Exhibition : Nyaba Ouédraogo meets Mame Coumba Bang
Who is Mame Coumba Bang? What is she like? Can she be portrayed? Even a native of Saint Louis would find it difficult to answer these questions. Just as it would be impossible to separate any part of his history from Mame Coumba Bang. But it is precisely this mystery that Nyaba Léon Ouédraogo has had the courage to unravel. With delicacy and subtlety, tact and sensitivity... his work pierces the mystery.
By the editorial staff
It all began with an invitation from Philippe Mailfait, a collector from Saint-Louis who was used to welcoming and guiding artists in residence. From there, Nyaba Léon Ouédraogo embarked on a journey, a myth and/or a mystery that even the natives of Saint-Louis find difficult to understand. « I delved into the imaginary world surrounding the figure of Mame Coumba Bang. I did historical research and fieldwork on the stories surrounding this divinity. It took two years of work, » he says. As if to set the tone for this journey, which has been as enjoyable as it has been adventurous.
I firmly believe that there is an African visual culture and gaze that depends on the shapes, curves and light of our continent
« I spoke to Samba, a fisherman from Guet N’dar, whom I met on the coast and who acted as my fixer. I went to his family home, where I was taken by the smells, the touch and the visual aspect of the divinity. I felt the sensory impact of Mame Coumba Bang in the interiors and the very intimacy of the people of Saint-Louis. Samba told me that all the people of Saint-Louis were inhabited by Mame Coumba Bang. I concluded that Mame Coumba Bang was everywhere and that she could be incarnated in anyone.
My encounters in Saint-Louis helped me to rethink my analysis of Mame Coumba Bang: she’s not just a water spirit, she’s the spirit of Saint-Louis. Nyaba’s story alone evokes a feeling. A feeling of having been conquered. « It is an enchanting force, an energy that transports us. For me, Mame Coumba Bang is not something mysterious, but something mystical. I firmly believe that there is an African visual culture and gaze that depends on the shapes, curves and light of our continent. I will defend this idea until the day I die, without intellectual dictatorship and to tell the story of African photography in the throes of change, » he suggests.
In his late sixties, Jean Pierre Corréa, a native of Saint-Louis, a city inextricably linked to Mame Coumba Bang, could not resist the urge to savor this story. « Ever since I laid my eyes and my delicate attention on the work of Nyaba Léon Ouédraogo, like one of Proust’s Madeleines, sensations began to run through the traces that make up my memory, which, as a man who claims to be Cartesian, I have often struggled with, when confronted with the stories of my parents, who were taken aback by the ironic defiance of the ‘toubabisé’ Saint-Louisian that I was for so long, » revels this true blood Ndar Ndar (the name given to the natives of Saint-Louis).
Atypical, unclassifiable, furtive, fleeting, Nyaba is simply elusive
Hamady Bocoum is almost lost in speculation when it comes to the work of Nyaba Léon Ouédraogo. « It unfolds in the form of an exquisite visual corpse whose creation remains imperceptible, where chance has no real place, because he doesn’t believe in it. He prefers to speak of an « organized mystery ». The artist doesn’t work by instinct, but always draws up an outline to guide him, because he knows he has to find something. Just as the fishermen of Guet N’dar rely on Mame Coumba Bang to guarantee the day’s catch, Nyaba Ouedraogo invokes the gods of photography to capture his staging, » he says, a little dithyrambic.
And then: « Atypical, unclassifiable, furtive, fleeting, Nyaba is simply elusive. He plays with us at the speed of sound, probably because his former sprinter’s DNA follows him everywhere. This man moves fast, but not in a sprinter’s straight line. He goes fast but instinctively changes direction as his bulimic inspiration rages.” Even Philippe Mailfait cannot escape the devastating effects of his work. He has now made up his mind, and rightly so. « There is an essential ambiguity in Nyaba Ouédraogo’s photographs. They are, in a sense, ghostly photographs, full of mystery. And if it’s true that the unreal can only be seen as unreal, they certainly give us a glimpse of it, » he says.
To go :
Mame Coumba Bang – Nyaba Léon Ouedraogo
Until July 29, 2023
CHRISTOPHE PERSON Gallery
39 rue des Blancs-Manteaux, 75004, Paris
