By Robin Riskin
Fatou Kandé Senghor is a guerrilla art thriller, film award winner, and lady photographer killer.
Fatou Kandé Senghor prefers to exhibit in public spaces not typically perceived as “art” settings – markets, weddings, naming ceremonies, hip hop shows.
Whether she is invading a hip hop show in Pikine, Dakar with photography and film projections, collaborating with Wim Wenders on the short movie, ‘The Invisible,’ or exhibiting photographs at Okwui Enwezor’s “Snap Judgments” at the International Center of Photography, Kandé Senghor is a bold and passionate artist whose work speaks to the human condition. Her projects span film, photography, writing, and public installation, and touch upon issues of politics, economies, and communities. She is coming out with on a book on hip hop and a public project on dance as a form of expression. While galleries and curators seek out her work, she often prefers to exhibit in public spaces not typically perceived as “art” settings – markets, weddings, naming ceremonies, to name a few. She likes to be where the people are.
“I make art that will challenge our expectations, make us accept our mutations, and then open up platforms for dialogue,” she said in an interview at her colorfully painted Waru Studio in Dakar. “I make my point in a way that can’t be avoided, so they’ll have to acknowledge my existence, strength, and power.”
Kandé Senghor: “I make my point in a way that can’t be avoided, so they’ll have to acknowledge my existence, strength, and power.”
Many of Kandé Senghor’s works address issues of gender and women’s position in society. While ultimately she is interested “in people, in the world,” she said, “I am doing women first because gender is linked to everything.”
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