CENTRO PECCI

Until August 23, Centro Pecci has the pleasure of hosting KENE/Spazio, a project by the Ivorian artist Mohamed Keita sponsored by the non-profit organisation Fondazione Pianoterra Onlus, and curated by Sara Alberani. The exhibition, which starts in Prato and will then travel to the cities of Milan, Rome and Naples, stems from a unique project of its kind. 

 The photographer Mohamed Keita, 26, from the Ivory Coast, arrived in Rome in 2010 as a political refugee. His encounter with photography represented a turning point and it soon became a profession, which Mohamed decided to share with others using art as an urban research tool and as a means of social transformation. This gave rise to KENE (which in Mandingo means Space), a journey that took Keita to Africa, to Bamako in Mali, to create a space where young people can learn photography as a starting point on a path to primary education and cultural growth. In summer 2017, thanks to a meeting with the Fondazione Pianoterra, Keita involved 10 young people in a photography workshop in the district of Kanadjikila, establishing an equal relationship with his students.  Photography represents an exchange, rendering, listening and participation, as well as a work opportunity:  Kené is a place of education, cooperation, and operational knowledge which trains Mali’s young people in the power of photography. “With the courses, material and cameras, we provide the youth of Kanadjikila with the tools to tell stories first and foremost about themselves and their world,” explains Keita. 

The exhibition documents this experience through 5 photographs by Mohamed Keita - whose photographs have been displayed for example at the 14th edition of the international festival FotoGrafia in Rome, London, at the Italian Institute of Culture, and at Palazzo Querini, in the Rothko exhibition in Lampedusa, and at the 58th Art Biennale in Venice. There will be around 50 images produced by the young students in Mali. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a website (www.studiokene.org) and a publication full of images, which highlights the project journey of participation and self-narration and will include texts by Sara Alberani, Alessia Bulgari, Marco Delogu, Mohamed Keita, Yves Lègal, Cristiana Perrella, Alessandro Triulzi and Dagmawi Yimer. It is not just a testimony of the exhibition, but a real diary of what has been achieved in Bamako. The project will also be accompanied by a series of workshops in schools and educational centres for the territory’s young people.  By purchasing one of the works on display you can participate in this adventure by supporting the workshop activities being carried out by the group in Mali, and contribute to community development understood in the broadest sense, with water purification interventions and actions to promote women's rights and health.

When

February 21, 2020 －August 23, 2020

Opening

wednesday Februaray 19, 6:30pm