Senegal/Frankreich 2015, verschiedene Gummireifen, geschnitten, geflochten, lackiert, Schnittsignatur: AME, Höhe ca. 132 cm, Breite ca. 90 cm, Tiefe ca. 188 cm. (DRAX)

Unikat

Vgl. Lit.:
Making Africa. A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein 2015, S. 246/247 (Vergleiche), S. 333 (Biografie).

Die exemplarische Ausstellung “Making Africa” des Vitra Design Museum wird im Herbst 2017 im High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia gezeigt und wandert 2018 ins Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico, sowie in das Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas, weiter.

„"Gaindé" (in Wolof traditional language of Senegal) or "Lion" is a piece that I created in 2016 in tribute to my country. The lion is the emblem of Senegal, it is present on the left of the coat of arms of Senegal. These Coat of Arms were commissioned by Leopold Sedar Senghor, designed by the heraldist Suzanne Gauthier, and adopted in 1965. The lion is a frequent symbol among the peoples of the Sudanese zone of Africa and in the North-Sudanese ethnic group to which the majority of the Senegalese belong. The lion is the symbol of power. The king was then the lion-sun-god king. Afterwards, it became the official animal of the Senegalese State. Today, the lion is always present in our contemporary history. The players of the football or basketball team call themselves "The Lions". (Amadou Fatoumata Ba)

“I was born on June 14, 1977 in Yoff (a fishing village in the suburbs of Dakar), a dad sculptor on ebony and a mother nurse. As a turbulent child, I have always been attracted to recovery. My dad has since handed down the Baye Fall tradition to me. Senegalese tradition stemming from Islam, Baye Fallisme advocates "non-waste", work, recovery and sharing. Thus, since childhood, I am aware of the importance of materials (natural, industrial or manufactured) that are made available to us. So, recycling for me is neither an ecological nor a political option, it is rooted in me. It brings me a primitive relation to matter. Matter, more than the object, has a history of its own. To obtain the best is a sensation felt only by the manual workers. This subject chose me in 2011. I dedicated one year to the creation and complete decoration of “African Tempo” in Dakar, a Galerie Restaurant completely decorated and furnished with tires. Following the Off of the Dakar Biennale of Arts in 2014, two of my creations have been selected by the Vitra Design Museum in Weill am Rhein (Germany) as part of their permanent collection and participated in the international exhibition "Making Africa".

This exhibition travels from the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to Atlanta via Barcelona and Rotterdam. This selection was essential for the decision to expatriate myself in France, in order to present my work on this new territory. Of fairly imposing and very sporty body (former weightlifter), in my artistic career, I quickly opted for a subject with which I would have to fight a fight. The tire is an exciting material: imperishable, handy, resistant and "alive". I liked to learn how to handle, braid and assemble: The tire, indispensable accessory to our means of locomotion (car, bike, ....), agricultural production (tractor, lawnmower, ...), our leisure (quad, motorcycle,). Sports car, vintage car, armament - tire is useful, it is creator of industrial employment (creation/destruction). But it is also the ugly little duck of waste, hardly recyclable outside the industry, it is the badly loved. That is what motivates me, this matter that everybody wants to forget when it leaves our roads; I try to magnify it. What joy, even enjoyment, when someone approaches one of my pieces, touches it discreetly or asks me "I can touch?” And his astonishment: "Are they real tires?" Autodidact, I create without plan, instinct. The creative act is for me a form of spirituality indispensable to my balance. I settle in my studio, I turn on the music and enter into communion with the subjects. I cut, I saw, I saw, and all assembled, fits. Thus the premises of a sculpture, an object, a piece of furniture ... are born.” (Amadou Fatoumata Ba)