Annie Ernaux : « I will write to avenge my people »
Galerie anne barrault is delighted to present Ibrahim Meïté Sikely’s very first solo show.
Born in 1996, Ibrahim Meité Sikely graduated from the Villa Arson in 2022, and is currently completing his 5th year at the Beaux-Arts de Paris.
His artistic practice does not aim to archive forgotten stories, but rather attempts to crush reality by tending towards a cosmic mythology, based on reminiscence. Ibrahim Meïté Sikely blends fiction and realism, classical and contemporary art, creating personal fables that allow him to question social determinisms. His works represent imaginary worlds, where relationships of force and power are replayed and thwarted.
Ibrahim Meïté Sikely infuses his art with an autobiographical resonance, staging himself and his loved ones through a series of detour such as the figure of the superhero or iconography from 19th-century painting.
A product of the Ivorian diaspora, he draws on the heritage of such figures as the inventor of the Coupé Décalé dance: Douk Saga.
“For me there are interesting analogies to be made between these posers’ dance steps and the desperate transformation rituals I’m used to seeing in Japanese animation. I see similar invocations. The refusal of failure as a resource of energy.” Using vivid colors, his scenes alternate between tranquility and strength, creating an epic universe sprinkled with dreamlike imagery reminiscent of the works of Goya and the stories of the marginalized communities described by Martin Wong.
Following in the footsteps of Annie Ernaux, Ibrahim Meité Sikely invites us to think again about issues of struggle, justice, trauma and healing, as well as the ways in which bodies are viewed according to race and socio-economic class.
“I’ve always lived a long way from where the ‘big things’ happened, so I’ve built my life on the margins, picking and choosing from whatever I can get my hands on.
Ever since I was a child, I’ve been looking for a form of freedom, and painting gave me a glimpse of it and I liked it, so I’m still looking. I’ll find it.
This first solo show will be an opportunity for me to regain control of my place in this society and thus decentralize certain views. I’m not looking for brilliance, I’m looking for turbulence. »
Ibrahim Meïté Sikely
With support for galleries of the Centre national des arts plastiques 