Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town , South Africa
12 Feb 2020 - 12 Jan 2021
Abdoulaye Konate, Detail of Idéogrammes, signes, symboles et logos (Hommage à Youssouf Tata Cissé et Germaine Dieterlen) , 2020. Fabric, 12 x 15 m. Courtesy of the artist and BlainISouthern, London.
This new, monumental work Idéogrammes, signes, symboles et logos (hommage à Youssouf Tata Cissé et Germaine Dieterlen) by renowned artist, Abdoulaye Konaté, is an appliqué tapestry that was conceived especially for the museum’s iconic four-storey-high atrium wall. The installation consists of numerous overlaid fabric strips of deep rouge and indigo, that were individually cut and hemmed by hand. The work explores semiotics rooted in West Africa and honours two iconic thinkers distinguished for their pivotal contribution to culture, ethnologist and Malian historian Youssouf Tata Cissé and Germaine Dieterlen, a French anthropologist.
Much of Konaté’s work has referenced motifs and apparel of Malian masquerades, foregrounding important African knowledge systems. Over the last forty-four years, his work has engaged with socio-political and environmental issues, including HIV/AIDS, freedom of expression, Islamic fundamentalism, and political satire.
