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On est ensemble (We are together) © Adama Kouyate

On est ensemble (We are together)
© Adama Kouyaté, January 1967 / Black Shades Project

Renowned artist Sammy Baloji (b.1978, Lubumbashi)

Renowned artist Sammy Baloji (b.1978, Lubumbashi) was a visiting artist at the Villa Medici during the 2019-2020 residency year. The prestigious French Academy in Rome has been supporting artists and researchers from various disciplines and fields since 1803. When it comes to his fellowship experience, Baloji has mixed emotions, as the global health crisis had quite a negative impact on his original project.

“I applied for the visual arts fellowship with a project linked to Rome and certain art objects housed at the Luigi Pigorini National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography. This museum conserves the oldest Congolese pieces (15th and 16th centuries) ever included in an international collection. To gain access to these artifacts, an entire protocol had been put into place, which the museum’s closing due to the pandemic made impossible (a situation that was still in effect by the end of my residency this summer). I had wanted to approach the 15th century, the encounter with the European continent and the establishment of slavery and the slave trade, by questioning the hierarchy of races.

The full article is available in our latest issue. Click the link in bio to order the 6th issue of MOYI.

Photos:
Sammy Baloji, Mfuba's extract, 2020
Chronological list of collection and classification of Kongo objects in Italy between 1450 and 1922. A research and artistic creation project carried out in collaboration with the art historian Lucrezia Cippitelli.
Ⓒ Daniele Molajoli / Académie de France à Rome – Villa Médicis

Portrait ofe Sammy Baloji
© Collection Grand Palais, photo Didier Plowy

Serving as headquarters for the French Academy in

Serving as headquarters for the French Academy in Rome (founded in 1666 by Louis XIV), the Villa Medici has been welcoming artists-in-residence since 1803.
This institution, nestled on seventeen acres of greenery, has housed many illustrious residents including Berlioz, Ingres, Fragonard, and Balthus, in addition to many other lesser-known artists.
MOYI recently met three talented African artists who had the opportunity of living and working at the Villa Medici in recent years.

The first one was Narcisse, the Reborn Resident (Resident Fellow at Villa Medici, 2017-2018)

When we met him, he was no longer Moussa Sarr. He was now Narcisse, a persona borrowed from Ovid’s Metamorphoses: a narrative poem rich in lessons still relevant today in shedding light on certain political and social currents. This initial character concept led to the artist’s symbolic death and his subsequent rebirth. The matter of identity was, of course, central.
His stay in Rome acted as a sort of reset button—the result: a blank page.

The complete feature is available in the last issue of MOYI, available via the link in bio

Photography: @tyssia

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