The 6 photographers invited to the Vagamondes festival come from Mali, Senegal, Mozambique and Côte d’Ivoire. Some, like Omar Victor Diop, are accomplished in line with precursors such as Malick Sidibé or Seydou Keïta while summoning the history of Western art and seeking to capture the diversity of societies and lifestyles of Africa modern. Others, like François-Xavier Gbré, in touch with time and the geography of the territories they cross – from colonial vestiges to landscapes redefined by current events -, summon the language of architecture as a witness to memory and social change. Whatever their influences – documentary, conceptual, architectural photo, portrait or self-portrait in the studio, fashion and hip-hop – the works are all crossed by the question of an elusive identity and question the place of Africans in World History. Often oriented on topical subjects, more particularly on the migration from Africa to Europe, their photographs are an attempt to carry out a reinvented narration of the history of the black people, and therefore of the history of humanity and that of the concept of freedom.
curated by Emmanuelle Walter and Ange-Frédéric Koffi
co-production La Filature, Scène nationale – Mulhouse
courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris and Galerie Cécile Fakhoury
I Was Here – I Saw Here
photo exhibition (Festival les Vagamondes)
from January 14 to February 23, 2020
La Filature, National Stage
20 allée Nathan Katz – Mulhouse
www.instagram.com/colligit.truncis
