I had a dream: N'Djamena, Chad

This is the vision behind AtWork “I Had A Dream”. Conceived by the Moleskine Foundation and the writer Simon Njami, the travelling workshop engages communities in 4 different places; Rome, Italy; N’Djamena, Chad; Kampala, Uganda; with the final leg to take place in Harare, Zimbabwe in November 2018. 

Lively debate and open expression facilitate the safe environment necessary for critical thinking and creative doing. The 5 day workshops culminate in an exhibition of the artistic notebooks produced as metaphors of the process. As Simon Njami says, “We were born what we were born, but we always become what we did. In few words, I Had A Dream is a call to action, here and now”.

From a cultural perspective, little is happening for local youth in Chad. Local Cultural Manager, Oumaté Abdoulaye Abdul approached the Moleskine Foundation to bring AtWork to his home country in order to address its “culturally hungry and deficient” reality. His belief that there is a will and desire to stimulate critical thinking and change what’s on offer lead to the partnership with his organisation, Jamah Afrik.

27 aspiring filmmakers, producers, actors, stylists, entrepreneurs and writers gathered under the guidance of Simon Njami to debate, critique and exchange their dreams at the National Museum of Chad, where the results were then unveiled in an exhibition. Let’s explore their dreams.

My representation pays homage to the pharaohns and to all the important Africans who have left their mark on African history.

This is a collection of all the dreams of the AtWork N’Djamena workshop participants. I thought it would be better and more interesting to dedicate a page of my notebook to the dreams of each participant, with both name and signature, making the notebook the host of all dreams contained under one roof. Dreams are our physical representations. We will remain together forever in this house of dreams, and together we will make our dreams come true.

My Moleskine notebook showcases my personality in full artistic activity. This stage is called: Me and My Brush.

I designed a model showing a beautiful dress that I created for my collection.

I painted this picture because there is a connection with the quote. The stars fascinate me. They clothe the Universe in an atmosphere of dark colors and lights. I am one of those who aim for the moon just to vex the sun: to say that the greatest are those who do not pretend to be. They are like the moon, while the sun represents the egocentrics.

My notebook tells about those who walk the streets of N’Djamena because they do not have the money to pay for transport.

Daring to face our fears so we are able to abandon the darkness and reach the light.

My notebook is an expression of my project: I have covered it with different types of leather, and it has become a small catalog of what I would like to export.

In this notebook I express my proud in raising the Golden Palm I won at the Cannes’s Festival.

I’m looking for money for the production of my film. The confidence that I place in myself encourages me every day to make every possible effort to be my own director.

My vision is to encounter different cultures and different stories. A multifaceted artist must have a far-sighted (universal) vision in order to discover and be discovered.

I tried in this notebook to create a production company and a television channel.

Photography for me is a means of expression, as are novels and music. It makes it possible to reach the masses through images, and to plot a story.

In my Moleskine notebook I recreated a cinema, a movie theater containing the cinematic essence of the director.

An analogue camera which I named after myself, Memsol Cam, so that I can work on my images.

The ink of my writing symbolizes the importance of the text. In my notebook, I wrote quotes from Victor Hugo and Thomas de Quincey as an effort to be inspired by writers who have distinguished themselves in world history.

This is a basrelief I made during the AtWork Chad workshop which represents the inverse, the opposite of the life cycle and rotation of a clock. I want to arouse critical thinking by reversing the order of the life cycle and clock rotation.

I express my plans, excitement, and life changes I envision will occur on the day I am able to meet and get to know Vin Diesel.

In my Moleskine notebook, I tell the story of two young people, Modoya and Djawneya, who try to get rich by robbing a bank, but are unfortunately arrested in a hotel by the police and later sentenced to ten years in prison.

I have immortalized myself through this notebook. I created a monument to myself, where some people memorialize in epitaph their regret on the day when I am no longer of this world.

It’s a photographic series that tells the making of the local beer named « Argui ».

My work represents a casting. This work is a preparatory stage to filming.

My work tells about a 17-year-old teenager who dreams of hacking the CIA. One day, his friend Manassé asks him to help with a report he’s writing on American secret societies. During his research, he discovers a breach in its security system and downloads documents from it. The CIA arrests him, but offers him a deal to work for them. He accepts on condition that he can do it from his bedroom. One day the CIA director asks him to locate a terrorist, Ben Khalil. He succeeds in finding him, something no one had managed to accomplish, and is awarded the IT prize of the year.

My pen is the wing that will help me fly to new destinations looking for new knowledge; the microphone will raise my voice to my audience.

My notebook is a “family album” containing caricatures and nicknames of the workshop leaders and participants.

The story of a boy named Miskine, born into a poor family, which I wrote during the AtWork workshop. It highlights the risks and poor developmental results in children raised with a lack of adult attention.

In my notebook I created a radio studio from which my voice will transmit what I have recorded with my microphone and pen, which I also recreated in the notebook.