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Pélagie GbaguidiAcide2023acrylic and embroidery on cotton204 x 113 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiGuerre et sentiments2023wax pastel and coloured pencil on paper36,7 x 55 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiLe jour se lève: Double Check2021acrylic and pigment on canvas211 x 136,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiLe jour se lève: Ritual & Green2021acrylic and pigment on canvas204 x 139 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiChaine Humaine2022wax pastel and coloured pencil on paper36,5 x 27,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiChaine Humaine2022wax pastel and coloured pencil on paper55 x 36,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiChaine Humaine2022wax pastel, grease and coloured pencil on paper55 x 36,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiChaine Humaine2022wax pastel, wool and coloured pencil on paper36,5 x 27,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiCare2020embroidery on medical leaflet16,5 x 12 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiCare2020dry pastel and coloured pencil on paper29 x 21 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiCare2020dry pastel and coloured pencil on paper36,5 x 27,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiCare2020dry pastel and coloured pencil on paper27,5 x 36,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiCare2020dry pastel, coloured pencil and wool on paper36,5 x 27,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiDisconnection2019acrylic on used tarpaulin from Lubumbashi197 x 152 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiCare2019 - 2020embroidery on flour sack243,5 x 175 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiArchive Something Is Wrong2019mixed technique, embroidery and acrylic on cotton202 x 117,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiArchive Something Is Wrong2019mixed technique, embroidery and acrylic on cotton203 x 114,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiDe-Fossilization Of The Look, Dialogue With Madonna Del Parto2018pigment and mixed media on canvas198 x 254,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiDe-Fossilization Of The Look, Dialogue With Madonna Del Parto2018pigment and mixed media on canvas193 x 251 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiThe Missing Link. Dicolonisation Education By Mrs Smiling Stone2017 - 2021mixed mediavariable dimensions
Pélagie GbaguidiNaked Writing2016coloured charcoal and coloured pencil on paper29 x 21 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiIcon in Progress: XL2015 - 2016acrylic and pigment on canvas249 x 151 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiIcon in Progress2015 - 2016acrylic and pigment on canvas263 x 152,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiIcon in Progress: After Marron2015 - 2016acrylic and pigment on canvas156 x 249 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiIcon in Progress: Milk2015acrylic and pigment on canvas255 x 151,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiIcon in Progress: After the Pink2015pigment, water, oil stick, acrylic and graphite on canvas250 x 152 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiIcon in Progress: Exit2015pigment, water, oil stick, acrylic and graphite on canvas262 x 152 cm
CHALEUR HUMAINE – TRIENNALE ART & INDUSTRIE
FRAC Grand Large, Dunkirk, France June 10, 2023 - January 14, 2024
DE-FOSSILIZATION OF THE LOOK
Mimosa House, London, United Kingdom June 23 - October 15, 2023
FAIS QUE TON RÊVE SOIT PLUS LONG QUE LA NUIT
Musée d'Art Contemporain de la Haute-Vienne, Rochechouart, France March 3 - June 11, 2023
Work by Pélagie Gbaguidi is now part of the collection of KANAL-Centre Pompidou. The museum recently acquired two major works by the artist: Care (2019 - 2020) and The Missing Link. Dicolonisation Education by Mrs. Smiling Stone (2017 - 2021) which was on view at dOCUMENTA 14.
Pélagie Gbaguidi is now part of the collection of Kunstmuseum Basel, Kupferstichkabinett. The Hüni-Michel-Stiftung acquired ten works on paper from her series "Chaine Humaine".
CONGOVILLE
Middelheimmuseum, Antwerp, Belgium May 29 - October 3, 2021
PÉLAGIE GBAGUIDI
Published by Zeno X Books, Hannibal & Koenig Books, 2022
Pélagie Gbaguidi speaks about her exhibition 'Le jour se lève' at Zeno X Gallery.
Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp Borgerhout, Belgium March 12 - May 29, 2022
ÉCRIRE, C'EST DESSINER
Centre Pompidou, Metz, France November 6, 2021 - February 2022
BERLIN BIENNALE 2020: THE CRACK BEGINS WITHIN
KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany September 5 - November 1, 2020
dOCUMENTA 14
Hansa Häuser, Kassel, Germany June 10 - September 17, 2017
Benaki Museum of Islamic Art, Athens, Greece April 8 - July 16, 2017
Pélagie Gbaguidi, b. 1965 in Dakar (SN), lives and works in Brussels (BE).
Pélagie Gbaguidi calls herself a contemporary ‘griot’, which she defines as someone who functions as an intermediary between individual memory and ancestral past. Her work is an anthology of the signs and traces of trauma and is centred on colonial and postcolonial history. She draws attention to the ways in which legacies of oppression are circumvented – and thus preserved – in official histories. She aims to reveal the process of forgetting by recontextualizing archives and histories. Her works are not direct representations of a traumatic past but rather transmit embodied knowledge. Her paintings and drawings have a performative character: she often uses parts of her body to apply paint or pigment to the canvas. The images created by Gbaguidi through painting, drawing, performance and installation seek to break out of binary thinking, archetypes and simplifications.
In 2017 she participated in documenta 14 in Kassel with 'The Missing Link Dicolonisation Education by Mrs. Smiling Stone'. This installation consisted of school desks, photographs and drawings on long scrolls hanging from the ceiling. The notebooks on the desks were the result of a workshop that Gbaguidi held over the course of documenta 14 with pupils from a local school. The installation puts forward education and knowledge transmission as the antidote to collective amnesia.
For her important series 'Naked Writings' she investigated the archives of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren. The title 'Naked Writings' refers to the importance of un-learning, of shedding prior beliefs and consequently decolonizing the mind.
Pélagie Gbaguidi has participated in the Berlin Biennale (2020), documenta 14 (2017), the Lubumbashi Biennale (2019) and the Dakar Biennale (2004, 2006, 2008, 2014 and 2018). Her work has featured in group shows at Centre Pompidou-Metz, WIELS (Brussels), Musée Rochechouart, Middelheimmuseum (Antwerp), Stadtmuseum (Munich), MMK (Frankfurt), National Museum of African Art – Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.).
Pélagie Gbaguidi joined the gallery in 2021.
Mounira Al Solh
Mounira Al Solh produced the series 13 April, 13 April, 13 April in the context of her solo exhibition at the Felix-Nussbaum-Haus in Osnabrück in 2022. Like Jewish artist Felix Nussbaum, to whom the museum is dedicated, Mounira Al Solh’s life has been marked by war and forced migration. The title of the series refers to 13 April 1975, the first day of the Lebanese Civil War, a war which would continue into the 1990s and whose effects can still be felt today.The series of drawings consists mainly of self-portraits she created during the Covid-19 lockdowns to reflect on identity and life in times of crisis. The Arabic texts present in many works consider the role of women in society, the 2020 explosion in Beirut, street protests and the Lebanese Civil War.A new publication collects the complete series of drawings and the translated texts that Al Solh wrote in and alongside the works.
‘Why is it still all about a poor woman’s body? Why is it OK when a man paints a woman naked, as a muse, but when a woman paints herself it becomes insulting? What is insulting about looking at yourself? (…) I drew self-portraits facing the mirror, undressed. In a society where, as a woman, they think you’d better stay covered. I wanted to rebel. (…) I use my body, my blood is my ink, my ink is never finished. When my blood dries, I will stop the act of drawing.’
Pélagie Gbaguidi
Pélagie Gbaguidi created the new series Espace et Langage especially for this exhibition. For her, the works are as much a form of writing as of drawing. Through these drawings, she tries to create space to reflect on the current period of transition of political systems. She comments on the negative impact of monoculture on rural populations as well as the obsession of European museums with the African artefacts in their depots.
Ielles sèment avec le vent refers to the important role of women in nature conservation, education and care. Gbaguidi’s choice to draw on sheets of a botanical encyclopedia also raises questions about care and recovery in a climate of great uncertainty.
Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
Since 1974, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven has been making drawings that emerge from her subconscious. She refuses to find logical meaning in her mindmaps. However, the drawings do enable her to make her perceptions and dreams more tangible. Kalligraphie was the first series of works Van Kerckhoven made upon her return home to Antwerp in 2007, following her residency at DAAD in Berlin and a stay in Shanghai.
‘I like to create series of drawings that are closely associated with the reading of books from different fields that inspire me or tie in with my evolution. I confront the information from the books – both form and content – with my intuitive act of drawing. The essence of the image appears on the paper, straight from my hand, without interference from my brain.’
The drawings in question came into being after consulting books on Giordano Bruno, the structures of atoms and molecules, and an article on Saturn. As the series progressed, certain laws imposed themselves, in terms of approach, method, colour, motifs and use of materials.
Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven’s Kalligraphie series was first shown at Manifesta 7 in Trento in 2008. Subsequently, the full series was also presented at Museum M in Leuven in 2010 and at Kunstverein München in 2015.
Le jour se lève is Pélagie Gbaguidi’s first solo exhibition at Zeno X Gallery. It brings together several series of works. In this first exhibition, the artist presents new paintings as well as works with textiles and drawings. Gbaguidi has been represented by Zeno X Gallery since 2021.
Pélagie Gbaguidi calls herself a contemporary ‘griot’, which she defines as someone who functions as an intermediary between individual memory and ancestral past. Her work is an anthology of the signs and traces of trauma and is centred on colonial and postcolonial history. She draws attention to the way in which legacies of oppression are circumvented – and thus preserved – in official histories. She aims to reveal the process of forgetting by recontextualizing archives and histories. Her works are not direct representations of a traumatic past but transmit embodied knowledge. The images that Gbaguidi creates – through painting, drawing, performance and installation – seek to escape from binary thinking, archetypes and simplifications.
The paintings in the second room give their name to the title of the exhibition. Gbaguidi began this series by drawing the contours of her own body. She then applied pigment with water to the canvas in an almost performative manner – she also uses certain body parts to apply the paint or pigment to the canvas. The works can be read as an intimate diary, the body functioning both as an archive of information and as a seismograph that registers shocks. The presence of two books in Double Check underlines the importance of knowing the different systems of oppression which produce violence, tangible up to this day. The unlawful extraction of raw materials and the ensuing system of precarity are central to several works.
Exchange or barter is an important aspect of Gbaguidi’s oeuvre, both physical objects and individual knowledge being exchangeable. Disconnection and Care were created on a used and swapped sail from Lubumbashi and a flour sack, respectively. During a residency in Morocco, Gbaguidi collaborated with local women who taught her various embroidery techniques while she introduced them to painting. She later mastered the techniques, which in these works resulted in a patchwork of arms and bodies placed on top of each other as if they were drawn.
The drawings entitled Chaine Humaine form a chain of hands. They are a continuation of her recent Care series, which was shown at the Berlin Biennale in 2020. During her research into the archive of the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, certain parts of the archive were discarded. Gbaguidi recovered a series of sheets from an encyclopedia on the flora of the Katanga region in the Congo. At the time, botanical research was not carried out to increase the knowledge of the Congolese, but mainly that of the Belgians. Gbaguidi confronts the colonial archive by drawing on the historical sheets of paper, transforming the violence in the process. The drawings show certain aspects of technological revolutions – such as the ubiquity of mobile phones or facial recognition – but also the many migration flows currently taking place. The perforations or holes visible in her drawings and paintings can be interpreted as openings onto another reality, but for the artist they are primarily an act of care.
In 2021 Pélagie Gbaguidi created a fresco at the Centre Pompidou in Metz, inspired by the writings and works of Etel Adnan. Currently, her work can also be seen at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris and at Z33 in Hasselt. At the Frans Masereel Centrum in Kasterlee, she also recently developed two lithographs on the subject of global hunger. The (lithographic) stone, a material resource extracted from the earth, symbolizes issues concerning the distribution of resources and wealth.
In 2017 Pélagie Gbaguidi participated in Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens with her installation The Missing Link Dicolonisation Education by Mrs Smiling Stone. The installation consisted of school desks, photographs and drawings on long scrolls hanging from the ceiling. The notebooks on the desks were the result of a workshop that Gbaguidi held over the course of Documenta with pupils from a local school. The installation proposes education and knowledge transmission as the antidote to collective amnesia.
Pélagie Gbaguidi has participated in several international exhibitions, including the Berlin Biennale in 2020, the Lubumbashi Biennial in 2019 and the Dakar Biennale in 2018, 2014, 2008, 2006 and 2004. Her work has been displayed at the Centre Pompidou in Metz, Middelheimmuseum in Antwerp, WIELS in Brussels, Musée d’Art Contemporain de la Haute-Vienne in Rochechouart, the Stadtmuseum in Munich, MMK in Frankfurt and the National Museum of African Art – Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink, watercolour and pencil on paper41,2 x 29,3 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink, blood and pencil on paper41,2 x 29,3 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink and watercolour on paper39,8 x 28,3 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink, coloured pencil and pen on paper21,1 x 27,3 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink on paper21, x 29,4 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink and plastic on paper51 x 40,3 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink on printed paper49,5 x 74,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiLes éléphants demandent une sépulture2023wax pastel and coloured pencil on paper36,7 x 55 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiEtrange grenier2023wax pastel and coloured pencil on paper36,7 x 55 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink, blood and watercolour on paper21,4 x 27,4 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink, watercolour and pencil on paper21,4 x 50,3 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020blood, henna and pencil on paper28 x 30,8 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink, markers and textile on paper30,4 x 43,2 cm
Mounira Al Solh13 April, 13 April, 13 April2020ink, watercolour and pen on paper(27,4 x 21,6 cm) + (27,2 x 21,1 cm)
Pélagie GbaguidiTrame et Relation2023wax pastel and coloured pencil on paper27,5 x 36,7 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiIelles sèment avec le vent2023wax pastel and coloured pencil on pape
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 1 (Calligraphy 1)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 2 (Calligraphy 2)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 3 (Calligraphy 3)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 4 (Calligraphy 4)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 5 (Calligraphy 5)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 6 (Calligraphy 6)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 7 (Calligraphy 7)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 8 (Calligraphy 8)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 9 (Calligraphy 9)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 10 (Calligraphy 10)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 11 (Calligraphy 11)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 12 (Calligraphy 12)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 13 (Calligraphy 13)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 14 (Calligraphy 14)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Anne-Mie Van KerckhovenKalligraphie 15 (Calligraphy 15)2007 - 2008mixed media on paper27 x 36 cm
Photo: Peter CoxCourtesy Zeno X Gallery, AntwerpInstallation view
Photo: David Samyn Courtesy the artistInstallation view Luc Tuymans and Pélagie Gbaguidi
Photo: David SamynCourtesy the artistInstallation view Luc Tuymans
Photo: David SamynCourtesy the artist and Zeno X GalleryInstallation view Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
Photo: David SamynCourtesy the artist and Zeno X GalleryInstallation view Pélagie Gbaguidi
Martin MargielaBodypart b&w2018 - 2020oil pastel on projection screen123 x 222 x 8 cm
N. DashUntitled2022earth, acrylic, canvas, fabric, silkscreen ink, jute151,13 x 78,74 cm59,5 x 31 in
Pietro RoccasalvaStudy for Giocondità2022oil on canvas48 x 64 cm
Kim JonesUntitled2001 - 2007acrylic and ink on photograph45,7 x 30,5 cm
Jenny ScobelAmanda (II)2011pencil, watercolour and wax on gessoed wood81,3 x 61 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiCare2020dry pastel and wool on paper21 x 29 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiCare2020dry pastel on paper29 x 21 cm
Mircea SuciuStudy for "Empathy for Destruction"2022oil, acrylic, liquin, charcoal and varnish on linen70 x 50 cm
Marina RheingantzSexy X2022oil on canvas130 x 110 cm
Jockum NordströmCat Dog Cat2016collage, watercolour and graphite on paper40 x 50 cm
Hyun-Sook Song9 Brushstrokes2017tempera on canvas130 x 70 cm
Jan De MaesschalckImpersonation (based on a photo by Johan Jacobs)2022oil on canvas65,2 x 55,2 cm
Yun-Fei JiThe Dead Are also Moving2007mineral pigments and ink on rice paper89,5 x 97 cm
Grace SchwindtGuard2022ceramic and bronze (edition of 3 + 1 AP)53 x 9 x 9 cm
Kees GoudzwaardOn Display2022oil on canvas70 x 60 cm
Susan HartnettOct. 11 2011 #2, Blue-joint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis)2011charcoal on paper56,5 x 76 cm
Jack WhittenSilver Centerfold2015acrylic on panel3 x (30,5 x 30,5 cm)
Philip Metten2203222022oil and thread on canvas23,1 x 23,2 cm
Paulo MonteiroUntitled2016oil on bronze (edition of 3 + 1 AP)56 x 2 x 4 cm
Paulo MonteiroUntitled2018oil on bronze (edition of 3)16,6 x 10,5 x 4,8 cm
Paulo MonteiroUntitled2016bronze (edition of 2 + 1 AP)18,5 x 62 x 22,5 cm
Naoto KawaharaNaked Girl2022oil on canvas72,8 x 53,4 cm
Bart StolleUntitled (Heat upon Heat)2022acrylic on canvas40 x 40 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiLe jour se lève: The Mutants2021acrylic and pigment on canvas138 x 203 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiLe jour se lève: Body Archive2021acrylic and pigment on canvas210 x 135,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiLe jour se lève: Unfinished2021acrylic and pigment on canvas211 x 135,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiPourquoi je ne bande plus dit le vieil homme à son médecin2009acrylic and pigment on canvas219 x 615 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiChaine Humaine2022wax pastel and coloured pencil on paper27,5 x 36,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiChaine Humaine2022wax pastel, grease and coloured pencil on paper36,5 x 27,5 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiUn-Masking In the Plural #Moulting2017pigment and mixed media on canvas240 x 240 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiUn-Masking in the Plural #Moulting2017pigment and mixed media on canvas250 x 211 cm
Pélagie GbaguidiThe Holes2021 - 2022acrylic, pigment and wax on recycled paper107,5 x 79,4 cm
Photo: Peter CoxCourtesy Zeno X Gallery - AntwerpInstallation view
Photo: Marc DomageInstallation view
Photo: Leonard PongoInstallation view
Photo: Philippe de GobertInstallation view
Photo: Silke DrierCourtesy the artistInstallation view
Photo: Silke DrierCourtesy the artist
Photo: Mathias VölzkeInstallation view Pélagie Gbaguidi
Photo: Mathias VölzkeCourtesy the artistInstallation view Pélagie Gbaguidi
Photo: Yiannis HadjiaslanisCourtesy the artistInstallation view Mounira Al Solh
Photo: Fred DottCourtesy the artistInstallation view Mounira Al Solh
Artothèque, Saint-Denis, Réunion, France Casa África, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain CNAP Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris, France Holocaust Memorial Foundation, Chicago, United States of America KANAL-Centre Pompidou, Brussels, Belgium Kunstmuseum Basel, Kupferstichkabinett, permanent loan from the Hüni-Michel-Stiftung, Basel, Switzerland M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art / City of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium Memorial ACTe, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, France Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium S.M.A.K. Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium
“Pélagie Gbaguidi, ‘le jour se lève’ at Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp” Mousse Magazine, article (online) May 2022
“Adem is de eerste taal – Een gesprek met Pélagie Gbaguidi” <H>ART Magazine, no.223, article by Kathleen Weyts April 2022
“De kunstenaar als seismograaf” De Standaard, article by Geert Van Der Speeten March 2022
“Pélagie Gbaguidi: The Body as Archive” Ocula, article by Jareh Das (online) March 2022
“Pélagie Gbaguidi – Der scharfe Schnitt durch das Schaaf” Kunstforum, no. 271, article by Heinz-Norbert Jocks (p.185-187) November/December 2020
“documenta 14: Athens Conservatoire. Pélagie Gbaguidi” Frieze.com, article by Harry Thorne (online) April 2017
“The Parliament of Bodies: Black Athena Reloaded 2: A Trial of the Code Noir with Colin Dayan, Pélagie Gbaguidi, Tavia Nyong’o, David Scott, and Françoise Vergès” dOCUMENTA14.com, article by Paul B. Preciado (online) June 2017
“15 Documenta Artists with Staying Power. Pélagie Gbaguidi” Artsy.net, article by Alexander Forbes (online) June 2017
Zeno X Books, Hannibal & Walther und Franz KönigCologne, Germany, 2022112 pages, ISBN 9783753301860
Phaidon PressLondon, United Kingdom, 2021351 pages, ISBN 9781838662431
Kerber VerlagBielefeld / Berlin, Germany, 2014371 pages, ISBN 9783866789319