Sewonou, Yao Fofo, born in 1965 in Togo, "Chef" This portrait of a man shows a head with a bandage around it and an injured eye. A printed word sticks demonstratively on the nose: cement. Whether this is related to an alleged injury remains open. Other applied fragments on the picture form the collage technique often used by the artist with packs and of other unidentifiable sorts of recycled material. (*The title is meant to be descriptive and not by the artist).

“My subjects have to be observed – their faces give us away – love, happiness, sadness, disappointment. It's looking into people's eyes that inspires me."
Sewonou's subjects appear very calm - her gestures are minimal - a hand on a shoulder or around the waist, a bowed head - Sewonou invites us to share emotions with his portrayed characters, in order to reflect on our own emotions.
Sewonou has a great sense of humor. While his human subjects tend to stare straight at us, his other favorite subjects - Pisces - are busy living human lives: finding a soulmate, playing basketball or drums, jumping rope, riding a bike, selling wares at the market, enjoying themselves at the bar drink and dance. His inspiration comes from the proliferation of the sea spirit Mami Wata in voodoo belief systems and other religions practiced along the coast of West Africa.
Sewonou is a self-taught artist who has been developing his own techniques since the early 2000s. You could also define it as a kind of material collage, using found image or advertising and packaging material again in your pictures.

2019
Galerie Pépites d'Afrique, Paris, France
African Art Beats Inaugural Exhibit, Washington DC
2018
SIAO - the International Arts and Handicrafts Trade Show of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
2017
La Maison Rouge, Cotonou, Bénin
2016
Gugel Gallery, Lomé, Togo
2013
Hotel Mercure Sarakawa, Lomé, Togo
Goethe-Institut, Lomé
2012
Francophonie, Alliance Française, Accra, Ghana
2007
L’autre regard, Solo exhibition, Centre culturel français, Lomé, Togo
Best of ArtHaus School, Goethe-Institut, Accra, Chana
Gbagba Art Foundation, Hotel Novotel, Accra, Chana
Exhibit at the French Embassy, Lomé, Togo

Technique : mixed media on canvas

Height: 100 cm
Broad: 60 cm