" I see - in a very personal way - Elladj's work as a contemporary exploration of the body. We're not in the business of revalorizing historical visual heritage, but rather a proposition to create gentle imagery. This gentle struggle brings to mind the words of Edouard Glissant: “Where systems and ideologies have failed, and without in any way renouncing the refusal and struggle you must wage in your own particular place, let us extend the imaginary far and wide, through an infinite bursting and repetition of the themes of métissage, multilingualism and creolization."
On the occasion of his exhibition Au-delà du jardin, il y a la mer [Beyond the garden is the sea] presented at Galerie Cécile Fakhoury - Abidjan, from October 5 to December 28, 2024, I share with you snippets from two phone conversations, between Bassam and Basel, on Tuesday August 22, 2023 and Thursday September 12, 2024.
Ange-Frédéric Koffi: Do you already have a title in mind?
Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux: Yes, Au delà du jardin, il y a la mer. I didn't want a frontal title. By talking about the beyond, I'm really inviting the viewer to briefly go beyond the garden as a passage, a journey, a wandering, which is reflected in the scenography. That's why there's this woman sitting on an Akan chair in front of the window, her head turned to the right in the direction of the exhibition. The wooden curtain adorning the work acts as an introduction, inviting us to open or discover. “Briefly”, yes, because it's also my story. I go from one territory to another. I don't want to do an exhibition entirely about the garden or even the sea. I prefer the idea of a metaphor in tandem with the visual aspect. We also find these window scenes from one canvas to another as in from one territory to another. I evoke Morne à l'eau in Guadeloupe (the commune where I grew up), Dakar, coastal towns or even former port cities like Grand-Bassam, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. These different spaces are my places of residence, those in which I've lived, they're my “home”, places of encounter and creation, my “secret garden” or intimate garden. It's there that I've made encounters that have marked my career.
AFK: But ultimately, why painting ?
ELD: Why? For me, it's a question of the verb. By verb, I mean the words, situations and actions that accompany us throughout our lives. I'm sensitive to the verb “to heal”, but it's above all the verb “to create” that imposes itself on me, with primordial force. It precedes everything and announces a foreword. First of all, as you know, I have a scientific background in medical biology, then in food quality and safety. For a year, I worked as a qualitician, exploring the links between the visible and invisible worlds that surround us, on macro and microscopic scales. Little by little, art came to me: how do you translate a text written in another universe? It's a beautiful way to work on paper. So I started with drawing, performance, photography and installation, but it was really with painting that I found my preferred medium. Each canvas, each brushstroke, is like a page that unfolds, revealing a chapter in our understanding of the world. Indeed, painting allows me to interpret my perception of the universe, to explore but also to question reality, to express myself through personal and collective experiences.
AFK: Your paintings make subtle references to the history of the domestic. Are your various historical nods due to your training at the Beaux-arts in Paris, and the history of the academy?
ELD: At Beaux-arts, I was immersed in cultural references and Western art history. At the same time, I'm interested in references, art history and spirituality from Africa and its diasporas. My process is at once one of documentation, connection and experimentation; I often work with matrimonial images, found objects or objects bequeathed to me by my family, such as the lace in the doily series (2024). These objects weave together different generations and territories. Within my canvases, there's this constant mix of references. They intersect and merge to create something unique. This process can be defined by Edouard Glissant's creolization.
I collaborated with my sister Orlane (interior architect and furniture designer) on a set of modular, handcrafted exhibition furnishings such as the folding screen with pivoting rattan canvases, the sliding rattan panel and the entire scenography. We called on the traditional skills of Grand-Bassam craftsmen. The materials used, such as rattan and wood, are native to West Africa. Working with local artisans and materials is important to me, as it enables me to forge links with the local scene as well as develop new techniques and skills, and discover the traditions and values of the region. Above all, I try not to confine myself! In fact, my understanding of the world drives me to discover and experiment. That's why I'm starting to explore new forms of collaboration. Whether it's with my sister, craftsmen, artists like you or the photographer Nuits Balnéaires. Like the concept of creolization, my work is made up of different cultural references that feed off each other.
AFK: For the exhibition you're presenting at the gallery this autumn, the scenography of your paintings is an important element. Can you explain why scenography has become such an important part of your production process?
ELD: As with my previous show at Art Basel and my forthcoming show at the Dakar Biennale, scenography is part of my creative process. Now that I'm settled in Côte d'Ivoire and have a dedicated space, I wanted to push the scenography further. The initial idea was that of vernacular villages, with their fractal and circular compositions. Having grown up mainly in the West, I wanted to reinterpret the “white cube”. During my recent travels in Africa (Morocco, Cameroon, Rwanda), I was greatly inspired by traditional architecture and its various meanings: sacred, spiritual, cultural and communal.
The spiral path of the scenography represents infinity and interconnection. Dwellings or houses are arranged in a circle around a central space, often a gathering place or sanctuary found in the dome.
AFK: What was your purpose for this exhibition?
ELD: Through a window and beyond, in each of these paintings, there is the sea. For me, the sea is a place of gathering, it makes the connection between different territories. Back home in the West Indies, there's also the concept of the “Creole garden”, which reflects a unique combination of cultures and influences, resulting from the meeting of African, European, Native American and Asian traditions. This exhibition is a meditation on the mental architecture that each of us can construct for ourselves based on our memories, emotions and experiences. Like an introspective voyage, beyond the intimate garden, I want to take viewers to the vast, infinite horizon of the sea, where identities dissolve and reinvent themselves. As they wander, a dialogue forms between past and present, here and elsewhere.
