Louis Barthélemy’s tapestries capture the sublimity and dynamism of Senegalese wrestling

Louis Barthélemy is no stranger to dualities. His new exhibition ‘Mbër Yi / The Wrestlers’ at the Théodore Monod African Art Museum in Dakar reflects, as he tells Wallpaper*, ‘a powerful communion of intertwined bodies with nature’. He explores an ‘omnipresent duality between light and dark, life and death, mastery and abandonment in the game’.

The multidisciplinary artist and designer moved to Cairo in 2017 and has a deep commitment to the preservation and revival of traditional crafts threatened by globalisation. As is typical of his tapestry work, this new series mixes, he says, ‘different cultural influences: the rites and symbols of Senegalese wrestling, the dexterity of Egyptian know-how in the realisation of the “Khayamiya” hangings, responding to the tapestries, also appliquéd [and found in the museum], from the kingdom of Danhomè, together linked by the particular interest I have in the exercise of colour, drawing and for humankind’.

It was a trip to Dakar in 2019 that inspired the conception of ‘Mbër Yi / The Wrestlers’. Curious about Senegalese wrestling (làmb in Wolof) and the mystical beliefs tied to it, Barthélemy approached a wrestler on the beach and forged a relationship. ‘I would meet the wrestlers at sunset each evening of my stay to observe their training programme and was allowed to visually document it with my camera,’ he says. ‘These moments spent with the wrestlers allowed me to better understand their condition, their aspiration, and the universe in which they evolve. A universe steeped in sacredness, the sublime, respect for ancestors and the forces of nature’.

The result is a move away from his usual style. The artist, who has previously worked with the likes of Christian Louboutin, Maison Pierre Frey and Balineum, describes ‘the movement during the fight creating a profusion of colours shifting on the sand track’, inviting him to ‘drift away from the figurative which predominantly defines my work and explore the abstract’. 

During his stay, Barthélemy browsed the markets and collected a range of bazin – a shiny woven fabric often used in traditional Senegal dress. He had the desire to rework the pieces back in Cairo for his Khayamiya tapestries, a type of appliquéd textile used historically to create decorated tents in the Middle East. However, the closing of borders during Covid-19 limited his choices. ‘I did play around initially [with] the colour palette I had brought to Cairo from Dakar. I enjoy having restrictions that can frame the creative process. It allows [me] to make decisions and be resourceful.’

When borders reopened, Barthélemy was able to purchase further pieces of bazin in Goutte d’Or, the West African area of Paris, in the 18th arrondissement. He sourced the fabrics from a popular manufacturer called Getzner, and took them back to Egypt to create the tapestries. 

Through his creations, Barthélemy, who divides his time between Marrakesh, Cairo and Paris, aims to celebrate intercultural communication and encourage ‘opening up to others’. ‘The series stitches a thread from Cairo to Dakar and dialogues with [the heritage of textiles] made on both sides of the African continent, all commissioned and produced in the past to convey power and spiritual messages.’

Louis Barthélemy’s ‘Mbër Yi / The Wrestlers’ will continue at the Théodore Monod African Art Museum (IFAN) in Dakar until March 2023. A second iteration will be staged at MCC Gallery in Marrakech from the 28 April 2023, including new appliquéd tapestries produced in Cairo, drawings and a performance. louisbarthelemy.com