Ibrahima Soumaré has a hesitant hand. Pencil and eraser in hand, he carefully lays down a few letters on a white sheet. Unsatisfied, he erases and resumes. His exercise of the day: draw a graffiti with the word "top".
"It's not easy, especially for a newbie like me", says with a shy smile this 26-year-old Senegalese who gave up his studies to enroll two months ago in a graffiti school in Guédiawaye in the suburbs. from Dakar, the RBS Akademya.
Serigne Mansour Fall, alias Madzoo, one of the 25 members of the founding collective, ensures that the school created in December 2021 has no equivalent in Senegal or in Africa. It wants to be "a place of meeting, exchange, sharing of know-how", he explains.
The objective, "is to bring our share of heritage", "to train young professionals" so that they are "useful" to society and to help people to "become aware of the challenges of their era".
Graffiti is part of the decor of Dakar and its suburbs where hip-hop culture fascinates many young people.
Graffiti appeared in Senegal in the late 1980s along with a spontaneous movement of young people, "Set-Setal" (literally "clean and make clean").
These young people fought against insalubrity in the capital and its suburbs and, after having cleaned the districts, drew on the walls of the images of marabouts in order to dissuade the inhabitants from throwing their garbage in the street again, says Madzoo.
Once considered a "lazy job that does not make a living for his man", graffiti is now gaining recognition, believes Madzoo.
Paintings and graffiti compete in beauty and color in the corridors of the two-storey building that houses the school.
A painting of an old man with a white beard captivates the eye, a small plant with flowers formed from shells sprouts from his shaved head. "It symbolizes Pan-Africanism," says Madzoo, the author.
The classroom, a space with a long work table and wall chart, is no less variegated.
Large pink and green print decorates the wall at the entrance. The word, difficult to decipher, is "style", decodes Ibrahima Soumaré. "I also had trouble reading it before," he smiles.
The day's class revolves around "concept art" - how to express, materialize an idea - and colors, explains Chérif Tahir Diop, dit Akonga, graffiti artist, designer, and now teacher.
"We are not in a conventional school. Everything is done in a light spirit", he says to the sound of reggae melodies broadcast by his computer.
Libasse Sarr, 18, and Maurice Diouf, 25, also stopped studying to enroll in RBS Akademya (RBS for RadiK-L Bomb Shot).
They will receive there for six months three lessons per week of theory and practice.
They are four in all to constitute the third promotion of the school. They will leave with a certificate, not recognized by the State of Senegal.
"We decided to take on a reduced workforce to work in the best conditions," says Madzoo.
Students pay a registration fee of 25,000 CFA francs (about 40 euros) and pay 15,000 CFA francs (about 23 euros) each month.
RBS Akademya, very active on social networks, also serves as an artistic residence.
According to Madzoo, some foreign artists stay there from time to time to participate in exhibitions or share their experience.
Introduced to graffiti at the age of 7 by elders in his neighborhood, Madzoo, 36, dark glasses over his eyes, is one of the Senegalese figures of this street art.
He calls himself a pan-Africanist, committed to "the side of the people", and does not hesitate to take a stand.
In 2021, the day after riots that killed a dozen people, a mural bearing the signature of his collective was widely shared on social networks.
It represented President Macky Sall, suit sleeve in the colors of France, shooting point-blank at a young person.
The drawing had quickly and mysteriously been erased. Madzoo has since been under political pressure from power.
His students enrolled in the school out of passion, aware of the few outlets for their activity. I
They hope one day to experience the same success as him and dream of traveling to express their talent. But it will "have to be patient and strong", warns Akonga.
05/08/2023 15:31:42 - Dakar (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
