Dourou

During an exchange in educational solidarity in February 2007 at the school in Dourou, Mali, in the Dogon land, Denise Sabourin led an exchange between the young people from Mali and from France.
She presented a work made up by the French students to the schoolteacher in Dourou, Madame Kone, who « appropriated » this initial work on March 8th, which is the international day for women. « To put an end to the impunity of injuries to women » is the issue that turned out to be the backbone of the scheme.

Along those days of interaction, the children in Dourou were proposed to produce a response to the French students through a visual creation. This second initial work, the Dogon one, was hoisted up the Mali flagpole, after the French one.

The French students « appropriated » the Dogon initial work, by showing it in front of the wall-painting at their high school, the Lycée Valin. The graphics by the Dogon children combine with the taggings by the French. These encounters beyond the written word convey a powerful stream of communication.

Young people from either country develop various scripts which become their means of expression in order to signify their civilization – inscriptions coming down from collective memory, each being specific in style, which mix together in a surge of crossing energies.

This work was embroidered in the village of Ibis, in the Dogon fashion ; six lines bearing the colours of France and of Mali. The design of the Dogon dances, drawn by a youngster, were interpreted in the shape of metal figurines by an elder from the village, the Blacksmith.

In this work, the elders’ authority is expressed – the matron-embroideress, the sculptor-blacksmith, who, through their skill, provide recognition to the refreshing spontaneity of the children.

This work of contemporaneous art presents us with a piece of current creation while developing an artistic citizenship on different territories.

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