Today, I want to share with you something really cool I did! I went to see Icônes by Vincent Bloch. He had his expo at Goethe Institut here in Dakar, and asked me to come. Of course, I was excited to go and wanted to bring you along. Icônes is all about futuristic female African icones. He looks at the women of tomorrow whom he has redrawn by using edited digital images. I definitely loved seeing it, and use Vincent’s creations to make something of my own. Let’s go through Icônes by Vincent Bloch!
Icônes by Vincent Bloch
After having presented 2148, the photographer Vincent Bloch stands as an archeologist of the future and invites us to meet his icons. The exposition Icônes by Vincent Bloch, shows us his view on the women of tomorrow whom he has redrawn by using edited digital images. Woman 4.0 comprises strong women, tribe chiefs, warriors, they fiercely feature the new code of femininity. What I loved most is that the women are all black, African and represent strength and fierceness.
Vincent Bloch
Vincent Bloch is a France-born photographer that lives in Dakar. He went to the School of Fine Arts in Cergy and started as a Graphic Designer. In order to pay for his studies, he worked for the editorial board of a magazine as a photo archivist. At one point, he left France for Africa. He went to Kenya and Zimbabwe as a cameraman and got attached to the continent. He then continues to do international fashion photography, music video and of course, editing and retouching photo’s. Today Vincent is based in Paris and Dakar, and collaborates as a retoucher photographer, director
artists, advertising agencies and NGOs. At the same time, he develops
personal projects, such as exhibitions and expands his portfolio.
Icônes
For Vincent Bloch, Icônes is a way to celebrate African beauty. He did not want to celebrate the beauty of African women in a conventional way, nor did he want to fetishize African women. Which is great! We love it when black women are being genuinely celebrated, and that is why I think it was amazing to attend icônes by Vincent Bloch. Other than that, Vincent made it his mission to address pollution and the problem of plastic waste in Senegal. All in all, his point is clear: we should really do our best to preserve the nature instead of polluting it. Who knows what will become of 2148 if we navigate through life much more conscious of nature and the future.
This was my introduction to icônes by Vincent Bloch. If you are in Dakar, you can visit the expo until August 3rd (friday!). Believe me, you do not want to miss this. If you are interested, it is possible to buy the photographs. Beware: there is a limited availability. For more information, check out the details below.
Goethe Institut Sénégal
Point E, Piscine Olympique
Tél.: +221 33 869 88 80
www.goethe.de/dakar
For more of Vincent’s work, you can check out his website www.vbloch.com. Do not forget to follow him on IG: @vblochphoto and like his Facebook page Vincent Bloch photographe. Check out the video I made and see you in my next post!
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oly-OiXtX0g[/embedyt]