The exhibition Esoteric Writings is an invitation to a personal interpretation of singular artworks from all quarters of the African continent. It brings together nearly thirty artists with as many visual and sound expressions that derive their essence from mythology, cosmology, or mysticism, each inspired by the culture of origin of its creator.

So, from the souiri painters of Essaouira (Mohammed Tabal, Ali Maimoun, Regragui Bouslaï) to the Oshogbo school – at the centre of Yoruba civilisation – as represented by Prince Twins Seven-Seven, not to mention the Poto-Poto school from which Marcel Gotène (Congo) emerged as a major figure, Esoteric Writings reconfigures the fantastic, symbolic, and spiritual universe as if to reconstruct a secular past through powerful visual allegories.

Esoteric Writings presents a group of creators from multiple backgrounds, working in diverse mediums yet born of the same land, and in so doing proposes to reveal the hidden underpinnings of their common history.

EL ANATSUI – JOËL ANDRIANOMEARISOA – FARID BELKAHIA – ABDELMALEK BERKHISS – REGRAGUI BOUSLAI – FRÉDÉRIC BRULY BOUABRÉ – AHMED CHIHA – EMO DE MEDEIROS – ABDELLAH EL ATRACH – MOHAMED EL BAZ – JOHN GOBA – MARCEL GOTÈNE – HASSAN HAJJAJ – AISSA IKKEN – ABDOULAYE KONATÉ – BOUJEMÂA LAKHDAR – AHMED LOUARDIRI – ALI MAIMOUN – NAJIA MEHADJI – HOUSSEIN MILOUDI – ZINA SARO-WIWA – MOHAMED TABAL – PRINCE TWINS SEVEN-SEVEN – DOMINIQUE ZINKPÈ

© Saad Alami