According to Albert Camus, in the story Jonas or the Artist at Work, a single letter can change everything between solitary and solidary.
From 8 November to 21 December 2024, MAGNIN-A gallery is devoting the first ever exhibition to Fabrice Monteiro's entire photographic series The Prophecy. On this occasion, the gallery will be presenting the 18 photographs in the series, which constitute powerful, dreamlike messages.
We don't usually see them. We can't see them. On the garbage dumps of Dakar, on the oil slicks polluting the seas, on the beaches scarred by the sharp edge of household products, at the bottom of Australia's decaying Great Barrier Reef, or in the rivers and soils of Colombia, corrupted by mercury, the spirits are there. Everywhere on the planet, especially in Senegal where, in 2013, Fabrice Monteiro discovered the consequences of uncontrolled globalisation, Nature is taking on the features of West African masquerades. Faced with the current ecological tragedy, these spirits, the Djinns, express complaint, pain, revolt or contemplation. In this way, The Prophecy constitutes the artist's visions.
The care taken by Fabrice Monteiro with the locations, the way the costumes are made and the expressions of the characters reveals a concern for narrative: telling a story that combines animism and ecology. The exhibition at MAGNIN-A gallery features an installation of the costume worn by the spirit of Prophecy 14, as well as a video documenting the production process. This particularly striking prophecy depicts an avian dance, that of a spirit with black and yellow plumage, on the arid land of Texas where coal mining is endangering life and ransacking the sacred tombs of the indigenous peoples.
A prophecy is a word. It foretells an event, but here the catastrophe has already happened. Fabrice Monteiro's photographs are part of a discourse. Nature speaks, the artist translates: ‘We need to find a new way of being in the world. This way of exploiting and torturing nature in the name of sacrosanct growth is no longer possible. The world is exhausted. We need to heed the call of the spirits and gauge the urgency of this challenge, which goes to the essential. Let's dare to reinvent ourselves.’
His experiences in fashion have certainly given him an artistic eye for light, postures and clothes, but apart from the forms and content of the message, it's the destination that's important to Fabrice Monteiro. A prophecy must be deciphered. Initially conceived as a tale, it must arouse children's astonishment, reflection and curiosity, leading to an invitation to debate.
Each photograph carries its message: decarbonisation, concern for future generations, respect for ancestral cultures, and anti-colonial approaches to preservation. Each photograph, therefore, is the result of extensive documentation of local issues. From vodoun cult originating in Benin to the spiritual motifs of ancient Egypt, Fabrice Monteiro's work is a world within the world, a spectacular microcosm that aims to build bridges between cultures and people, to change lives, as, in the words of Albert Camus in the short story Jonas or the Artist at Work, a single letter can change everything between solitary and solidary.
