Ousmane Niang transposes in a series of artworks gathered under the title L’heure du regard (The Time of the Gaze), his own observations of the climate of sociopolitical tensions that reigns within Senegalese society, finding a wider echo at the international scale. The artist tackles the issue of the exodus of young people and talent from the African continent amidst the indifference of its leaders.
As related by film director Mati Diop in her movie Atlantics (2019), Niang suggests with his dots the history of a youth that struggles to cope in a world where powerful men only care about their personal wealth and self-interest, stepping over the obstacles to their ambitions. In their tailor-made suits and perfectly tied ties, their gaze stares at the horizon without crossing anyone else. Hence, L'heure du regard urges them to lower their eyes, step out of their palaces and be aware of social realities.
Niang displays the screams of those who, left behind, become candidates for exile, attempting to escape a system that does not support them. His brushes claim that the solution is not to leave but to develop natural resources and individual abilities. Visually as symbolically, the nails hammered into the wooden panels stand as a metaphor for the human mass. They appear tied together in an impression of solidarity.
Visitors witness bribing and unofficial agreements that seemingly plague current policies (Accord politique, 2024). The canvases, marked with Niang’s characteristic sense of humour borrowing its codes to social satire, recall the urgent need to act to hold back a nation out of breath. Reacting to the impotent gaze of the victims of the lack of action against poverty and inequality, the artist unveils the three mainstays from which a sustainable economy might arise. Working the soil, knowledge and savvy apprenticeship arise under his brushes as the answer to a silent suffering that sometimes ends up tragically.
Ultimately, if Niang used to visually evoke the existence of solutions to the problems of society without naming them, he exposes in L’heure du regard that the key to overcoming systemic poverty lies in unity and hard work.
