The art space at Abidjan’s Cécile Fakhoury Gallery comes alive with the vibrant, immersive colors of the exhibition “Le goût de la mangue” (“The taste of mango”). Presented until September 7, this exhibition marks Rachel Marsil’s first foray into the Ivorian economic capital. It plunges the gallery into a refreshing atmosphere, where a captivating visual universe unfolds, made up of lush vegetation and a peaceful, almost familiar sea.
Originally from Senegal and now living in Paris, Rachel Marsil is a graduate of the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs de Paris. She has developed a unique artistic language, at the crossroads of textile design and painting. Through her multidisciplinary art, she addresses questions of identity and the representations that stem from it. Her artistic practice explores the dynamics of memory and identity conveyed by the cultural circulation of images, whether personal or archived, in a postcolonial, multicultural and globalized context. From painting to textiles, this contemporary artist’s work is part of a process of self-appropriation.
In “Le goût de la mangue”, Rachel Marsil ventures into new representations, notably through paintings of bathers inspired by the style of Paul Gauguin or Émile Bernard. However, one recurring element captures the public’s attention and gives meaning to the exhibition’s title: the mango. This exotic fruit appears on most of the artist’s canvases. In the center of the room, a mango-shaped platform houses small sculptures that showcase this refreshing fruit. In this space, the mango acquires a symbolic dimension, being considered the fruit of love.
In artistic residence in Grand-Bassam since March, Rachel Marsil has been immersing herself in the historic atmosphere of the place, walking the vast mango-shaded alleys every day, probably on the same path as the women of Abidjan who came in 1949 to demand the release of political leaders imprisoned by the colonial authorities. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the women depicted by the artist stand confidently, embodying defiance and pride.
In the workshop of a Grand-Bassam bronzemaker, she is deepening her sculptural work, begun in autumn 2023 at the Ouagadougou Sculpture Biennial. She unveils a new series of sculptures in bronze and wood, in which fruit delicately balances its weight. These fruit trees become allegories of the long and sometimes delicate growth of love, as so aptly described by bell hooks.
Rachel Marsil puts it this way: “In one of her best-known and most fascinating essays, A propos d’amour [1], the American writer bell hooks explains that to love is a verb of action. In her search for a definition of love, she takes up that of psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, who defines it as “the will to extend oneself in order to nourish one’s own spiritual growth or that of another”.
In conclusion, love transcends mere sentiment; it is a choice and a voluntary act, manifested by the creation of a caring, respectful and honest environment. It is this warm atmosphere that Rachel Marsil aspires to recreate in her exhibition “Le goût de la mangue”. Beyond aesthetic harmony, the characters she depicts seem to commune in depth, be they couples, friends or sisters dressed as twins. In this welcoming ecosystem imagined by the artist, the fruit of love takes the form of a mango, which we don’t know if it represents the forbidden fruit, so reluctant are the women who seize it to taste its flavor, preferring to keep it as a precious object.
The peaceful faces, identical at first glance, raise questions in the viewer who takes the time to contemplate them, sending us back to our own emotions. Although at first glance these faces may seem to reflect great serenity, at times they actually conceal shades of solitude, doubt or melancholy. What’s more, it’s difficult to place them in time, as there are so few clues to pinpoint their precise period.
Some of the canvases evoke an aesthetic reminiscent of 1960s West African studio photography, from which the artist draws inspiration for both poses and outfits. However, Rachel Marsil moves away from simple portraiture and scenes of intimacy, introducing works that tend towards a nascent form of abstraction. She depicts mangoes on geometric backgrounds adorned with arabesques and curves, compositions that evoke the motifs of batik fabrics, an emblematic Grand-Bassam skill. This approach also recalls her initial training in textile design, a heritage that shines through in her work.
Rachel Marsil’s artistic style is perfectly reflected in this new exhibition, “Le goût de la mangue”: painting, motif, figuration, a touch of abstraction, she creates aesthetically pleasing canvases and sculptures. With her vibrantly nuanced works and striking archetypal figures, she easily captures the attention of visitors, who marvel at the relevance of her creations and her singular know-how.
