Visual artists from Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, have had some impact in the state of the arts in Africa and abroad. Below are some of the artists to look out for from Mauritania and the work they have done in Africa and the diaspora.
Oumar Ball (b.1985) is a painter, sculptor and illustrator born in Bababé, a Mauritianian village located a few kilometers from the Senegalese border. He grew up around the edge of the river the Fouta Tooro, which he considers a very animated world. This is owing to the canoes passing from one bank to the other, the women working in the houses and in the courtyards, and the men coming and going in the fields. His father, Issa Ball, photographer and painter, was a silent trainer for this artist. From a very young age, he saw him develop black and white photo images and create imaginary paintings depicting their daily lives. Similarly, Ball’s work includes objects and animals which reflect his daily life as a child who liked to play.
Oumar Ball
Lying between the abstract and figurative, his work portrays objects, animals and people, in everyday scenes. Ball uses a combination of natural and recycled materials such as earth, animal dung, and steel. His best known installations are sculptures of migratory birds made from different recycled metals. They express a message of freedom and hope sent by the artist to himself and to the public. They also form part of a series named L’envol, which develops new techniques of recovery art from recycled material. Overall, his work is inspired by childhood memories. One of his most recent paintings titled Les Confidents includes animals and everyday objects in anthropomorphic figures, creating a narrative about the relationship between humans, animals and objects.
At the age of fifteen, he put on his first solo exhibition at the Institut Français de Mauritanie, in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Since then, his work has been shown at exhibitions and biennials in many countries like France, Spain and Senegal. Further, the Ouagadougou Sculpture Biennial in Burkina Faso awarded him his first prize for his work Chimère. This now forms part of the Fondation Blachère collection in France.
Zeinab Chiaa
Zeinab Chiaa was born in Nouakchott. She defines herself as a plastic artist. Her work presents calligraphic signs which are mostly imagined and gain meaning through drawing and framing. This is in the form of geometric shapes that evoke landscapes, animals, and stars. Having lived in China for ten years, she incorporates techniques and materials from Chinese and Japanese cultures. As a result she uses water, oil paint, Chinese and Japanese ink, and coffee. When making collage, she recycles pieces of fabric from previous paintings in the style of recovery art. Her paintings are based on poetry and song and allude to universal themes such as beauty, old age, and death.
In 2006, she entered the Maison des Artistes in Nouakchott and, in 2007, made her debut with a solo exhibition held at the Institut Français de Mauritanie. She teaches plastic arts to girls and young women. She has exhibited in the Mauritanian pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and participated in courses and workshops dedicated to Chinese calligraphy. Chiaa has also exhibited solo at the Institut Français de Mauritanie and at the Art Gallé and Sinaa galleries in Nouakchott.
Daouda Corera
Daouda Corera is a photographer and computer engineer from Nouakchott. He ventured into art full time after winning best photograph of Mauritania in the 2012 SahelProduction competition. His work attempts to bring a convergence of Mauritanian cultures closer to the public. Consequently, his work draws on themes such as modes of transportation, life in markets, and interactions between people. As a result, in 2017 he began a street photography project called EverydayNouakchott. For this project, Corera traveled through neighborhoods in Nouakchott to show the diverse lifestyles, forms of dress, and work of the city’s inhabitants.
His photos have since been exhibited at the Off section of the Dakar Biennial in Senegal, and the American festival LOOK3 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Additionally, they have also been published by UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration. Lastly, magazine features include magazines such as Jeune Afrique Magazine, Takepart, Die Zeit, The Sunday Times Magazine.
