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Paul Dakeyo, Cameroonian poet: "Let the African states support the edition"

Poet from Cameroon, Paul Dakeyo was the guest of honor Akwaba Culture for the award Ivoire for Francophone African literature. Between commitment and struggle for his people''live and dream of light,''he is an advocate of the book industry in Africa.

Do you think it is important now that Africa has other literary prizes?

Yes. To the extent that we had the Grand Prix of black Africa, the President's Award of the Republic to Senegal and here and there, some unknown price. In establishing the Prize Ivoire Akwaba culture is given the chance to authors of the continent to participate in their hatching. It is a means of promoting books and African literature in Africa and beyond Africa.

In time African poet, what do you look today in your texts?

I started writing in high school like any African. I could publish when I was at university in Paris. I write today to say Africa altogether. To say what happens to sing love to boast of friendship, singing fraternity. It is the goal of writing for me.

What is the role of writing in Africa?

words continent. What continent is not left lagging behind other continents. It changes how the world works like any other. If there is democracy and development in others, there is no reason why there is not here. If a French publisher is able to do a book, there is no reason that in Africa we are not able to do the same in the same graphic quality. The writer must have a word that is involved in educating the people. He expressed the economy, the imagination of African people. It transmits the contemporary world today what he knows, what he has learned what is ours.

Are you listening to by African leaders?

Certainly not. Because I have a few people I worked with when they were in opposition. And now they are in business, there is a bifurcation. I'm waiting for a head of state say: we must support the publishing house. I expect not give me a check. That takes into account the work being done. Tell me, for example, a play by Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize in Literature 1986, setting the curriculum. It would be an important support for the survival of the publisher.

Finally, do not you think that what Africans away from the book is the question of language? Do we not sign long term, to write in our language?

In Cameroon in the years of independence, there were lessons in language local region. I who am Bamileke, I was in the coastal countries in Douala. I learned to count and combine in Douala. Unfortunately, the experiment did not last. Is political will. This is not the people who must impose it. When you go to a public school, the program is not established by the parents, but by the government.

What is your literary news and what do you specifically for the book in Africa?

I wrote about Soweto in 1976, published in 1977. I have written other texts in love. I hired a component, a component of personal, autobiographical. I am especially in publishing. I have a project for the creation of a large publisher with Pan-African broadcasting opportunities. I practice a policy of selling books at discounted prices for Africa. I installed a publishing house in Dakar. It is a struggle. We can not conduct other than home. I did put the price of all the big books of authors Senegal to 5,000 CFA francs.

What advice do you give for a better dissemination of the book in Africa?

There was, in Africa, African cultural centers. All these centers have disappeared. The only places where we can go recharge is the inevitable French cultural center. We must have our places where we can find our productions.

What are your views on literature with rose water, which invaded the continent?

is a matter of education and intellectual. Each produces what he wants. Me, I'll write about what I see, what I saw, what I want to live. But I will not write about the rain and time. The book is a product like a sardine. So if we can sell this literature rose water, why not (why not).

Interview by Sanou A.

Foliculitis (fotos E Imagenes)

Conference Contemporary Art: Artists, critics and professionals cross swords

"The role of contemporary art in Africa and the world: the role of local structures. This theme met last Tuesday, artists, art critics and art professionals at the Charles Donwahi, the Deux Plateaux. A heated debate allowed each other to have a clear the role each must play in the emergence of a truly national art and African.

define the outline of a polysemic term understood and interpreted differently by the creators. Contemporary art. That's what it is, it was not easy to elucidate, on Tuesday in the Charles Donwahi to Cocody Deux Plateaux. According to Webster's is contemporary which is the same time, which is our time. Contemporary art, so to speak, is apprehended as a whole works time and a place.

Contemporary art by artists and professionals

Professor Yacouba Konate, gallery owner and art critic, president of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), noted the subjective nature of the notion. For him, it is the size of a work which it is contemporary or not. That is to say what they watch and how to show it. "Often, just a staging for a work that is traditional or contemporary. There is the side of the stage design. What matters is not the convenient nature of the thing, but it is the ability to go as far as possible with his own creative power, "he said. In sum, a freedom given to artists who can combine sculpture, paintings, photos, videos or what they want. In the same vein, Simon Njami, curator and art critic international special guest, instead of defining contemporary art, and focused instead on a contemporary artist says. "A contemporary artist is one with whom I can have a drink after exposure," he simplified. But did he questioned, what is it that something is being done now is it today? At this level, he thinks that the sensitivity which emerges to face such a work, will play for many. "There may be people who were born the same year as me. Which are the same age as me, but that I do not contemporaries. Beyond semantics, the contemporary is something that speaks to me. This can be a sculpture, painting or installation, "he clarified. Faced with so many freedoms offered by the concept, the public has raised points of shadow. If the notion of contemporary art is so subjective, how is the selection works for exhibitions around the world and other biennials. Clearly, that recognizes that? Who does what? How should he enter the mold to be recognized as a contemporary designer? At this level, the answer may seem arbitrary, however, is clear. "There is no kind of objectivity in my choices," said Mr. Njami, curator. He said the special collections is that each commissioner is free to look for works that he feels. "There are many ways of seeing. There is not one that is better than the other. Often we do like that sound. This is not because something makes noise it is better than others, "he said. Hence the role that should have structures to promote art in existence. "We need people here know what is happening here. Doing so would be a good fight. Because it is much better armed if one defines oneself as if one was defined by someone else. " Calix Angama, promotion director at the Ministry of Culture and Francophonie has guided his thinking on the need for synergies between structures and actors in the local system.

A museum of art Contemporary

The issue of building a museum of contemporary art, however, returned. For the director of the Rotunda of Contemporary Arts, Yacouba Konate, a museum or institution of another shape may be a memory for our children. Because he was convinced that we must fill our mental space of personalities that made the heyday of the art home. In the sense that an artist does not only by what he does. But also by his status. "The Ivorians must be ashamed that there are no incentive structures in place. Without support, we can not organize anything. In about art, we are not recent, has pestered Augustine Kassi artist. He denounced the inertia of the ministry. Making his contribution, Eric Agnéro journalist, said that the issue of aid to art remains on hold because those who run state agencies, responsible for the promotion of art, have not been educated in the sense . "A minister or a leader who has spent his life without seeing a show, without drawing at school, can not appreciate a work of art," he thinks. To him, we must introduce art into the habits of people "Art is trade. As such, the creation of a socio-political framework conducive to business should be put in place. " A tax exemption for purchases of works of art would be a contribution to the promotion of local creations and an element of attraction for foreign buyers, he said, going in the same straight line that the photographer Franck Fanny. In sum, the debate was lively and varied. He has to know what the creators believe how African and what they share. A forum that has fostered a convergence of views. "We must stop complaining and arrange to bring people home. The instances are there, they have to be anime. We must get together for Africa to move, "said Simon Njami.

Sanou A .

Shades Of Chocolate Brown Hair Charts

Openings, Exhibitions: Painters Ivorian they live from their art? Mythical

The Ivory Coast is full of artists of quality by the specificity of their writing and the diversity of their styles. Luminaries who in the end, face many financial problems if they decide that live from their art.

Michel Kodjo, Youssouf Bath, Augustin Kassi Kadio James Hurrah, Monébou, Jacobleu, Essoh N'Guessan, Theodore Koudougnon, Sossa Kouassi, Mathilde Moro ..., names more or less known to the general public. And yet they do useful work in our society by their respective styles. Solo and grouped, openings abroad, participation in workshops and open studios, these artists are the pride of the Côte d'Ivoire artistic worldwide. And the mere mention of their names arouses admiration and respect. But beside the reputation they have, many authors fail to live from their art. On the question, the one who made the first solo exhibition of works of art in Côte d'Ivoire, Michel Kodjo, is clear: "no one eats in Côte d'Ivoire of its works." The dean of the painters, the sad reality is the result of the artistic policy at the highest state level. "Authorities believe it is for us as we paint. They believe that the promotion of art is to enrich ourselves, "he says indignantly. "Physically, I'm negative. It the little money I receive as a pension which allows me to live, "he says. European tourists on whom he could count on to sell some works are scarce in Grand-Bassam, where he lives, since the 2002 crisis.

It does not create money

The artist translates the subjects he sees or imagines it on canvas, wood, glass, cardboard etc.. Thus, it is a criticism of our customs. Necessarily disturbing. This reflects that Michael Kodjo is convinced of one thing: an artist does not create money. "The meaning of art is the basis of humanity. It is culture that develops the elements of a civilization. True art nourishes the mind, debases mercantile, he encourages himself. Soro Zana, president of the Association of Visual Artists of Côte d'Ivoire (APLAC), less a philosopher than Kodjo, the painter of Grand-Bassam, acknowledged the difficulty to live only for creating tables. What makes the opening on the teaching offered to artists after their training, a pledge. "After studying at the Beaux-Arts education is a financial guarantee" he admits. For him, if there are statistics to only 2% of Ivorian artists can afford to live in their creation. Joseph Koffi, gallery owner, sees it another way. He thinks that many designers lack confidence in them. "An artist can have talent and do not believe it. Therefore, it looks for other resources and content with her salary. He can not, at this moment to pass data to produce academic and earn money, "he argues.

When the artist wants to do everything

All creation is for sale. To do this, the more we create, the more you earn enough money. For Joseph Koffi, "the designer must design and laissez-faire. That is to say the opportunity for sales professionals to enhance the work on the market. "We can not be creator and seller. We must separate the two. Anyone who tried to do, have had problems, "he says. This criticism relates generally to the pioneers. The gallery maintains that the listing of an artist comes from his participation in workshops, open studios, solo and grouped in prestigious locations. At the time, the show''Coup gun''of the hotel ivory was the reference in the matter. Soro Zana became convinced that it is difficult for an artist to make a single class or have a good rating. And another: "The Picasso today do not have the same value as the lifetime of the author. Van Gogh paintings exchanged cons of bread. While they are assessed, these days, hundreds of millions. " Where a call for cultural managers in Côte d'Ivoire to enhance production of national creation. "This is the name that sells, not the product, support Youssouf Bath, a of the finest brushes Côte d'Ivoire, resident Dabou. For him, the promotion of Ivorian stars must pass through the creation of a museum of contemporary art. "The state, which organizes exhibitions and selects the best works to conserve," said the painter. "But he regrets, the guarantors of the Ministry of Culture did not even care about." At promoting Ivorian culture to the outside, there are few patrons. The most active to date, is Professor Yacouba Konate, gallery and art critic, which allows artists to exhibit in Europe. Locally, some galleries are able to bring out young talent. This is the case Houkami Design, initiator of the Grand Prix Guy Nairay creativity. But trying too hard to sell, it runs the risk not to practice the art to become artisans.

From art to crafts, a short step

Some paintings by Ivorian trade on millions of CFA francs. A Augustin Kassi or Hooray James Kadio not reflected at all corners. "I do not produce more than three paintings per year. I have paintings that I started years ago that are not completed. When I get to do it, it is not tens of thousands that I sell, "says Augustin Kassi. Strong demand and the scarcity of an author's works is reflected on the purchase price. In turn, the abundance of paintings by an author devalues them. According to Youssouf Bath, a painting is unique. What is telling to Michel Kodjo that: "Every mode of expression is not art." And continue, "Lying is fine, the truth is beautiful. The man is lying. Many things that result, are false, the copy ". The reproduction of works of visual style and gangrene as the world of painting. Up to place the bottom of the table forged the name of a famous author. So, can we find the Michel Kodjo, Mathilde Moro or Sossa Kouassi to 10,000 CFA francs at a crossroads of Abidjan. A situation that gnaws the real creators, condemned to always find other activities to have a decent standard of living.

Sanou A.