Galerie Cécile Fakhoury is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in Abidjan of the artist Rachel Marsil, Le goût de la mangue [The taste of mango].
"In one of her best-known and most fascinating essays, All About Love (1), the American writer bell hooks explains that love is a verb of action. In her search for a definition of love, she takes up that of the psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, who defines it as "the will to extend oneself in order to nourish one's own spiritual growth or that of others". So love is not just a feeling, it's a choice and a voluntary act. It materialises in the creation of a caring, respectful and honest environment. More than just aesthetic harmony, the characters painted by Rachel Marsil seem to commune with depth, whether they are couples, friends or sisters dressed as twins. And the fruit of love here takes the form of a mango, which we're not sure is the forbidden fruit, so reluctant are the women who seize it to taste its flavour, preferring to keep it as a precious object. "
Extract from the exhibition text by Aby Gaye
(1) bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions, Harper Collins, 2000
