Ange Dakouo is inspired by the universe and costumes of the traditional hunters of Mali which have a refuge value of authenticity and protected knowledge. They also provide protection and exorcise the perils of life.
"My technique, which I call "the woven gris-gris", is inspired by the amulets worn by Malian traditional hunters : the Dozos. I customize my "gris-gris" with cardboard, newspapers, and then weave them together to create a harmonious universe, through which the "gris-gris" represent people who are supposed to protect each other."
- Ange Dakouo
At a distance his hangings may be mistaken for textile. Getting closer they reveal the delicacy of the work on paper as well as the originality and rigor of a production of great maturity.
Son of a printer - to whom he pays tribute when recycling newsprint - Ange tries to convey his message in the way the media do. If he seems to move away for a while from the oral traditions that unite dozo hunters, the artist is actually keen to give an account of words' power of communication. These words, which appear between the cotton threads, detached from each other and far from the initial meaning of the press release, push the spectator to get closer to the artworks in order to decode and appropriate them. This murmur that runs through the work seems to whisper in the spectator's ear as he passes by the canvas.
Born in 1990, graduated from the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia de Bamako (Mali) in 2017. Ange lives and works in Bamako; he is one of the founders of the Tim'Art collective with whom he exhibits regularly.
His first solo exhibition "Les Boîtes Rouges" took place in 2018 at Taxi Bamako. In 2019, his work was presented in the exhibition "Les Tisseurs de Liens" at BICIM, then in a solo installation "Demain sera meilleur" at Villa Soudan in Bamako. He was invited to the AKAA 2019 fair and by Armelle Dakouo for an exhibition at the Espace Commines in Paris (France) and exhibited at the Galerie Trames in Dakar (Senegal) as part of the Partcours 2020, before his residency at the Blachère Foundation. In 2022, Dakouo is part of the official selection of the Congo Biennale and at documenta fifteen in Kassel (Germany) along with Abdoulaye Konaté and Seydou Camara presented by the Festival sur le Niger Foundation. In 2023, after taking part in 1-54 in New York with the gallery, Ange Dakouo will be in residence at the prestigious Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, after which he will present his work in a Solo Show at the Fondation H (Paris). LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery will present its first Solo Show in Côte d'Ivoire in December 2023.
Exhibited in Mali and internationally, his works have entered the collections of the Fondation H (Madagascar, the Société Ivoirienne de Banque (Côte d'Ivoire), the Fondation Blachère (France and Senegal) as well as many private collections.