In Communion

Mariama Conteh, Courage Hunke, Léonard Pongo, Kwaku Yaro, Charlotte Yonga

Septieme Paris is pleased to present In Communion, an exhibition produced in conjunction with 31 Project.

Communion – of ideas, feelings, souls or spirits – brings people together at a time when individuals need to rethink their relationship with the world.

31 Project and Septieme galleries collaborate on an exhibition featuring a communion of visions through the work of five artists: Mariama Conteh, Courage Hunke, Léonard Pongo, Kwaku Yaro and Charlotte Yonga.

By creating the opportunity to experiment together with a form of cross-disciplinary practices, 31 Project and Septieme aim to make their profession resonate with cohesion and sisterhood.

Communion, as an alliance of thoughts and feelings, generates community and strengthens each of its constituent entities. It cements ensembles, creating the human mesh necessary for all natural, material and spiritual productions. This is what each of the artists in this exhibition seeks to explore in a variety of meaningful media.

Mariama Conteh's work draws her inspiration from her genealogy and that of her community, whether friendly, familial, intellectual or artistic, exploring intimate and collective memory; while Courage Hunke's works, through a process of superimposing multiple amalgams of plastic and paper bags from his environment, form a collective allegory of memory. Léonard Pongo, as a photographer, addresses the idea of communion around a grandiose ode to Congolese natural landscapes, imbued with a sense of magical beauty. Kwaku Yaro portrays the pride and resilience of his community in the working-class Labadi district of Accra, through patchworks of recycled bags sewn onto traditional mats, which are used by the Ghanaian, and more broadly West African community, to host the highlights of their lives: sleeping, praying and eating. Finally, Charlotte Yonga's photographic and drawing work focuses on individuals and their territories; tinged with a documentary tradition, she explores the links between community and environment.