Seb Toussaint

Janette chose the word “Vie” (“life” in french). She is 5 months pregnant and thought about her child she’s about to give life to when chosing the word. Most children here are born at a nearby hospital, others are born at home in the slum where there’s always a mama around ready to help you!

Habiba chose the word “Allah”. She told me that it is thanks to Allah that she was given life and thanks to him that she is in good health today.

I chose to write it in Kufic, a way of writing arabic used in mosaics, hence the straight lines and right angles. It originates from Iraq, a country I fell in love with a year ago. I’ve seen it used in many mosques and for a long time I’ve wanting to use it in a mural. 

For my show in Abidjan, I made collages from patterns I painted myself with acrylics and I added stuff containting words I’ve been finding on the streets such as advertising pasted in lamp posts or pieces of newspaper. On the left, I used one of the classics, an A4 advert for penis enlargement which can be found all over the city. On the right I used a piece of l’Elephant Déchaîné, a satirical newspaper that is known for talking about fraud, corruption and political scandals, playing a real role in the Ivory Coast’s young democracy.

I painted my biggest ever canvas for my show at Institut Françaid in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire ! The word “Babi” is the nickname of Abidjan. I painted it on a 4.5 x 2.5 m canvas.
This is my first show in Africa, it’s open until the 30th of April!

Cynthia and Boniface chose the word “Amour” (=“Love” in French). They’ve been together for 11 years and this is the home in which they’ve built a family. It was love that brought them together and that gave them 2 children. It’s the 12th time the word “Love” has been given to me on Share The Word Project, out of 174 murals. This makes it the 2nd most chosen word after “Peace”.

Maman Cadi chose the word “Paix” (=Peace in French). From 2002 untill 2007, the Ivory Coast went through a civil war which was followed by more violence in 2010 and 2011 after the presidential elections. The slum itself was heavily impacted with machete-armed gangs clashing on the streets and executions taking place on bonfires. Local militias used the infamous “Article 125” in which 100 Francs are used to buy petrol and 25 Francs for a box of matches.

Today the conflict is over but the scars are still visible all over people’s bodies, the weapons haven’t disapeared and the trauma will hang around for a while. Real, long lasting peace is the only way forward for Maman Cadi.

At work in “The Hole” in Abidjan. Little by little the inhabitants of the slum are getting to know me, and are learning my name. I like working in one same slum for one month because it makes it easier to build real relationships with the people. 

Adèle chose the word “Joie” (joy in French) simply because it brought her joy the fact that I asked her to paint her house. This is the first mural I’ve painted in “The Hole” a slum of Abidjan.

This is a slum known as “Le Trou” (The Hole) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It’s a very tough slum and entering it got me into real trouble. However I’m doing my best to tell the leaders what my project is about and hopefuly things will go well.

For those of you who don’t know about Share The Word Project, it’s very simple: I go to slums or refugee camps for one month each time and I paint on people’s walls words that they choose. The idea is to listen to what marginalised communities want to express and share with us all. I’ve been doing this for 6 years, and for the first time I’m in The Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire).