Photography by Nuits Balnéaires
MIGRATION AND IDENTITY
Text written by Haja Fanta
Curated by Fatima Jobe
Scenography by Deep
Migration and Identity by multidisciplinary artist Djibril Drame is a layered exploration of movement and belonging. Through a constructed combination of photography, textile, collage, and screenprinting, Drame traverses the ways in which migration shapes identity, offering a nuanced meditation on his own migration across multiple geographies. Born out of a period of introspection after 15 years of evolving work, this body of work also represents a restitching and consolidation of Djibril Drame's artistic practice. It gathers the threads of his journey, uniting past explorations into a representation of what it means to carry many identities today.
The exhibition assembles a range of materials, most notably plastic-woven rice bags—objects that not only migrate from place to place but serve as vessels, carrying a life-sustaining grain shared across communities. These bags, alongside textiles woven by Aïssa Dione and Johanna Bramble, that feature black and red prints of the decorative pattern toile de Jouy, act as visual backdrops to the images that encapsulate Drame’s own artistic and migratory journey. Previous works, such as Ruuk Diskettes in Dem Dikk Via Vai and Ndeweneul, are echoed here; however, the conversation Drame is establishing is firmly rooted in the present. The reusing of these materials and images suggests new ways in which we can embrace our interconnectedness.
Through this work, Drame presents fresh, open-ended ideas about the multiple worlds that have collided through displacement, colonialism, and movement, and how their ongoing convergence continually reshapes his self-perception. He forges an evocative connection between the materiality of movement and the intangible aspects of identity. The carefully layered materials invite audiences to consider what new identities that are born out of the artifacts they hold within.
Photography by Nuits Balnéaires