Art is an essential part of Le Korsa’s work, from running the artists’ residency at Thread to supporting art classes at Les Foyers des Tambacounda. A new initiative, led by Tambacounda office director Massamba Camara, is to enliven public spaces across Tambacounda by contracting artists to paint murals on the city’s walls, and to do so with input from the population.

As Massamaba writes, “In a city where the formal education rate is low and we have many local languages, promoting visual art can be a means of communicating and also making the city more attractive. The aim of the paintings is to highlight some important challenges that we face.”

Of the painting above, Massamba says, “This first one is about the national park, Niokolo koba. It shows the importance of protecting rare animals. Part of protecting rare animals and wildlife in general is to protect the trees and the flora. That’s what explains the kind of dialogue between this painting and the green space. It’s like the animal is hidden behind the two planted trees.”

We hope to have artists paint two more sites this fall; what follows below is an exhibition, with Massamba’s explanations, of some of the work achieved so far. The paintings were made by Aliou Niang, an English teacher and artist.