Sophie Testa

Sophie Testa
© © Sophie Testa

Sophie Testa realized a contemporary work based on museum' primitive collections. Between 2004 and 2011, she has made over one hundred drawings inspired by primitives mask. Her inspiration from African and oceanic masks lead us to a new point of view, between graphics and anthropology knowledge. The idea in her work relates directly to the artist' art practice which is about her identity through connections with her childhood's memory in Africa and her passion for primitive art. Indirectly, the artist asks questions about the colonization and the place primitive art holds in Art History. This collection of drawings makes us think about Picasso?s famous sentence: "The masks, they were not sculptures like the others. Not at all. They were magic things."She also refers to the book "La mère des masques" by the Malian ethnologist Segou Obagara Dolo. The artist refers more and more to African literature, such as Senghor's poem "Prière aux masques" which is fundamental in this project. Finally, she reveals: "There are as many masks as stories. Every mask has a story to tell."

Partners

  • Arterial network
  • Media, Sports and Entertainment Group (MSE)
  • Gens de la Caraïbe
  • Groupe 30 Afrique
  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS
  • Zimbabwe : Culture Fund Of Zimbabwe Trust
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS
  • Rwanda : Positive Production
  • Togo : Kadam Kadam
  • Niger : ONG Culture Art Humanité
  • Collectif 2004 Images
  • Africultures Burkina-Faso
  • Bénincultures / Editions Plurielles
  • Africiné
  • Afrilivres

With the support of