Meschac Gaba
Le Monde
Le Monde documents Meschac Gaba's solo exhibition of the same title, and includes short texts by the artist on each of the works. These include the 'flag' pieces, which began with a commission for We Face Forward, a survey exhibition of art from West Africa and its diaspora in Manchester in 2012. Gaba fused the flags of all the West African countries together with the flag of the United Kingdom, so that it became 'a symbol of unity, of solidarity and friendship'. A subsequent flag, made for the 2012 Benin Biennale, was a composite of the flags of all the countries in the world, while Voyages used the flags of countries or organisations with worldwide influence - among them the European Union, United Nations and Nato - to make bundles tied to wooden canes, like pilgrims' sticks. Other works include Gaba's Musée de l'Art de la Vie Active: Bibliothèque Roulante, in which short quotations on contemporary art were reproduced on the licence plates of motorbike taxi drivers in Cotonou, and Le Monde en Miniature et la Mode en Miniature, a 'shop display' of babies' and children's clothes with disturbing phrases embroidered on them - 'a quiet reminder of phenomena in our society that turn children into vulnerable victims'.
Published by Stevenson | Catalogue 73, July 2013
Softcover, 24 pages | Unavailable
