Pommier’s photos at the Zack

OLGA LIVSHIN

“Africa is not only a continent of war and crisis. There is also an Africa that is alive and well, and is often borne by women.” These words by Odile Sorgho-Moulinier of the United Nations could serve as an epigraph for Claudine Pommier’s art.

“I’ve always been pulled by Africa,” Pommier said in an interview with the Jewish Independent. “I first went there when I was 21. I worked in Tunisia as a horse riding instructor, had 28 horses to take care of.” Later, the Vancouver-based photographer and filmmaker worked in Algeria for a time as a graphic artist.

In the early 1990s, Pommier was invited to exhibit her art in Senegal. Inspired by the African contemporary art she saw, she was gripped by the idea of promoting Africa’s artistic connection with Canada. In 1993, that idea took shape. Sponsored by the Canadian government, an exhibition of work by several contemporary Canadian artists, including Pommier, traveled across five African countries: Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameron and Nigeria. “We met and worked with many local artists as we traveled,” she recalled, “but very few of them were women.”

From this time stems Pommier’s years-long quest to find contemporary African artists, especially women artists, and bring them to the attention of the world. “We don’t know much about African contemporary art,” she said. “For many in Canada, African art is traditional carvings and masks, but there is so much more to it.”

Fascinated by the art and the way of life, she returns to the continent again and again, always with her camera. “I meet incredible people during my journeys across Africa,” said Pommier. “I learn new things.” And she always takes pictures. “It’s impossible for me not to take photos when I travel,” she noted. “I never have any previous idea of what I will shoot that day. I just shoot what I see, whatever happens, wherever I go.... The people, they are so beautiful.”

Pommier’s current show at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery, Glimpses of Africa, which runs until April 7, highlights her African impressions over the past few years. In one photograph, a bull stands in the middle of the village, his huge horns almost as tall as the child beside him. In another, three vultures have landed in the desert, searching for a carcass. Women in colorful clothing go about their daily chores. Children play. Everything is mundane – for them. For us, the viewers, these small villages seem exotic, and the life in them harsh: no electricity, no running water, little greenery.

One section of the show is dedicated to the Tiebele people of southern Burkina Faso in West Africa. Their traditional mud houses don’t have sharp angles. Decorated with geometrical patterns and stylized figures, these houses are artistic masterpieces, painted by the women of the tribe. Every house is unique, every design reflects its creator’s personality.

“Young Tiebele women are leaving their traditional way of life, going to the cities,” Pommier said. “It seems that the city life might be easier, but it’s not for them. They don’t have any relatives there, no jobs. At least in their village, they would never go hungry. Everyone in a village helps each other.”

Another population documented in Pommier’s photo travelogue is the Ndebele from South Africa. Their painted-houses tradition is relatively young, originating in the 1950s as a nonviolent way to fight apartheid. Today, their villages look like something out of a fairy tale, bright and lovely, but the original idea was anything but decorative.

“The symbols and wall paintings were developed by women creators,” Pommier explained. “These symbols became Ndebele guideposts, messages of cultural transmission. They announced: ‘We are Ndebele. Ndebele live here.’ The house paintings became an expression of cultural resistance and continuity. Later, in addition to conveying self-identity, personal prayers, values and emotions, the wall painting has become deeply ingrained in the Ndebele marriage tradition. Today, the married women of the household are responsible for designing images for the outer gates, front and side walls, and sometimes interior rooms as well.”

Pommier has published two books, both for sale at the Zack, about Tiebele and Ndebele house art, but she was searching for another venue to deliver her message. Her progression from a photo artist to a filmmaker was almost inevitable.

“I wanted to tell stories about contemporary African artists,” she said. And she has been telling those stories, in both photography and film. To date, she has directed and produced five movies. Among them are two short documentaries, Toumani Diabaté: The Voice of the Kora (2010) and The Art of the Women of Tiebele (2005), and three longer films: The Power of Art: Women’s Voices in Africa (2007), The Art of Viye Diba: The Intelligent Hand (2003) and Recalling the Future: Art in Contemporary Africa (2000). All of the films have aired on TV in Africa and Canada and been screened in multiple international festivals.

“When I started with movies, I didn’t know anything about them. I learned by doing,” Pommier recalled with a smile. “Making movies is hard, but distribution is an art in itself.”

About her films, photographs and books on Africa, Pommier said, “I wanted to show what’s happening there, to exchange ideas with ... others, wanted people to start thinking, looking for answers.”

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

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