“Uvenzana” is a Shimaoré word meaning “to love each other”. It was chosen by the local kids of the village of Ongojou on the island of Maoré. It’s a word that the kids found in local tales of Ongojou and which they would like to share with everyone
I’m painting in Ongojou on the island of Maoré (Mayotte) off the East Coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.
I’m painting with the help of local youth, words that have been chosen by the youth themselves. The kids have been learning traditional tales of their community and finding words to represent these tales. Here I wrote the word “maji” (water in Shimaoré) on one of the walls surrounding the well which provides water for the village. They call the well “chissimani” and the tale says that a princess fought the evil spirits around the well and turned into a beautifull tree which guards the well untill this day. This vital well is what enabled the village to develop since it was the only source of freshwater in the area.
It is such a lively and inspiring place to paint in with so many people turning up to wash clothes, dishes or their own bodies. The clothes and the plastic tubs make the place extremely colourful !
I spent the last 4 weeks on this huge project inside my football stadium which was also my “art school” when I was a teenager. The Stade Michel D’Ornano is the home ground of Normandy’s top professional football club : Stade Malherbe Caen. I’ve been attending games here since I was a kid in 1998. When I was a teenager I started designing and painting huge flags and banners for the supporters group. The older lads pushed me to create even more and encouraged me as they sensed potential. I’ve never had a formal art education, so being part of this supporters group (the MNK96) this is the closest thing I have to an school.
This summer I was asked to paint 365m2 of my stand however I wanted. I included symbols of my city Caen, my region Normandy, and of course my football club SM Caen.
While painting these murals I made sure I passed on some of my experience to some younger lads, becoming a teacher in the “school” I used to attend as a pupil. Thank you to M, who helped me all the way! .
I painted this mural for @murmursfestival in Decazeville, France. On the first day of the festival, I met a group of refugees who’d arrived in Decazeville during the last 2 years. Ajoua, a climate refugee from Mali chose the word “Paix” (peace in French). Anjoua 20 years old, reached France a few months ago and doesn’t yet know if he’ll be able to stay. Climate change is drying up his homeland, forcing the Fula herders to bring their cattle further and further across the Sahel region in order to find vegetation. Clashes errupted when the Fula started brining their animals to Dogon territory. The Dogon are mostly farmers and had to defend their crops for their own survival. The clashes have killed hunderds of people and have forced many more to flee. Ajoua told me that this isn’t really an ethnic problem, it’s a climate change problem.
I’ve been hearing these stories across West and East Africa for years. Climate refugees aren’t just something that will happen in the future. It’s happening right now.
(Photos by @alex_gallosi)
Proud to announce my collab with French fashion brand BIZZBEE! I painted at their flagship store in Paris for the releasing of the collab. I created designs while I was in the Ivory Coast for both womenswear and menswear. Check them out on Bizzbee’s online store! They’re available in all 70 stores in France and the ship anywhere in France.
Refugees aren’t just numbers thrown into political debates, they are real people. I’m lucky to have met and worked with many of them in Kenya, France, Iraq, Palestine and Uganda and I’m thankful for what they have taught me about the world, their cultures, and human resilience. I think about them all the time and mostly these thoughts make me smile because of the great moments we shared. But sometimes thinking about them fucking hurts. For real. And whenever I hear about new waves of people fleeing a country, I’m under the impression that I know these people. I can see their faces and hear their stories of being forced to leave home because a bunch of powerful people fucked up. I sit there at night, searching about South Sudan, Congo or Venezuela, tears blurring my vision because it’s not just a piece of information that will disappear as soon as the next celebrity dies or has a baby, it’s not just a number, these are real people.
On the bright side, I believe there’s always something we can do, whether it be by helping people who have fled, or creating a future where people won’t have to flee.
(Photo : Balata, Palestine, 2018)
Nature, Day and Night.
I have just completed this 2-piece mural on a tower in Mayenne, France. It was built on the West of France’s highest peak, enabling people to admire the view from above the trees at 18 meters above the ground.
As usual, I freestyled the mural. While I was painting the first coat in white, I started thinking about what I was going to paint. Being immersed on my own in a Natural Park, I thought of portraying the surrounding nature through my patterns, with one wall showing nature at night, and the other nature during daytime. The “night” wall shows a moon, closed flowers, a lightning pattern, a starry night and silhoutes of flying owls. The “day” wall shows the sun, open flowers, a cloudy sky, buzzards, etc… Nature itself is a beautiful yet fragile balance between the elements. I had this in mind as I improvised the mural, balancing lines, colours and shapes.
(Photo: @lordey_thomas)
I was honored to be part of the Forum Mondial Normandie pour la Paix. It’s an annual event adressing issues relating to peace with Nobel Peace prize winners, polititians, journalists and other personalities. I painted the word “Union” which was chosen by a group of pupils from different european nationalities who used to be at war 75 years ago, and I talked about my work with Congolese refugees and with Colombian comminties including IDPs.
Talking about these issues is totaly part of my work as I see “Share The Word Project” as a bridge between maginalised or war-torn communities and the “outside world”. I believe art can have a real impact! .
This is one of the pieces I designed for French brand Bizzbee ! It’s available in Bizzbee shops all over France and online (delivery to France only).
I always look at what people are wearing wherever I am in the world as I find it very inspiring. It’s nice to finally create designs that people are going to be able to wear!
“Par SMS”, a hand painted collage from my lastest show at Institut Français de Côte d’Ivoire in Abidjan. I was thrilled to show canvases and collages for the first time in Africa after painting many murals on the continent. I always come back from Africa thinking I’ve learnt so much more that I’ve taught.
Seb Toussaint 