Musée Théodore Mondo - IFAN / Various venues, Dakar, Senegal
24 Sep 2021 - 24 Oct 2021
Aliou Diack, The bed of life, 2021.
Aliou Diack’s traveling installation The bed of life travels around Dakar and lives in different places in the city’s neighborhoods. It made its first appearance at the Terrou-Bi hotel in November 2020, before being moved to independent art spaces: Espace Médina and Laboratoire Agit’art.
The work invites anyone passing by to lie down and discover it, as the artist puts it:
« Come on. There is plenty of space for you to pause, breathe, gaze at the sky for a few minutes before resuming your life. »The work aims to address fundamental social issues such as the hundreds of Dakar street walkers who endlessly roam the city, not knowing where to go. Some of them are waiting to return home. Their families take turns to use the few beds available; someone has to wake up to let someone else sleep.
The installation also questions the relationship between man and nature, the artist’s favorite subject.
The bed of life’s trip to the city is far from over. However there is one place where you will never be able to find it, it is within the four walls of a room.
Aliou Diack was born in 1987 in Sidi Bougou, in the region of Mbour, in Dakar, Senegal. A curious child, Aliou sets out to discover nature, the worlds of flora and fauna. He observes the proportions, colors, textures and records all of this in sketchbooks, which serve as his training ground. To continue his studies, he left his village at the age of 10 to settle in the heart of Dakar. He did not find the same nature or the same freedom there, and compensated by drawing « everywhere » around him, so as to recreate his universe. He embarked on art studies at the National School of Arts in Dakar. , where he will be required to manipulate multiple mediums and tools that will allow him to increase his artistic field and to master techniques other than drawing.
Major of his promotion, Aliou stands out from the others by the visual power of his works, sober, but from which emanates a primitive and instinctive natural universe. Aliou Diack currently lives and works in Dakar, Senegal.
