Amy Sow, visual artist and activist of Nouakchott, has closed the four-workshop series of the project The Possible Gardens.
The story of her commitment to the fight against violence against women, and of the central role that the protection of children through education in art and self-expression plays in her work, was a precious gift for us and for all the children who warmly welcomed her during her two weeks in Sardinia.
For Amy, art is an indispensable tool for the empowerment and emancipation of the individual in the fight against inequality and injustice. Being an artist in Mauritania is very difficult, she told us; being a woman and an artist even more so. Her dream is to give access to arts education for everyone, especially for children and for youth who do not have this possibility. Art Gallé was born this way, from a dream. A home for art built with recycled materials, especially wood, which welcomes everyone, which encourages people to meet, to exchange ideas and experiences. During the first meetings with the children of the Iglesiente, Amy Sow talked about her beautiful dream and all the difficulties encountered along the way, answered their thousand questions, and listened to the dreams of the children for their gardens. She also talked about the early marriages that girls still suffer, how gender discrimination is unfortunately still a relevant issue all over the world, how important it is to struggle, and how art is a tool to convey messages and to imagine and build a different world.
In the second week the children returned to their gardens, and together with Amy they built their dreams with their hands. For a week the spirit of Art Gallé, Amy’s dream, has animated Cherimus and all the children. With Arundo Donax rods and waste materials from the Iglesias ecological platform, tempera paint and brushes, the children have given concrete form to their ideas developed during three months of workshops.
See, here: the “sound wall” of Domusnovas that transforms the class into a great musical instrument made of colorful suspended pipes.
The goals / sculptures of the fantastical playground of Villamassargia are built on a 1: 1 scale, and immediately used to invent new games.
The dream of drawing in one’s own park and organizing an annual exhibition among the trees becomes reality in Musei: each student chooses a companion to portray and to be portrayed by; here is a row of faces, a real gallery of portraits en plein air appear from tree to tree, becoming the heart of a little morning party.
Iglesias’s children give form to an important person, a woman who has struggled to be free to be and to think: a giant Hypatia more than 5 meters tall, stylized like a constellation, miraculously walks through the park of Iglesias and allows us to see over the houses thanks to a camera positioned on her eyes.
For a brief moment the kid’s dreams are realized: the possible gardens have become real, thanks to the children and to Amy Sow of the little real utopias.
Amy Sow
“Oscillant entre le figuratif et l’abstrait, j’adore les sujets relatifs au vécu de la femme. Je dénonce les violences faites à ces dernières. Ce phénomène est toujours d’actualité, même dans les lieux où les gens sont plus émancipés la femme est toujours violentée. Peindre pour moi est la meilleure façon d’exprimer ma liberté. Une liberté que voudrais vivre pleinement et que je souhaiterais à toutes les femmes qui peuplent ses contrés.”
Amy Sow
“Oscillating between the figurative and the abstract, I love subjects relating to the lived experiences of women; I denounce the violence done to them. This phenomenon is still relevant, even in places where people are more emancipated. Women are always abused.Painting for me is the best way to express my freedom, a freedom that I would like to live fully and that I wish for all the women of the world.”
Amy Sow
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In 2017, she built and opened Art Gallé, a space made entirely of wood dedicated to the promotion of art and artists from all over Mauritania. The aim of the project is to offer a space where all can express themselves through art, learn, exchange ideas, and grow. Art Gallé is a space for youth arts education in a context in which such spaces are often lacking. In the pular language, its name means “come home.”
Sow’s work, which is mainly pictorial, is addressed above all to the most marginalized and helpless women: victims of violence. Her work speaks directly to these women and aims to sensitize society and institutions that do not yet fight episodes of violence and discrimination toward the weakest.
In 2019, the Arts et Culture section of New African Magazine declared Sow one of the 100 personalities of the year in the entire continent of Africa. To learn more, click here.
