AKINBIYI, Akinbode; FOURIE, Abrie
Passage – A song.

What do we hear? Can we hear the stories that emanate from the visual information? Are we projecting from our memories or closing our ears to the cries? Can we hear the noise of the place or the deafening silence? What is the sound we hear in silence? In December 2021, Akinbode Akinbiyi and Abrie Fourie, in the run-up to a coup d’état in Burkina Faso, the artists worked parallel on a photographic investigation of the geography and social topography of Oubritenga & Ouagadougou—considering the dreams manifested by Thomas Sankara then and the reality of the economic malaise of the 21st century. Thomas Sankara is considered “Africa’s Che Guevara.” Despite Sankara’s assassination (1987), the belief in revolutionary renewal is ever present in Burkina Faso. Through this Sankara lens, the project and collaboration listen and meditate on his heritage.

The publication follows the eponymous exhibition by Nigerian-British photographer Akinbode Akinbiyi and South African artist Abrie Fourie both based in Berlin, a curatorial collaboration between Musée de la Musique Georges Ouédraogo, Ouagadougou, and Der Projektraum Scharaun, Berlin. [publishers’ note]

Published by Archive Books, 2024
Exhibition Catalogues / Photography