By Saly.D, 2021

Sambou is my father's older brother, it's funny how they both have the same voice and traits. Those are the only things they have in common.

Despite his position as village chief, he is not a born leader like my father. He does not rule anyone with an iron fist. He is gentle in his speech and suggests his advice while leaving it up to others to implement as they see fit. This is what happened when my father chose to leave the village to build his future in France. Nfaba had told him "we have no family in France, no home. Stay here and get married. If I tell you this today, it is above all the fruit of colonization (obviously) but it is also because my father made his own choice. "One has to be the first in the family" he had confidently replied to his older brother.

I always knew Nfaba with a closed eye. An accident of course when living in a region where to feed yourself you still have to hunt with a gun. In 2015, I had the great opportunity to see my uncle again, to discuss with him, to discover his sensitivity and to drink in all his paternal attentions. I was able to see from whom I had drawn my work force, watching this elderly uncle continue to go to the field daily to maintain it.

What a joy it was to learn recently from my father that Nfaba Sambou was actually still brave and healthy. I continue to hope that it will stay that way until we meet again.

PRESENTATION OF THE ARTIST

Saly.D is an Afropean painter who draws her inspiration in her double culture. Self-taught, she tried many forms of art, before seeing painting as her main means of communication in 2007.

To trace the course of its parents becomes a visceral question at an age when one is torn between the different aspects of one's individuality: a black woman, the daughter of senegalese parents living in a Parisian suburb. Her art accompanies above all in a quest for identity, a return to little known roots. It is a question of discovering the environment and the family past which finally seem mysterious to her.