My Visit to the Artist's Village in Dakar

I want to write a bit about a wonderful place I visited while I was in Dakar, Senegal. It is called Village Des Arts Senegal. This means Artist's Village of Senegal. It is a little tiny borough within the city of Dakar with several large buildings divided into small studios. Artists in residence there receive a small stipend from the government. They also have a gallery/museum that showcases all of their work. It is a great atmosphere of artist's working and sharing together.

They way the studios are setup there are several large courtyard areas where you will run into many of the artists. Floating in the air (as in many parts of the city) is the smell of burning incense. It makes for a great afternoon of viewing art. There are a lot of amazing artists and a lot of amazing work being made here, I was able to go there twice during my stay in Dakar and met with some interesting people. 

This is a mural on a wall near the entrance to the Artist's Village (I added the text at the top). Definitely visit the website for this group and support them. There is also a good video in a Guardian story about The Artist's Village.

The picture below is Serge Mienandi on the left & me on the right (wearing a t-shirt featuring my artwork). Serge is one of the artists with a studio space at the village. He is a very nice man and we had lunch together with some good friends. I was able to buy a couple of his smaller paintings on paper. Also the hat I am wearing I bought in Dakar, it is a very popular style of stocking cap that many men wear there.

Artists Serge Mienandi and Ed Tajchman 2013