The Cécile Fakhoury Gallery in Abidjan presents a new exhibition by Assoukrou Aké, entitled ” Les graines de semences ne doivent pas être moulues “. On view until April 13, 2024, the Ivorian artist presents a body of work inspired by the German sculptor Käthe Kollwitz. Like an artistic legacy transcending the ages, the Ivorian artist places his exhibition under the benevolent protection of this German engraver, evoking the ancestral bond between mentor and protégé.
The title of the exhibition, “Seeds must not be ground“, borrowed from Käthe Kollwitz, reflects her dedication to the oppressed, the forgotten, the victims of war, hunger and domination. Through her art, she has magnified their resilience, their dignified revolt and their pure love. Using the title of Käthe Kollwitz’s last lithograph, Assoukrou Aké brings this emblematic figure of German art back to the forefront of the artistic scene.
Witness to the horrors of the two world wars, the sculptor and printmaker, having lost her son and grandson, channeled her pain into a relentless fight against violence and injustice. Her famous phrase, “Seeds must not be ground“, symbolizes her refusal to build a future on the sacrifice of her descendants.
Assoukrou Aké’s exhibition thus follows in the footsteps of the late artist, while adding his own personal, creative touch. Through his works, he invites the public into a universe of light and shadow, exploring engraving techniques with the same passion as Käthe Kollwitz. Like her, he sculpts tirelessly to reveal the quintessence of bodies and objects.
Echoing a history marked by colonization, the work of this contemporary African artist evokes the slow erosion of Africa over the centuries by Europe, the better to dominate it. To revive the continent, Mamadou Diouf suggests stripping it of its past and rebuilding it on new foundations, overcoming the scars of the past.
The spiraling faces of the enigmatic characters in Assoukrou Aké’s creations symbolize this idea. Their circular features intertwine like trees of life, carrying within them the thickness of time and lived experience.
Colonization, which could be seen as a long parenthesis or slow hybridization, has undeniably left deep scars. It is now imperative to bring together the scattered fragments that represent the identity, cultural, physical and psychological values of the African continent.
At the heart of this rebuilding enterprise lies the quest for that “African consciousness blending the sacred and the profane” so dear to Assoukrou Aké. Rather than obscuring or repressing the past, this approach to reconstruction is a healthy way of shaping the present.
The Ivorian artist’s reconstructive approach evokes themes already explored by other artists, such as the poet Derek Walcott, who approaches the restoration of what has been broken, as a metaphor for a heritage lost but in the process of being recovered. This approach finds parallels in the Japanese art of kintsugi, where broken ceramics are repaired with golden lacquer, creating a new aesthetic where scars become marks of beauty and history, testifying to the resilience of objects and beings.
In Jewish tradition, too, fragmentation is seen as the starting point for new life, underlining the importance of rebuilding from scattered pieces. These diverse approaches testify to the relevance of the theme explored by Assoukrou Aké in his exhibition “Les graines de semences ne doivent pas être moulues“, where characters with enigmatic and symbolic faces populate his works, recalling the complexity of memory and identity.
Returning to the art of engraving, this exclusive process captures sparks in the bark of matter, in the scratches of the image, in broken substances. Through these lines, letters emerge that, laid end to end, tell the story of the world. Walter Benjamin reminds us that the artist, like a goldsmith, must restore these sparks as “fragments of a single, greater language, debris from one and the same vase“.
With a patience and precision worthy of a craftsman, Assoukrou Aké repairs the fractures by bringing them to light. In this chaotic world we live in, he assumes one of the most essential missions: to bring back to life the faces that bear witness to our common humanity.