness to the role of women in the transmission and preservation of cultural values within future communities. The artists celebrate a living memory and ongoing histories in a rapidly changing Africa and world. To accompany this immersive artistic presentation, the renowned designer and collaborator of the great luxury houses, Hom Le Xuan, will offer his participation through elegant furniture, a sublime showcase for the avant-garde of contemporary African creation. A further demonstration that luxury and contemporary art naturally go hand in hand.
Through “Femmes en communauté“, Manel Ndoye and René Tavares invite the public to observe our common humanity, and the centrality of women in weaving and preserving these bonds among peoples of both North and South. The exhibition will open on January 16, 2024.
