As part of Also Known As Africa 2024, Chauvy gallery in Paris is hosting a parallel exhibition entitled “ Pouvoirs de la terre ”, on view until December 14. Bringing together the works of four major artists on the contemporary African scene – Adewumi Oyeyemi, Seyni Awa Camara, Sheila Fuseini and Soly Cissé – this exhibition offers a poignant reflection on the earth and its issues in an era of climate crises.
The artists, each in their own way, re-enchant our understanding of the sacred bond that unites humanity with the earth. Through their works, Sheila Fuseini and Adewumi Oyeyemi plunge the viewer into a fascinating dialogue between past and present, evoking the diluvian disasters of yesteryear and their echoes in our current reality, where floods and forced population displacements mark everyday life.
Seyni Awa Camara, nicknamed the Casamance potter, approaches her art with a unique sensitivity. Through her use of clay – umhlaba, her mother’s earth – she weaves deep bonds with the environment, exalting the beauty and richness of this material, while celebrating her cultural roots. For his part, Soly Cissé, armed with a delicate irony, revisits the myth of the Garden of Eden, where Eve, far from yielding to temptation, metamorphoses into a snake, embodying the symbol of regeneration.
“ Pouvoirs de la terre ” transcends simple representations to offer a vibrant, interconnected visual narrative that traces the history of Nature and its symbiotic relationship with humankind. This artistic journey invites viewers to lose themselves in a universe where clay, with all its strength and fragility, becomes the common thread in a fascinating exploration of cultural and environmental links. This exhibition is an ode to the earth, a call to rediscover our place in an ever-changing world.
Adewumi Oyeyemi
A Nigerian artist based in Ondo City, Adewumi Oyeyemi is known for his engaged, critical art that addresses the climate crises impacting the populations of his native region. Through his works, he broadens his discourse by highlighting the interconnections between these environmental issues and his country’s socio-political problems, particularly in the pre-election period, when southern Nigeria is hit by unprecedented flooding.
Adewumi Oyeyemi ‘s creations are powerful metaphors, rooted in the identity of her land and the suffering that disrupts its harmony. Her work weaves together poetic and symbolic elements, reactivating the wisdom of Yoruba proverbs. For example, in his painting “Flood in Nigeria II”, the image of water overflowing from a wicker basket echoes the proverb: “He who uses a basket to fetch water is mistaken”, a reflection on inefficiency and limits in a world in crisis.
By incorporating figures inspired by indigenous Yoruba myths, Adewumi Oyeyemi lends a timeless dimension to his message, highlighting contemporary challenges while resonating with ancestral narratives. His art thus becomes a powerful echo of the themes addressed in the “ Pouvoirs de la terre ” exhibition, where environmental and social concerns intertwine, inviting viewers to reflect on the implications of our times.
Seyni Awa Camara
Born in Bignona, Seyni Awa Camara lives and creates in Casamance, Senegal, where her delicate works are enriched by local legends and beliefs, immersing the viewer in the fascinating world of ancestral Senegalese myths while celebrating the artisanal techniques of her region. An exceptional potter, she has led a veritable crusade for the elevation of this art form, propelling it onto the world stage after overcoming the weight of ancestral prohibitions.
Introduced to the secrets of pottery as a child by her mother and grandmother, Seyni Awa Camara carefully shapes her figures, then fires them at low temperature in an open-air kiln set up in the courtyard of her home. Her breakthrough onto the international art scene came with the 1989 exhibition “ Les magiciens de la terre ” at the Centre Pompidou, which revealed the extent of her talent worldwide.
Untitled, 2023
Fired clay
141 x 42 x 34 cm
His work has been the subject of several documentaries, publications and exhibitions, including Philippe Dagen ‘s “ Ex Africa ” at the Musée du Quai Branly in 2021. Among the hallmarks of his success, his creations are also featured at the US Embassy in Dakar, as part of the “ L’Art en Ambassades ” (AIE) program, and will take part in the 2024 Dak’art biennial , on view until December.
Each “pottery child” she shapes tells a story, evokes a memory and embodies the richness of her heritage. Seyni Awa Camara is not only an artist; she is a guardian of memory, a voice of the earth that transforms clay into palpable and timeless poetry.
Sheila Fuseini
Through her paintings, Sheila Fuseini offers an immersive visual journey to the public, inviting them to discover the world from her perspective. Originally from Northern Ghana, she poetically depicts the landscapes of savannahs, its horizons, its skies and the shores of the immense Lake Volta that crosses her country, evoking a free expansion, limited only by the edges of the canvas.
Collage of leather scraps on tulle/mesh fabric
30 7/10 × 45 3/10 in | 78 × 115 cm
The artist’s poetic engagement with color evokes a sensory perception inspired by Kandinsky, oscillating between abstraction and figuration, where each element, from the house to the leaf, has an equal value. By applying collage with scraps of leather on tulle or panel, she gives her painting a tactile materiality, opening the way to new interpretations. The juxtaposition of surfaces, equal in intensity, recalls the kente technique, a symbol of Ghanaian social values.
These works, true emotional cartographies, connect her native region of the North, as well as the vast sky of the South and the shores of Lake Volta, forming a visual kaleidoscope that traces her creative journey, nourished by her memories, her identity and her culture in the context of the Gulf of Guinea, where she lives today. Creative values in perfect harmony with the common thread of the exhibition “Pouvoirs de la terre“.
Soly Cisse
As part of “Pouvoirs de la terre“, the gallery presents an exceptional set of charcoal drawings by Senegalese artist Soly Cissé, dated from 2002 to 2005, from the series “The Lost World“, accompanied by a large-format canvas from his recent series “Ecosystems“. Through his works, Soly Cissé explores a deep relationship with Nature, driven by the same forces that shape human destinies.
By stating: “I try to reach man deep within himself“, he establishes a complicity with the viewer, his presence in the canvas being palpable. The figure of a strong Eve, refusing the apple in favor of a snake, illustrates a symbolic metamorphosis, treated with a cracked texture. This work offers a contemporary resonance, mixing timelessness and modern concerns. Finally, a new monograph, “Ecosystems“, written by Hélène Tissières and published with the support of the CNAP, accompanies this exhibition.