Thierry Oussou x Opera Village Africa x European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut 2024

02.02.2024

We are delighted to present the first artist of the Fine Art Residency of the interdisciplinary project DECONFINING as a partner of the European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut 2024:

Thierry Oussou (Benin) received an art education at the Rijksakademie in the Netherlands. As a visual and conceptual artist, his practice encompasses a variety of media and shows great interest in professions that are marginalized and overlooked. In general, his research is based on tangible and intangible heritage that has been forgotten by institutions or local communities, seeking to understand the erasures and continuities of the past in the present. The intersection of memory, archives, community life, colonial influences on African society are all part of his work. From cotton workers to public transport drivers, his visual investigation aims to emphasize, or rather make visible, the different working conditions and how they influence the society we live in.

Last December, Thierry Oussou spent a month in the Operndorf Afrika and was able to bring the impressions he had gathered and the works he had created back to the Salzkammergut in Bad Ischl. In Burkina Faso, he collaborated with local seamstresses, potters and bronze casters, among others. We would like to share some of his impressions and insights into his work with you here!