It is this Saturday that the Ifan Museum in Gorée will receive a work by the Moroccan artist and writer Mahi Binebine. “In the same boat”, a large canvas which forms the link between two tragedies of the African continent, emigration and slavery, was created especially by the artist to be offered to Senegal.Par Mame Woury THIOUBOU –
Until he was 4 years old, Mahi Binebine, a renowned Moroccan writer and painter, lived with a slave “inherited” from his grandfather. When at the age of 28 he decided to end his career as a mathematics teacher in France and turn to the art he always wanted to pursue, it was in the life of this woman that he found the story which propelled him straight into the world of writing. “I wrote this novel, The Slave’s Sleep, where I tell how she was raided in her native village, how she will be impregnated by the master, how they will want to take her child away, etc. Slavery has been abolished I don’t know how many times, but the last time in Morocco was in the 60s. And when we told them you are freed, it didn’t mean anything. They had no place to go, so they stayed in the houses and became grandfathers, grandmothers and servants too. I’ve experienced this since I was little. So the theme of slavery has always upset me.” Published in 1992, The Sleep of the Slave won the Prix Méditerranée the same year. This Wednesday, November 6, the signing of an agreement with the Fundamental Institute of Black Africa (Ifan) on which the Gorée Museum depends, confirms the donation of an emblematic painting which will be exhibited in Gorée. The exchange of signatures took place in Dakar just as the work finally arrived in the Senegalese capital. In the same boat represents a boat that the artist painted red. Inside the boat, tormented silhouettes, painted yellow. It took a three-day truck journey for the work to arrive in Dakar. The artist, accompanied by his family and France 24 journalist Fatimata Wane, with whom he set up the Marrakech African Book Festival (Flam), will present the work this Saturday at the Ifan Museum of Gorée which “carries in its veins the painful past of slavery”, in the words of Professor Alla Manga. “The work In the same boat resonates like a silent litany, a painful song that spans the ages. It is a poignant evocation of slavery and illegal emigration, two sides of the same coin, two eras separated by the illusion of time, but united by the tragic destiny of those who fight for their freedom. explains a press note.
“The slaves did not know where they were going, the others know…”
“I am happy to see this painting in this museum,” underlines the author, whose other favorite theme remains emigration. “I wrote Cannibale, where I tell the story of why young Africans want to go to Europe. It happens one night in Tangier, they are waiting for the smuggler and everyone tells their story. They come from several African countries and it is the confluence of several destinies and miseries. And so the boat connects the two stories. The slaves didn’t know where they were going, the others know, but it’s the same story.” The painting entitled In the same boat was made expressly by the author to be offered to Senegal. “Through this work, I want to say that all of humanity is embarked in the same fragile vessel, tossed by the waves of history. Whether the chains of slavery are made of iron or of despair, they still hinder the same aspirations for freedom. And that as long as men seek to flee oppression, the fight for a better world will continue to rage, on sea as on land. By celebrating this work In the same boat, we also celebrate this time of a new, proud and resilient Africa. May this work be an ode to our ability to overcome trials, to transform chains into opportunities and to sail together towards bright horizons. May the boat of our common humanity, nourished by the spirit of African solidarity, guide us towards shores of peace and shared prosperity,” writes the artist about his work.
According to the artist, whether it is illegal emigration or jihadism that he evoked in his work The Stars of Sidi Moumen adapted for the cinema by Nabil Ayouch (The Horses of God), the roots are the same . This explains the artist’s commitment to children. “With a filmmaker friend, we created cultural centers in slums. Each of these centers welcomes thousands of children and we educate them, we do the work that the State does not do. In 2003, 14 young people left a shantytown and blew themselves up all over Casablanca. We could have avoided that,” underlines Mr. Binebine. These 6 centers, located in particular in Tangier, Casablanca and Marrakech, should be extended to other cities in Morocco, but also to Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africa.
“In the same boat” at the Gorée Museum
According to Professor Alla Manga of Ifan, this generous donation is part of a major theme of Gorée, slavery. The painting will thus join the permanent collection of the Ifan Museum in Gorée. A gesture that must be celebrated according to Fatimata Wane, journalist at France 24 and co-founder with the artist of the Marrakech African Book Festival (Flam). The presentation of this work is, according to her, a celebration, a tribute “to this Africa that we want to unite”. The opening will thus give rise to a dialogue between the Moroccan artist and the Senegalese Kalidou Kassé, around a panel, under the gaze of the populations of Gorée.
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