The Jean Pigozzi African Art Collection

Essentiel Paysage, MACAAL, Marrakech, Maroc

from 14/11/2016 to 06/03/2017

A l’occasion de la COP 22 qui se tient en novembre 2016 à Marrakech, la Fondation Alliances au Maroc présente l'exposition "Essentiel Paysage" mettant en valeur l’énergie créatrice actuelle du continent africain dans sa globalité géographique et sa diversité culturelle, mise au service des enjeux du développement durable.

L’exposition intitulée Essentiel Paysage rassemble une sélection d’artistes contemporains africains. Pour certains d’entre eux, leurs œuvres témoignent de leur ancrage dans un continent béni par la nature, soulignant l’interdépendance entre l’humain, l’animal et le végétal.

D’autres artistes portent un regard critique sur l’exploitation déraisonnable des ressources naturelles en Afrique et en dénoncent les effets délétères sur leur continent. Recourant à des métaphores visuelles ingénieuses, ces œuvres singulières, imaginatives ou savantes, donnent à voir avec lucidité un état d’esprit et un constat environnemental de l’Afrique d’aujourd’hui, tout en affirmant le désir d’y perpétuer une relation durable entre l’Homme et la Terre.



Essentiel Paysage” highlights the creative energy of the African continent in its geographical entirety and cultural diversity, through African artists current perception of nature and environment.
This exhibition brings together a selection of modern and contemporary African artists. Some of whom testify through their works to their anchoring in a continent that has been blessed by nature, underscoring the interdependence between humans, animals and plants. Others provide a critical perspective on the unsound utilization of natural resources in Africa and denounce its harmful effects. Using visual metaphors, these unique, imaginative or scholarly artworks present a kaleidoscopic picture of the current state of the environment.
It is a fact that nature plays a central role in modern African artistic and literary production. The very choice of the title of this exhibition, Essential landscape, taken from one of Aimé Césaire’s works, testifies to the importance attached by this poet to the imaginary world of nature and landscape, which he reinvested with the values of a postcolonial society in search of specific identity and modernity. The poet thus “claims to be of an essential Nature, and reappropriates a real or dream Africa, land of the origins, whose cosmogonies and myths of nature are evoked”. Today, many African artists have become aware of the need to preserve nature, this common good that is essential to life. In their own way, they have adopted an attitude shared by the international artists who have developed forms of art related to ecological-based issues. Their commitment is intended as a sensitive and aesthetic contribution to the debate on the globalized environmental challenges.


“Essentiel Paysage” is curated by Brahim Alaoui.

"Essentiel Paysage"
Une exposition conçue par Brahim Alaoui
MACAAL, Musée d'Art Contemporain Africain Al Maaden
Marrakech, Maroc
14 Novembre 2016 - 6 mars 2017

Diaporama

Dossier de presse
Link to the exhibition website