On May 5, on the occasion of the AfroPixel#5 Festival organized as part of the 2016 Dak’Art Biennale, AtWork will be in Dakar, together with Kër Thiossane, to present the exhibition of Moleskine notebooks created in four years of AtWork by young creative individuals and artists who participated in the Dakar, Abidjan, Kampala and Cairo workshops. The exhibition, curated by Katrin Peters-Klaphake, will be held at the renovated public library of Sicap Liberté, Dakar.
In May 2012, we arrived in Dakar to launch AtWork for the first time, inspired by the idea, hope and belief that creativity, if supported by an alternative educational approach, can create new worlds and produce changes.
Schools, universities and master’s programs are good, but are not enough. We need an alternative way to access knowledge, without hierarchies and pre-established schemes. We need to become active protagonists, rather than mere recipients.
Under the guidance of artist Kan-Si, the workshop held in Dakar four years ago, in partnership with Kër Thiossane, on the occasion of Afropixel#3 during the Dak’Art Biennale, became the testing ground for this idea. For three days, 20 students and young creative individuals took on the challenge to subvert the certainties that had until then underpinned their fundamental beliefs. Focusing on democracy, a crucial topic during the 2012 elections, they created unique, passionate and inspiring works of art.
Today, after four years, we come back to Dakar with a wealth of workshop experiences, meetings and notebooks created during the various chapters of the project.
Each notebook bears the trace of a particular view of the world and of its possible alternatives. Each trace is the reflection of the countries and cultures we met, of their willingness to question their fundamental assumptions. Dakar, Abidjan, Kampala and Cairo will come together to Dak’Art in these days, through the notebooks on which young artists have cast their creative gaze. Today, these notebooks have become an amazing intertwining of stories, objects, colors, and materials, where north, south, east and west blend to create new directions.
There was no better place than the public library of Dakar to host all these works for the exhibition curated by Katrin Peters-Klaphake.
After a long renovation project to which we are also contributing, the library has recently come to new life, providing the community of Sicap Libertè 2 with a new meeting place, a knowledge center, an opportunity for studying and learning.
Four years have passed, and the 2016 Dak’Art Biennale curated by our advisor Simon Njami has just kicked off in Dakar. On the occasion of Afropixel#5, together with Marion Louisgrand and Kër Thiossane, we will present the exhibition of AtWork notebooks, which you can follow in real time and share through our social media.
AtWork continues its journey. Our next stop is Addis Ababa. With your support, we can implement our project and give young artists from Addis Ababa the opportunity to exhibit their works at the next art biennials.
Get AtWork and support our crowdfunding campaign: Errore. Riferimento a collegamento ipertestuale non valido.!!!
Claude Bunny Massassa is a contemporary artist from Gabon. She created Bunny Studio in 2016, a start-up dedicated to photography production, which became DWABI Studio in 2021. As an artist, she has represented Gabon in many international exhibitions in Senegal, Uganda, France, the United States, and Italy. In her art, she denounces social stigmas around issues of identity and mental health, and explores themes of traditions and myths.
Executive Director Kimberly Aceves- Iñiguez has been passionately committed for over 20 years to social justice organizing and advocacy efforts that bring voice and power to youth, LGBTQ people, people of color, and working-class communities in the Bay Area. Before coming on as the Executive Director for RYSE, Kimberly served as the Executive Director for Youth Together, the founding organization of the RYSE Center.
Kanwarpal Dhaliwal is one of the co-founders of RYSE and currently acts as the Associate Director. She supports and guides the implementation and integration of healing-centered practices, grounded in racial justice and liberation, and also develops, promotes, and advocates for policies, investments, practices, and research that enliven healing, justice, and liberation. Kanwarpal believes that the purpose of her work and life is to contribute to movements, communities, and legacies of liberation that honor the ancestors who fought for her existence and survival, and to forge a world that is just and gentle for future generations.
Sagal Ali is the founder and executive director of SAF. After a few years in her career in heritage protection in the cultural sector, she decided to develop the initiative to directly support young creatives in Somalia by launching her own foundation. She hopes to bridge the social gaps and inequalities women face in Somalia, both in society and in the arts scene.
Co-founders Catherine Dunga and Marleen Palmaers created Kitambo to bridge the gap between the African diaspora in Colombia and the narratives from the continent. From Kinshasa and Antwerp respectively, they work to connect African artists from the continent and their peers from the Colombian diaspora.
Martha Kazungu is a curator, art Historian and Founder of Njabala Foundation, an organization that curates periodic exhibitions and organizes a public program of activities to create a safe space for female artists to thrive and blossom.
Alicia Hansen is a photographer and teacher from New York. She founded NYC SALT in 2008 and, beyond teaching valuable creative skills to her students, has developed a long-term support system to uplift them through school and into their early artistic careers.
