Exhibition - “Blackground. Murmures des Mornes” at CAPC Bordeaux

In recent years, a large number of movements, demands, crises, and debates have emerged as signs that France’s colonization of the territories now known as “overseas territories,” beginning in the 16th century, shapes the present—this is referred to as the “colonial continuum.” This also means that the system of slavery established in these same territories beginning in the 17th century, coupled with the development of the so-called “slave trade,” left deep scars on the land, bodies, and minds, even after its official abolition in 1848. Curated by Cédric Fauq and Salma Mochtari, the exhibition Blackground: Murmures des Mornes at CAPC Bordeaux brings together nearly fifty artists who draw inspiration from the lingering legacies of colonial slavery.

On this occasion, Pap Souleye Fall conceived a large-scale in-situ groundnut sculpture, GUERTÉ TOUBAB BOU ÑOROUL, emblematic of his practice. Through these monumental peanuts, Fall evokes the history of Senegal’s peanut monoculture, with its intertwined narratives of economic prosperity and exploited labor, drawing on Jori Lewis’s book Slaves for Peanuts. Beyond historiography, these works function as vessels for found objects, popular visual culture, and the artist’s personal archives, poised to be launched into the metaverse. Fall places particular importance on the notion of the prototype, preferring to describe these works as such in order to preserve their potential for constant transformation and evolution.

The exhibition is on view until March 28, 2027 at CAPC Bordeaux.

Photo: Arthur Pequin for CAPC.