Yellow Camouflage

Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative Colours of Africa, a collaborative project with Google Arts & Culture, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them.

The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.

Colour:Camouflage Yellow
Country:Mauritius

Artwork Rationale:

I discovered a yellow leaf lying on a yellow-painted stripe on the road. A camouflage. I like the idea of not knowing whether nature hides to survive or to better attack. It captures the battlefield of Mauritius.

More concrete, more steel, more cars, more walls and buildings, more roads and pavements.

Every day, fewer leaves and branches, fewer flowers and trees.

At each corner, on every street, nature is retracting.

Everywhere, nature struggles to survive. There is a war going on in Mauritius, and it is almost like nature is losing.

As a street photographer during my Colours of Africa wanderings, I discovered a yellow leaf lying on a yellow-painted stripe on the road.

A perfect combination of colours and textures. Each of the elements blending into the other. A camouflage.

In nature, weaker species use camouflage to be unseen from predators and stronger ones use camouflage as a disguise before attacking.

In this image, I like the idea of not knowing whether nature hides to survive or to better attack.

It captures the battlefield of Mauritius. Yellow is one of our national colours; it represents hope and new beginnings. We are a small island nation, known for natural beauty. But tourism, which brings with it many benefits for the economy, is eating up the natural habitat to make room for developments.

In many ways, nature is defenceless. You want to cut down a tree, and it can do nothing to stop you. But mother nature will react elsewhere… The concrete prevents the rain from draining into the soil, causing flash floods. Natural disasters seem, in some ways, to be a form of revenge or attack. The more damage we do to nature, the more we put ourselves at risk.

And so it plays out on the battlefield of Mauritius.

What it means to be African

As a Mauritian, I was born and grew up with people of different origins. Being African is about embracing the diversity of cultures, diversity of faith, diversity of opinion, and diversity of colours. Every day, I treasure the chance to be continuously enriched by the differences of others.

I believe being African is about being multifaceted, with an exceptional ability to be forward thinkers while remaining rooted. Urban and rural, avant-gardist and traditional at the same time.

Finally, being African is about having a deep link to family and community, wherever we are in the world.

Biography

Following a masters in visual communication in Paris, Vincent Montocchio began his career as an art director at LOWE ALICE, one of the most successful French advertising agencies of that time. After seven years, he headed to his homeland of Mauritius as creative director of Circus Advertising. Under his creative direction, the agency became the most awarded of the region and ranked fourth most creative agency in Africa at the African Cristal Festival 2018. Today, Montocchio is the Managing Director of CIRCUS! in Mauritius and the chief creative officer of Publicis Groupe Africa, a network of 63 agencies spread over the continent.

Montocchio is passionate about art. Besides being a songwriter and composer, he is a photographer with several exhibitions to his credit in Mauritius and Africa. He was selected from 30 African photographers for a major exhibition at the Pan-African Festival of Algiers in 2009, entitled 'REFLETS D'AFRIQUE'.