While some artists chose to flee the civil war, I decided to stay and continue working despite the danger. I worked in an artist’s studio right next to the Golf Hotel [Ouattara’s headquarters during the post-electoral crisis], I could hear the bullets zipping through the air while I painted. When the shooting got too heavy, I hid in the cellar and I tried to imagine what was going on. As soon as things calmed down I would go back upstairs and paint everything I had in mind. Whenever I was able to go outside, I would paint everything I saw as soon as I returned. Some of my paintings were also inspired from footage I saw on the news or the Internet.

 

"My role is to observe and paint. If I can’t do that, then I’m lost"


This painting is the first in a series I made. It came at the very start of the unrest. Its title, “Election Poison”, meant that the loser should have accepted his defeat fairly. I don’t support any specific party, and I did my best to keep out of the conflict. Throughout the crisis, I went outdoors with a white band on my wrist to stress the point that I was an apolitical civilian. That’s why I didn’t paint any politician’s names on the canvases, because everyone has his share of responsibility in the conflict. My role is to observe and paint. If I can’t do that, then I’m lost.


I particularly like this painting because its colours are very joyful, despite the colours of the crisis it depicts. During the months of conflict, there were some positive moments, like when UN patrols came to ask us if we had enough food or whether we wanted to be evacuated. It was a heart-warming relief to most people to know that we weren’t abandoned, and I wanted to express that in my painting. In the background, you can see houses covered in bullet marks. It looks like they are crying.