Ndéyé Kouagou's First Italian Solo Exhibition at Collezione Maramotti Explores Language and Doubt

Collezione Maramotti in Italy hosts Ndéyé Kouagou's debut solo exhibition in the country, titled 'Ghosts of the Moment', from 3 May to 26 July 2026. The Paris-based artist presents recent works and new commissions that merge text, performance, and image to investigate meaning's instability and contemporary subjectivity. In an interview with ART AFRICA, Kouagou explains her language-driven practice stems from a background in writing and a desire for artistic freedom, using inexpensive media like text and performance to engage audiences. She emphasizes honesty and doubt as central to her process, creating unreliable voices to challenge authority and invite viewer reflection. A new body of work inspired by the fotoromanzo format allows images to shift meaning through altered captions or text bubbles. Humour serves as a tool to make complex themes accessible, balancing unease that arises from doubt. Performances often feature a character voiced by Portuguese-Zimbabwean actress Salber Lee Williams, acting as a vessel for collective feelings, while a new character in the exhibition is dubbed by Hana Hussein, reflecting a first-generation African descendant in the Netherlands. Kouagou's narratives resist resolution, prioritizing ambiguity and open-endedness to foster collective questioning. The exhibition is part of Fotografia Europea 2026, highlighting Kouagou's focus on decentralisation and looking elsewhere as strategies to explore difference.