Souleymane Keïta

Galerie Cécile Fakhoury is pleased to present a Dakar preview of the first monographic publication dedicated to the Senegalese artist, Souleymane Keïta (1947-2014) on Saturday May 18 from 11am. The monograph launch takes place in conjunction with the exhibition Et je renais à la terre qui fut ma mère, conceived in collaboration with the Collection Jom - Dakar.

Produced by Editions Cécile Fakhoury, in close collaboration with the artist's family, this monograph focuses on the painting work of this exceptional artist, whose life was divided between New York, Dakar and the Island of Gorée. The fruit of extensive collective research, both in the archives and in the field, as well as extensive restoration work on works belonging to the family collection, this book is intended to provide a precise, in-depth introduction to the work and life of Souleymane Keïta. It features over 130 reproductions of works, mainly paintings, most of them previously unpublished, dating from the 1970s to 2010. It is enriched by texts by specialists and those close to the artist: Demba Cissokho, Joshua Cohen, Maureen Murphy, Sylvain Sankalé and his daughter Saran Keïta. Finally, archival photographs and enlarged views of the materiality of his powerful, immersive painting further immerse us in the world of this extraordinary artist.

In 2007, Aminata Diaw, philosopher and professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, wrote: "Souleymane Keïta... A name, an itinerary, a style, a way of painting, a lesson in life. His work finds its strength in the uncertainty that serves as its original impulse, transforming painting into an aesthetic and existential experience. Painting becomes an encounter with life, an experience of the soul through shapes, colors, matter, emotions... a quest for the self. "