The Stars of Pointe-Noire
It is not by chance that most people geographically identify the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Congo with their respective capital cities, Kinshasa and Brazzaville (separated by the Congo river, which in that area is wider than 4 km), as if the two countries had never entirely absorbed the geographic separation imposed by colonial policies at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Broken heart (2014) by Alain Serge Ouaboule
In reality, no political border has ever managed, and it will never manage, to really mark the limits of a huge area with such a wealth of mineral resources. The rushing waters of the great river have always united and kept together this land, gathering and liquefying the sap of the large African equatorial forest in a natural context that may be compared to the Amazon rainforest, although it is in a much more critical state in social and political terms. Here, the rush to hoard raw materials has swept away any form of social-political association, replacing it with private armies which look after the mineral interests of the rich countries in the world.
Linear (2014) by Awa Serinde Maggiolini
In Africa, we all know it, the ghosts of colonization enjoy a long life, both in positive and negative terms. If anything good has remained from the colonial experience, in the Congo this is certainly represented by the big funerary monument of Italian explorer Pietro Savorgnan di Brazzà, erected in the center of the capital city, as if it was its immortal guardian after founding it. Granted that there can be a dichotomy between good and bad colonization, there is no doubt that the purely philanthropic approach with which the Italian explorer, on behalf of France, created a first germ of French presence north of the Congo river at the end of the 19th century has had positive repercussions on the history of this country, which has so far enjoyed a rather peaceful social and political situation, in contrast to what happened in the former Belgian Congo at the hands of Henry Morton Stanley, on behalf of the king of Belgium.
Africa cries (2014) by Chance Gracia Nzouzi Ntangou
The art milieu of the former French Congo has certainly benefited from this relative social and political quietness. Two diΩerent art centers have developed in the two main cities of the country: the capital Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire. At the beginning of the ’50s, the Poto-Poto painting school was founded in Brazzaville. Its name comes from its location in one of the most working-class areas in the city (Poto-Poto means swamp) and its courtyard still hosts one of the tallest trees in the entire city area. It almost symbolizes the union between art, nature, people and the landscape which has always characterized the approach of the school.
Trace (2014)
by Chansard Lebon Ziavoula
When, in 1948, French painter Pierre Lods came to Brazzaville for the first time he had no intention of founding an art school. He simply wanted to move to one of the poorest neighborhoods (Poto-Poto) and look for a more authentic inspiration, surrounding himself with people, music and dancing, and trying to get rid of any classic academic influence.
Crossroads of interests (2014)
by Christian Louzahadio Loukombo
However, his presence did not go unnoticed among local painters, who began to visit the French painter’s workshop and thrilled him with their energy, their use of color and perception of daily life. From that moment on, these elements would characterize the spirit of the school and are still part of the sense of cultural and economic sharing (all
artists give 30% of their sale revenues to the school) which unites all its members.
The walk (2014)
by Edgara Fayette
As for Pointe-Noire, now the economically most important city in the country, in 1925 it was a fishermen’s village on the Atlantic Ocean with no more than 5,000 inhabitants and no ways of communication with the rest of the country, until the Brazzaville Pointe-Noire railway was built to transport goods from the capital city through the equatorial forest and to the nearest coast.
Untitled (2014)
by Elio‐Nel Chancelvi Mampouya (Elio‐Nel)
This city, which currently has more than one million inhabitants, has gone through a devastating demographic and urban development since the first oil deposits were discovered oΩ the Atlantic coast and the main oil companies built their headquarters here. On the top of their buildings are huge satellite dishes in constant communication with the rest of the world and in stark contrast with the relaxed pace of Africa.
Untitled (2014) by Elio‐Nel Chancelvi Mampouya (Elio‐Nel)
This new gold rush, which has distorted the landscape and unsettled people, has also had an inevitable repercussion on the local art scene, as the main buyers of city artists are the managers and employees of oil companies, who are notoriously little inclined to absorb what little has remained of the local culture. But just like African nature, which has always had the power to take back what Westerners had stolen from it, the deeply popular soul of local African artists has miraculously survived these cultural wounds with all its heritage of subjects, colors and magic.
The break (2014)
by Guillerment Dalman Anaelle Miemoubanda
In a working-class neighborhood in Pointe-Noire, where there are no art schools or exhibition areas for local artists other than the steps of the old colonial post office, there is one artist whose grandeur is somehow reminiscent of the
huge tree overlooking the building of the Poto-Poto painting school.
Eating the world (2013)
by Maximilian Donogou Ribas Alemond (Max)
Under the tree (2014)
by Jose Davier Louemba
Since the ’80s Frédéric Trigo Piula – who was born in Brazzaville in 1952 and moved to Pointe-Noire during the economic boom of the city – has tried to combine African contemporary art with the canons and techniques of European art to give birth to new art forms which could be modern in a Western way, without disowning the history of African art.
Communication (2014) by Jean Bruno Lickiby
The art of Trigo Piula combines memories of African traditions, seen from the eyes of an observer who could be a Westerner, and echoes of European traditions seen from the perspective of an African person. By looking at his works, it is difficult to say whether they are the creation of a Westerner who is depicting Africa, or of an African artist who is describing the West. Better than anyone else, Trigo Piula has demonstrated he has understood the West without moving away from his Africa. In a way, he blends the art traditions of the two continents in an attempt to leave what he has defined “a trace”.
Time limit (2014) by Roland Jeangil Kangou
If it is true, as Trigo Piula has written, that “art is the trace we leave on the Earth”, it is equally true that to him art is especially magic: a symbolic magic which feeds on fantasy and imagination, without forgetting the teachings of the great masters of Western art, from Leonardo to Magritte. Like the stars in the night of Pointe-Noire blend in with the lights of the oil platforms, thus creating new constellations, the art of Trigo Piula, with its dreamlike presumptuousness, renews the eternal ability of Africa to amaze the Western soul.
Fabrizio Dal Santo Curator
Mask of joy (2014)
by Rolian Adam Opou
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.