Titled “Maa ka Maaya ka ca a yere kono—On Multiplicity, Difference, Becoming and Heritage”, this edition is an invitation to reflect collectively on these multiplicities of being and differences, to go beyond the notion to be unique and to embrace composite, layered and fragmented identities, as well as multiple, complex and non-linear understandings of space and time.
The Bamako Encounters will pay a powerful tribute to the spaces in between, to that which defies definition, to phases of transition, to being this and that or neither and both, to becoming, and to difference and divergence in all their shades. Accordingly, Amadou Hampâté Bâ’s statement (Aspects de la civilisation africaine, Éditions Présence Africaine, 1972) presiding over the manifestation, Maa ka Maaya ka ca a yere kono, translates to, “the persons of the person are multiple in the person.”
The exhibition is conceived in five chapters referencing Aimé Césaire’s seminal poem “Unmaking and Remaking the Sun” and relating to the theme of this 13th edition and the artistic selection About seventy-five 75 artists from the African world will present their works.
Chapter 1
dwelling made of not knowing which way to turn
— On Land, Placeness and Spaceness —
Chapter 2
dwelling made of fan fingers
— On Multiplicities of Identities, Beings and Becomings —
Chapter 3
dwelling made of mustard seeds
— Of Living Cultures, Presences and Continuities of Heritages —
Chapter 4
dwelling made of fallen angel feathers
— On Dispersals, Connectedness and the Performativity
of Languages and Histories —
Chapter 5
dwelling made of rainstorms of the deluge
— Of Flows, Transitions and Supranaturality —
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The sites
The official exhibition will be presented at the: National Museum of Mali, African House of Photography, Bamako Railway Station, Bamako District Museum, Modibo Keita Memorial, French Institute of Mali, Galerie Medina and the Ba Aminata Diallo Girls High School.
