In Ivory Coast, a form of street art is well known to all Abidjan residents: the paintings that adorn gbakas, these low-cost minibuses, but also certain “Wôrô-wôrô”, collective taxis. An art practiced with the same techniques as graffiti, but for which drivers are ready to pay the price. Report at N’Guess Décor, one of the reference workshops in the town of Yopougon.
With our correspondent in Abidjan, Marine Jeannin
Brahoua N’Guessan, 30 years in the business, has chosen to call his establishment a garage, even if he does not do any repairs: if half a dozen gbakas are parked here permanently, it is good for beautification their bodywork. An essential marketing asset in this very competitive sector, explains driver Ibrahim Konaté, who comes to have his vehicle repainted twice a year. “ A lot of gbakas have that, eh. You yourself are the driver, when you see [la peinture]you are happy. I like it a lot, and so do the customers. They say it’s pretty, that’s why we do the decor. When you paint your car, it attracts customers. »
Applying oil paint with brushes or paint guns, Brahoua N’Guessan’s twenty employees and apprentices work to order. The most fashionable motifs are portraits of footballers, like Simon Adingra, the Ivorian CAN star, or singers, DJ Arafat or Fally Ipupa, but also, more surprisingly, of Che Guevara. Almost never politicians, on the other hand, who would risk dividing the clientele. Drivers can also have their nickname or motto written among the most common: “ It is God who gives », « Mom thank you » or « It’ll be OK ».
An informal profession
As for the prices, they vary depending on the model, details the boss of the “garage”. “ It depends on the reasons customers request. For example, if we have to do a portrait at the back, it will cost at least 40,000 CFA francs (61,28 euros). If we have to decorate the car completely after the portrait, with small designs, it can cost around 50,000 CFA francs (76,60 euros). People approach us because our job is clean, as they say in the jargon. When you finish painting, it’s pretty to see. That’s why we have a lot of customers. »
The profession is completely informal, with great disparities in level between artists. The secret to the success of “N’Guess Décor” is a long and meticulous apprenticeship, underlines Mohamed Camara, who has worked here for 17 years. “ There are decorators who are there, they don’t have a certain level, but they get up to do the decor because they tell themselves that there is money in it. Otherwise, they don’t know how to do the job, but they’re in it, it’s because they need the money, that’s all. Otherwise, there are people [comme nous]and we are there and we know the job. We are the first in Ivory Coast, so we are there all the time. We learned our job well. »
After several years of training, apprentices generally leave to open their own workshop. But Mohamed Camara hopes to stay in Brahoua N’Guessan’s “garage”, and take over from his master.
