"Bonaparte élegance", Vanitas project, 2014

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Description

aluminium print,
In Sambu’s “Vanitas” project (2010-2017) the pictures of the Sapeurs posing in various cemeteries immerses us in a utopian universe of being and appearing, a universe where narcissism (the extreme love of self) and the respect of the other (being alive or dead) coincide.

“Vanitas” shows us the spiritual and human dimension of the “La Sape” movement, where collectivism and individualism merge, and where the very meanings of tradition and memory are readdressed in poignant terms.

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Comparing literature

https://www.ngola-biennial.org/Participants/Yves-Sambu https://www.vice.com/de/article/9bmzaz/die-eitelkeit-von-kinshasas-sapeuren-yves-sambu-161

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Exhibition

"African Odyssey", Le Brass, Brussels, Belgium, Curator Louis Vuitton Fondation & M. A. Yensi, 2015; "Vanité Apparente", Afropean Mimicry-mockery, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany, 2015

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