Niger: Art in the Desert

Face to face (2014) by Ali Kiba Tahab

A semi-presidential republic in the heart of the Sahel region, far from the sea and close to the Tropic of Cancer, Niger is a former French colony, independent since 1960, with a troubled political history that until recent years has seen a succession of coups and rebellions. The Tuaregs in Niger have risen up several times, most recently in 2007, often combining their rebellion with that of Malian Tuareg groups, in the name of virtually specular political and social demands.

Homo I (2014) by Eric Xavier Gnononfloun

The far north, which borders with Algeria, Libya and Chad, is a desert area, including a large stretch of the Sahara. Despite this lack of homogeneity, the country is growing at rates that would be the envy of any European country, thanks to foreign direct investment in construction (primarily the building of roads and dams), electricity, mining and oil. The first oil refinery in Zinder, for instance, was entirely financed by the China National Petroleum Corporation.

Flower Pot (2014) by Saidou Moumouni

In the country, however, the vast majority of the population continues to be employed in agriculture, subsistence farming on the 5% of its territory that is reached by the channels of water from the river Niger. For most families, having many children to help the parents with Art in the Desert the heavy work becomes a necessity. And this has contributed to the exponential growth of the population, now almost 17 million, with an average age of only 15 years: one of the highest fertility rates in the world and one of the lowest rates of schooling, because instead of studying, the children are working.

Flower Pot. Tray (2014) by Saidou Moumouni

Niger, however, is also a land of bewitching desert landscapes and ancient cities. In the north, the austere Aïr Mountains conceal Neolithic rock art and incredible oases. Among the dunes of the Ténéré (meaning desert in Tuareg), in the south central part of the Sahara, you can discover how the ancient legend of the “mountain of the snakes of stone, down there at the edge of nowhere”, reveals an extraordinary graveyard of dinosaurs: thousands of remains of a fauna that lived 150 million years ago, when the African desert was not yet desert.

Smoker in the Night in Chad (2014) by Simane Taifour Inza

To the south, the ancient town of Agadez, a crossroads for caravans along the trans-Saharan route, was founded around the fifteenth century and was ruled by the Blue People until the arrival of the French in 1890. The minaret of the Grand Mosque is both a symbol of the city and of the pride of a people. From its tip, at a height of 27 metres, you can enjoy a breathtaking view of the Aïr Mountains and the immensity of the desert, as well as the mud-brick dwellings and their semi-circular layout.

The Black Spring (2014) by Tanimaune Bolley Boko

This craftsmanship – including the well-respected work of the ‘artisans du cuir’ and the beautiful kunta blankets of the Djerma people, exclusive to Niger and created from strips of brightly coloured cotton – transcends the borders that divide it from artistic expression. So much so that in this Imago Mundi collection dedicated to Niger, as noted by the critic Enrico Mascelloni in his introduction, “the presence of ‘artisans’ (as they are often called) is much more massive than in any other African project. Of course, there are plenty of tout court artists – or those who have defined themselves in this way – but in most cases the border between the two categories is fluid”.