dramane diarra

Dramane Diarra, ‘A l’étranger, on ne reconnaît point le noblesse de sang, mais la valeur propre de l’individu’ (migration), acrylic on canvas, 110 x 175 cm, 2021 (SOLD)
Dramane Diarra, ‘Si le péché tarde a servir, c’est qu’il est a la recherche d’un bon fouet de bois vert’ (justice), 110 x 150 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2021
Dramane Diarra, ‘La vache laisse le sang en elle pour donner le lait’ (solidarity), acrylic on canvas, 130 x 100 cm, 2021 (SOLD)
Dramane Diarra, ‘la personne qui suit un éléphant ne craint pas la rosée’ / ‘the person following an elephant does not fear the thorns of the roses’, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, 2021 (SOLD)
Dramane Diarra, ‘on recolte ce qu’on a sème’, ‘we harvest what we have sown’, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, 2021 (SOLD)
Dramane Diarra, ‘le chameaux aime bien s’allonger sur le dos mais c’est sa bosse lui en retir l’envie’/ ‘the camels like to lie on their backs but it’s their hump that withholds them from it’, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, 2021 (SOLD)
Dramane Diarra, ‘On ne peut pas mettre sa tête sous deux chapeaux’ / ‘You can’t put your head under two hats ’ , acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, 2021 (SOLD)

Dramane Diarra (1998) is a visual artist from Mali, a graduate of the Conservatory of Multimedia Arts and Crafts Balla Fasséké Kouyaté (CAMM / BFK), member of the Sanou’Arts collective, lives and works in Bamako.

He paints human heads like machines on canvases. The heads are made of cogwheels and gears and are located in indefinable spaces and all wear a helmet. They are surrounded by all sorts of objects like roses with thorns, chicken and ethnographic artefacts like statues used by Dogon and Bambara ethnicities at spiritual ceremonies.

Diarra depicts Malian proverbs : ‘I want people to reflect on our ancient wisdom, our culture is so rich and beautiful.’ He addresses subjects such as identity, moral wealth and tradition versus modernity. He explains: ‘I come from two different ethnic groups, Bambara and Dogon, who are known by their philosophy. I was lucky to have a very old father who had a lot of knowledge and saw this world change rapidly.

I also see the decay of cultural traditional norms and values all around me. People no longer know where they come from and are no longer proud of their ancestors and their wisdom. Everyone knows proverbs and by portraying them I hope people will think about the meaning of the proverb, but also about the Malian spiritual cultural tradition. There is decadence, people only look to the west and to Islam, but forget their own rich cultural history. My job is to wake people up and open their eyes to what is already so close.‘

Diarra uses the head as a machine because the head is said to represent reason and morals, but our heads have become machines who are running fast, without limits. ‘Human consciousness is being tested and African proverbs are an enormous source of knowledge and at the same time funny but meaningful’.

Dramane Diarra in his studio in Bamako, Mali.