Modes’Emploi (2013) is a collaborative project developed by artists Alioum Moussa (Cameroon), Mariko Kadi (Niger) and Pedro Pablo Viñuales (Spain). The project first started as a crossed perspective between Alioum Moussa’s reflection on second-hand clothes and fashion, following from his residency at the Pistoletto Foundation in 2010, and Pedro Pablo Viñuales photographic manipulations, to which Mariko Kadi’s added her stylistic touch.
The series comprises of 12 dyptichs, each with one assemblage of repurposed fabric and other materials, alongside photographic portraits or compositions of models wearing an outfit made out of the material used in the assemblage. The portfolio presented here consists of the photographs. The different dates on each piece corresponds to a specific chronological narrative that accompanies the series.
The title of this work refers to the ideas of fashion (mode) and instructions (mode d’emploi), as a way to inspire new ethical approaches and guidelines in fashion.
Modes’Emploi was exhibited in Niamey, Niger, in 2013, then as part of Dak’Art 2016 Off programme and Ziguinchor, Senegal.
Biographies
Aloum Moussa, born in 1977 in Maroua, lives and works in Yaounde.
Alioum Moussa’s artistic practice spans various media including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video, installation and performance. Through this multidisciplinary practice, Moussa seeks to transform and create declinations of refused or found objects to which he gives a new lease of life. This process has become a constent preoccupation and has led him to reflect on the environment and on issues related to the industrialisation of contemporary society. His work is tainted with irory, self-derision, humour, poetry and tales of everyday life.
Since 2006, he has been consistently using photography. His recent research focuses on history of cotton, its production and transformation and the working conditions of women and children in the textile industry.
Alioum Moussa’s work has been exhibited internationally. He is one of the artists of Performatik Biennial 2017 in Brussels, Belgium.
Mariko Kadi is a self-taught Nigerien artist and fashion designer. Her ecological approach to fashion is reflected in her use of natural fabrics such as cotton and linen, silk, African sarong and rags.
Kadi uses the fashion brand K’Mariko Art. She organises a yearly fashion show in Niamey. She has also taken part in fashion events both in Africa and in the US.
Pedro Pablo Viñuales, born in 1966 in Urda, Spain, lives and works in Dakar, Senegal.
Pedro Pablo Viñuales holds a PhD in Hispanic Literature but has also had a long-standing interest in painting and photography. Leading both an academic and creative life, Viñuales worked as Professor of Hispano-American Literature at the École Normale Supérieure and University of Yaounde 1, but also photographed and exhibited portraits of young Cameronian artists and collaborated with Baobab dance company.
In Angola, he engaged with artists from os internacionalistas. There he held painting and photography exhibitions and participated in the first Luanda Triennial.
Viñuales has lived in Costa Rica, Niamey and is now based in Dakar where he works with the Spanish international cooperation. His encounter with Alioum Moussa in Niamey led to the creation of Modes’Emploi.
