Fragments brought up from silence.
Two days ago, I was exhibiting at the Shiogama Sugimura Jun Museum of Art a museum itself in reconstruction, carried by the @alliance_francaise_sendai de Sendai. There was nothing coincidental about this place, or this moment.
This fisherman surfaces with what he pulled from the depths.
This fish is not just a catch.
It is a sign.
It carries fortune, abundance
but also what remains hidden, invisible, beneath.
In Shiogama, the sea and the land once shifted.
The world moved.
But this scene could exist anywhere.
On the shores of Senegal, fishermen enter the water the same way facing the same uncertainty, in dialogue with what cannot be seen.
This work is not about the moment of chaos.
It is about what comes after.
Rebuilding. Recovering stillness. Finding balance again.
The fisherman is not only bringing up a fish.
He is bringing up a possibility.
What do you think he found?
#OusmaneBa #ContemporaryArt #AfricanArt #JapaneseArt #SpiritualArt #FigurativeArt #Shiogama #AllianceFrançaise #sendai
Naissance d’une étoile anti gravitationnelle.
150 × 100 cm
Japanese washi on wood panel, ink and mineral pigment
One day, at the immigration office, I had a thought.
Everyone in that room was a potential dreamer.
Behind every file, there was a dream, an ambition, an invisible force.
This piece is about that power.
The power of those who carry a vision strong enough to transform their reality.
It was born from that energy.
From that silent strength.
From dreams that refuse to fall.
Ousmane Bâ speaks about why the body is a dominant figure in his visual language.
«Bodies are, for me, spiritual, aesthetic, and physical vectors. They are merely objects that make up my spaces of freedom.» — Ousmane Bâ
For him, the body becomes a site of transformation, carrying memory, emotion, migration, and becoming. It is through the body that layered identities take form and find movement.
Full episode coming soon.
#CreativeEncounters
Just came back from the presentation of my latest series, Afrikoyo-e, at @gallerythe41 in Brussels.
Afrikoyo-e emerges from my Guinean, Senegalese roots, carrying the spiritual memory of West Africa, while engaging in dialogue with my Japanese influences. Between memory, movement, and antigravity.
The exhibition exceeded expectations.
The response was strong.
The conversations were sharp, engaged, alive.
Brussels showed up.
Collectors showed up.
Energy showed up.
The show found its audience.
The impact was real.
Special thanks to @gallerythe41 and @bureauclinica for their precision, commitment, and the care invested in elevating this exhibition.
And thank you to everyone who came, supported, acquired, and engaged with the work.
Afrikoyo-e continues its expansion.
Ousmane Bâ
The Phenomenal Artist
MEET OUSMANE BÂ
A Franco-Senegalese artist based in Tokyo.
Tomorrow opens Afrikoyo e: The Floating Worlds of Ousmane Bâ — a poetic and political journey between a dreamed Africa and an ancient Japan.
Vernissage: tomorrow from 6pm
Gallery 41
41 rue Ernest Allard, 1000 Brussels
OPENING THIS WEEK — AFRIKOYO E
15.01 — Gallery 41, Brussels
“The Floating Worlds of Ousmane Bâ”
Opening: 15.01, 6:30PM–9:30PM
Rue Ernest Allard 41, 1000 Brussels
Gallery 41 is pleased to present Afrikoyo e – The Floating Worlds of Ousmane Bâ, opening this week in Brussels.
This exhibition marks a new chapter in Ousmane’s practice: a living archive shaped by years spent in Japan and born from the encounter between a dreamed Africa and an ancient Japan—two worlds whose resonances he reveals with rare sensitivity.
For this new body of work, Ousmane Bâ composes collages on traditional washi paper, where bodies, memories, and symbols drift freely, creating aesthetic solidarities between East and South. Hybrid silhouettes, ritual motifs, and textured raw materials converge to form poetic and political portals, rethinking art histories, inherited narratives, and layered identities.
“I liberate the body. The present becomes myth.”
More than a title, Afrikoyo e is a cartography—bridging Dakar and Kyoto, Saint-Louis and Tokyo. Both intimate and universal, it speaks to diasporas, collectors, and artists seeking new visual languages.
The exhibition will be on view from 15 January.
I dropped by Ousmane’s studio at Toshima city.
Ousmane Bâ is a Franco-Guinean-Senegalese artist based in Japan.
His work fascinates me. Bold and familiar yet poetic and unknown. Always a pleasure Ousmane. 🖤👊🏾
“His work explores the notion of antigravity — visual, spiritual, and political — through painting, handmade Typha-Washi paper, installation, and performance.
His floating figures, suspended between Africa and Japan, embody a poetic tension between liberation and memory.”
Looking forward to hosting him at @t_wabisato
#twabisato #notopeninsula #blurringboundaries
Why do you create art?
“I create art because it is the only way I know to hold the invisible.
For me, the canvas is not a surface; it is a threshold.
When I paint, when I cut paper, when I suspend a body in air, I am not merely shaping forms: I am trying to free energies, memories, spirits that have nowhere else to exist.
I grew up between worlds, Africa, Europe, Japan, and I often felt like gravity itself was a law trying to pin me down, to fix me somewhere I didn’t belong.
My art is my rebellion.
It is how I refuse to be reduced, how I create new ground where I can both stand and float.
I do not create to decorate life.
I create because the world is too heavy, and we need spaces where the body can rise, where silence can breathe, where ancestors and future generations can speak together.
Art, for me, is not optional.
It is survival. It is my way of remembering, of resisting, of imagining.
Without it, I would remain earthbound.
With it, I can levitate and invite others to do the same.” — Guido Ousmane
Contini, Tokyo, Japan @ousmane_the1st@artistsoncouches
#guidoousmanecontini #artistsoncouches #artisttalk #conversationswithartists #meettheartist #artistlife #purposeofart #artistssupportartists #artlife #artistsoninstagram #onthecouch#artistsupportpost #artcommunity #artistcommunity #artistspotlight #artspotlight #todaysartreport
I still can’t believe it. Being interviewed by @sereeeenam for @ginzamagazine alongside @helenartpaints about my work at @le19m Tokyo for @chanel is a moment I will never forget. Thank you @takachrome for this beautiful production and @studioikono@ikonoart for making this journey possible.
/watch?v=LGUqudPSpCk
/categories/promotion/539048
To everyone with dreams, passion, and purpose: never give up, keep pushing, be stubborn, surround yourself with people who believe in you, stay awake.
This year was one of the hardest of my life. Sales dropped, financial struggles piled up, illness entered my family. There were moments when everything felt blocked, when doubt crept in.
But here we are. Everything unlocked.
Today, my exhibition with @chanel at @le19m Tokyo. New commissions. The love from my supporters who come see my work every day. This is a new dawn, a new chapter in my career, carried by immense joy and pure energy.
What makes this exhibition so special is that it’s not just about sharing space. It’s a spiritual, conceptual exchange, a dialogue between Japanese houses and French creation at Tokyo City View & Mori Arts Center Gallery, a place dedicated to the beauty of this world.
To everyone going through darkness: remember that dawn always breaks through the night.
My exhibition is still ongoing. Thank you to everyone who continues to show up. You’re part of this rebirth.
#laGaleriedu19MTokyo #CHANEL #ginzamagazine #artistjourney #newbeginnings #inspiration #artexhibition #tokyo
I'm absolutely thrilled to share some incredible news! I'll be part of CHANEL presents la galerie @le19m Tokyo – Beyond Our Horizons, opening September 30, 2025 at the prestigious @moriartmuseum Art Museum!
This is honestly such an exciting milestone in my artistic journey. Being featured in a @chanelofficial presentation at one of Tokyo's most renowned museums feels pretty surreal, and I couldn't be more excited to share this moment with you all!
**MY WORK**
I'll be unveiling "Les Gardiens des Mondes Invisibles," a piece that's incredibly close to my heart, featuring three elemental figures inspired by Senegalese rabs. It's this beautiful dance between ritual tradition and contemporary expression that I've been developing.
**EXHIBITION DETAILS**
Opens to the public: September 30, 2025
Location: @moriartmuseum , Tokyo
Reservations: visit.mam-tcv-macg-hills.com
**CATALOGS**
Standard catalog available at opening
Deluxe edition coming later with stunning image
**MEET ME THERE**
I'll be present at the exhibition on October 6! I'm so looking forward to meeting everyone, chatting about the work, and sharing this incredible experience together. photographs by @sebastien.lebegue
Mark your calendars because this is going to be something truly special!#CHANEL #galeriedu19m #galeriedu19mtokyo #moriartmuseum #beyondourhorizons #tokyoexhibition #chaneltokyo #Ousmaneba #ContemporaryArt #BlackArtists #DiasporaVoices #artcollectors
