Ndary Lô's Récupération and the Lives of Things

Dana Liljegren's essay in Afterall Journal 50 examines the Senegalese practice of artistic récupération—the reclamation and reuse of materials—focusing on the late Ndary Lô (1961–2017). Lô, a prominent récupérateur, created sculptures from reclaimed rebar, horseshoes, dolls, and bones, exploring spirituality, humanity, and ecological entanglement. His philosophy, Daptaïsme, emphasized adapting to one's environment and respect for other cultures. The essay contrasts Lô's view of objects having multiple lives with Michael Thompson's rubbish theory and François Dagognet's concept of réhabilitation. Lô's large-scale work Maternité (2001–02) uses recovered rebar and doll heads to comment on motherhood, consumerism, and cyclical processes. His recurring motif of the walking man (marcheur), inspired by a 1996 trip to Europe, reflects motion and migration. Lô, a practicing Muslim, saw the Qur'an as instrumental to his practice, creating figures open to the sky and God. The essay traces récupération's origins to the 1970s Laboratoire Agit'Art collective in Dakar, predating the term's emergence in the 1990s.