Soimadou Ibrahim: Farewell Savane

Soimadou Ibrahim was born in France in 1989 and lived until the age of 10 on the island of Grande Comore (Ngazidja), the largest island in the Comoros archipelago, located between Madagascar and Mozambique in southeast Africa. Living on a small island fostered a strong sense of community collaboration and an eye for the complexity of human race issues. His works are based on his African roots.

As seen in the piece “Jardin next door”, the Comoro Islands are a beautiful place where bananas and palm trees grow everywhere, and Ibrahim often incorporates this scene into the background of his paintings. The people in the paintings are the family and friends who live far away on the Comoros Islands, and who were photographed during his travels. These archival photographs, mixed with the memories and sometimes imagination, express the nostalgia for home, the universal love for family, and the bonds of community. For example, in the piece “Mp3 Files”, Ibrahim’s cousin can be seen with a cellphone, which is one of the most important means of communication with family members who live far away across the ocean but also represents the attachment and addiction that can occur in anyone. The title of the main piece of the exhibition “Better late than never”, carries the meaning of “it is never too late to say goodbye”. It tells the story of Ibrahim’s uncle who returns to Comoros, his precious “savannah”, from a faraway land to say goodbye to his dying mother. The uncle could not be there to see the last moments of his mother’s life. However, the title conveys Ibrahim’s message that no matter how far away you are, it is the act of doing so that counts. With a faint smile on his face and sunglasses to hide his expression, the uncle seems to be saying to mother, “I will take care of what is coming, so don’t worry”.

Ibrahim aims to express the richness of discovering the simple pleasures of life by imaginatively combining portraits of those close to him, with the beautiful scenery of the Comoros Islands. Finding, capturing, and reproducing individual personality traits is what keeps him painting, returning to his roots even when he is far away from home, focusing on the beauty of nature everywhere, reinforcing his ideas, and allowing him to be himself. The bold strokes and the use of vivid colors reflect the design skills and expertise acquired by Ibrahim at the university and teach us the importance of sustaining memory and keeping it alive. 

The title of the exhibition, “Farewell Savane”, was inspired by the song “Savane” from the last solo album by Ali Farka Touré, a Malian singer to whom Ibrahim usually listens while painting. Touré says, “Whenever I walk in the desert, I stop to think about how the once rich savannah was destroyed by the drought and transformed into a desert. There is no green, no grass, no trees in the desert. But no matter which country I go to, there is no place that can compare to my savannah. How can I express this feeling?”. Ibrahim adds, “We all have stories and nostalgic scenery in our mind, and the comfort we feel when we encounter them. Whenever we travel somewhere, the tastes smells, and places we encounter on our journey strengthen our identity and make us nostalgic”. Can the universal love of home, family, and friends transcend race, ideology, and ethnicity and become a means to fight the division? We hope you enjoy this exhibition.

VENUE: KOTARO NUKAGA (2F Piramide Bldg., 6-6-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032)
HOURS: 11:00 a.m.– 6:00 p.m. (closed on Monday, Sunday, Holidays)