The Shadowless Cry

The Shadowless Cry is a project that will take place in Ekpui, Togo, in which Kokou Ferdinand Makouvia wants to (re)connect with the ancestral technique of weaving and basketry known as Kévi. In this technique, rush is picked from the pond and then soaked in a paste of wood ash to make it more pliable after drying. After lying in the sun for several days, the dried rush is crushed to make it as flat as possible until the desired suppleness is achieved. This material becomes the material for a series of new sculptures.

Kokou Ferdinand graduated from the Beaux-Arts de Paris, and is currently in residence at De Ateliers in Amsterdam. The distant influence of the traditional Mina culture has led Ferdinand Makouvia to pursue an intensive inquiry into the subtle materiality of all that exists. This exploration has given rise to a close collaboration with materiality in all its states. Ferdinand Makouvia works as both a meticulous craftsman and a tenacious alchemist. In his sculptural practice as in his performance works, he acts as a go-between, moving back and forth across a dichotomy between the shaping of matter and the channeling of energy.