Around one year ago we looked at an exhibition in London of Abdoulaye Konaté's colourful and layered textile based works. As you may remember from that post, this artist mainly produces large scale tapestry-like pieces made with a hand-embroidered layered system of ribbons, a technique that Konaté has by now mastered and that is inspired by the colourful capes of the Senufo musicians and by the Kôrêdugaw ritual.
Trailed in Bamako and Cuba, Konaté first started his practice working on painting and installations in the early '90s. As time passed, he moved onto textiles using fabrics, one of the most accessible materials in Mali (the country produces over 500,000 tons of cotton per year).
This practice also allowed him to involve male and female workers in his workshop as his textiles are woven by men, but cotton is spun and dyed by women, so that in one artwork Konaté reunites a dichotomic vision of labour.
Most of Konaté's artworks tell stories: throughout the years the artist has indeed touched upon key issues including AIDS, refugees and migration, and religious and ethnic clashes. The seven-metre long piece on display in the "Pavilion of Colors" section of the Arsenale (a space dedicated to colors as sources of emotions) is entitled "Brésil" (Guarani) and was originally commissioned for Videobrasil a Sao Paulo-based festival.
Indigo, a symbol of Mali and a heavily traded colour during colonial times, is the main shade of this work. The tapestry chronicles the artist's trip to Amazonia with the tribes of the Guarani people of Ubatuba. The piece also incorporates Brazilian symbols such as the Corcovado Christ of Rio, a small football and a chair by Lina Bo Bardi.
This piece is therefore conceived as a sparse diary of an artist's trip, combining abstract and figurative elements on a large scale work, but it has also got a political value since it reconnects two post-colonial contexts together, hinting at the empowerment of two cultures, so there will be some broader reflections for those Biennale visitors willing to go beyond the abundance of colours and the playfulness of the strips forming this monumental piece.
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