Salla VartiainenVisiting the African Art Gallery in Senegambia Hotel
Originally posted: 20230629
One thing I really miss when I´m here in the Gambia is Art-venues! Back at home I enjoy going to different exhibitions and viewing other artists work and always when I travel the art is what interests me the most.
In the Gambia there really aren´t any great art-venues yet (imo). Things are moving though and Gambia is developing but I think it will take time before we see any serious art galleries or museums around. It doesn´t mean that there are no artists in the Gambia, because there is – it´s just a bit hard to get to see their work.
One place which is easy to access is the African Art Gallery located in the Senegambia hotel. I think the store Top Shop is the one who runs it. And they have a quite ok space upstairs. So we decided that we´d go there to see what works were on display.
The African Art Gallery is located upstairs
The Senegambia hotel
The Senegambia Hotels lobby is cozy and sometimes we come here just to have a drink and watch people and enjoy the atmosphere. At this time things are of course very slow and there aren´t much people to watch anywhere, which gives us the perfect opportunity to browse the gallery alone.
The Senegambia hotel has a nice lobby
The African Art Gallery
The gallery is located upstairs and displays 30-something works. All very colorful. The gallery it self is also colorful, with walls painted in different colors. This is not your typical white cube display where everything dissolves into white and leaves you alone with the paintings.
I know very little about African art. It feels like (aka this is not a fact) that the separation of contemporary art from the traditional art is less noticeable in the art I´ve seen here. That there are a lot of cultural motifs and motifs tied to traditions. Or it might be that I am just EXPECTING to see that because of my western upbringing so thats what catches my eye.
There are mostly works by Sonny Osei Owusu and Bangie Faal here in this gallery.
On this Topshop-page we can read that Owusu is a Ghanian artist who loves color. His work depict everyday life and he paints in many different styles.
Bangie Faal is an artist from Senegal and he identifies him self as an abstract impressionist. His works are also very colorful and depicts mostly people. He is currently living in New York.
No female artist seems to be represented by the African Art Gallery, which is a pity since it would be very interesting to see the world through a female Gambian artists eyes.
I don´t know if the artists or the art in the gallery changes from time to time or if this is a permanent exhibition, I guess i´ll have to return in a couple of months to see if something has changed!
xoxo/Salla V
Originally posted: 20230629