I travelled to Burkina Faso in order to hold an exhibition in my uncle’s village, situated 1hour from the capital Ouagadougou, in the outskirts of Koulgorin.
There, my uncle Issaca lives with his 3 wives, and 10 children. He is the head of the village; he stands above Adama, Karim and Seidu all with 3 wives, and a collaboration of 27children. Karim has left the village to work on a plantation in the Ivory Coast, and unfortunately Seidu passed away this summer leaving his 10 children fatherless.
I wanted to hold an exhibition in the village, as I realised that my family there knew nothing of our life here. When we arrive in the village ‘nazarrra’ is screamed by the children, which means white people, as my mother being a Colombian stands out among the family, and my hair and clothes, features don’t quite match theirs.
The family are from the Mossi tribe, and they speak moorè. The Mossi are one of the biggest ethnic groups in Burkina Faso, which has up to 63 groups in total.
They have no idea how I live, and what my London can be like. I wanted to show, and share what I could with them. I wanted to make them my critics, curators, and audience.
I am in the process of editing and captioning the images, so that they can be displayed in a book. Although, I have yet to decide how else I would like to present the project. There are 3 sections to the project, the photos of my London, images of life in the village/family, and the exhibition day itself.
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