Over the years, Aboubakar Fofana has engaged in deep research on what he calls dualities. These deliberations presume a balance between apparent opposites: earth and sky, life and death, feminine and masculine, air and water, Western and non-Western cultures, dye and fibre, textile and skin. The artist attributes this interest to his grandmother, a healer and artist working with dye who initiated him into these practices. Indigo, with its many associations—as dye, as healing agent, as sociocultural entity for identification, as philosophy—is at the crux of Fofana’s practice. In Bambara cosmogony, there are at least twelve shades of blue, each carrying a particular meaning, philosophy, and social belonging. These range from the baga fu (blue of nothingness), baga kènè (lively blue), baga djalan (assertive blue), to lomassa (divine blue) and lomassa dunné (profound divine sky blue), to name just a few. Echoing this multiplicity of meanings, the garments that Fofana uses become carriers, identifiers, and tools of therapeutic support—when somebody wears a garment, these properties are transferred onto the body. Accordingly, Fofana is very aware of the role he plays not only as an artist but as a custodian of epistemes and cultures. In Mali, like in other cultures where indigo is of significance, the hue defines and marks important stages of life and even death—when a body is wrapped in an indigo shroud, it takes up its role as ‘Le compagnon pour la dernière demeure’ (the companion for the final resting place), as Fofana puts it. Thus, Fofana’s work echoes as both a denominator of transitions and transcendences in life and beyond.

Work in the exhibition: Mood Indigo (2011), natural fibre-based textiles, handsewn and dyed with organic indigo, 20 panels, each 100 × 192 cm. Courtesy of the artist