In Dakar, a New Creative Space Is Blending Community and Contemporary Art

A small but intentionally conceived space, with a salmon-coloured exterior and a white-walled interior, Galerie36 aims to be an avenue for meaningful cultural exchange and a home for contemporary art and artisanal design emerging from the continent and the Diaspora.

It's a mission that directly aligns with Kirby's multi-pronged background, spanning art, culture, and policy across the United States. "And being here in Dakar with all of its beauty and its history and lineage, I started Galerie36," Kirby says.

Kirby, who has worked in traditional gallery and art spaces in New York, supporting artists with international profiles, created Galerie36 as an antithesis to the exquisite but unbearably cold sensibilities of most esteemed conventional art spaces.

"Sometimes the gallerist won't look at you. You walk in, and you're not greeted. There's just no warmth in the experience. It's not every situation, of course, but you know, that's sort of the mystique of the art world that is perpetuated for whatever reason." Kirby says that with Galerie36, she wanted to build something much smaller in scale and, by extension, intimate.

"A place where people can talk and get to know each other, get to know the artist, and get to know the work. There were people from New York, there were people from Paris, Italy here, of course, who were able to have a beverage or look at the books and spend some time with each other." This is a goal that Kirby says has been paying off from the very beginning, as people have been connecting beyond the art.

Galerie36 is also positioning itself as a creative haven, a calming presence in a world where art and creativity are under siege, both by thoughtless technological advancements and a reduction in administrative funding and structural support. Kirby wants to build a space that nurtures its community so that, in return, the space will find people to nurture it.

"The hope [is] for it to be a communal space. The way that the world is going right now, the more intentional we are [about] building those sorts of relationships, particularly in an international setting, and in an African-rooted setting, is important to me."

To launch on July 17, Galerie36 opened with an exhibition by Daouda Niane Dit Uda, titled Meeting Nature. The exhibition features colorful compositions and uses lines to explore shared humanity. The figures in Uda's artworks are faceless, allowing them to embody various identities. Uda's works perfectly complement the ethos of Galerie36, a space that seeks to bridge cultural gaps.

"Uda's work and his art and his philosophy on life and the other artists that we have on the roster right now, they reflect that importance of shared connection, of humanity, of seeing things that people may not be willing to pay attention to in a world that's like moving fast," Kirby says.

Hitting the ground running

Alongside the ongoing exhibition, Galerie36 will also lend itself to other forms of artistic exchange, designed to serve the surrounding communities and incubate emerging voices. "We have Uda doing talks and workshops, and the other artists doing workshops for children. Those are all the inspiring things we want to do in the space," Kirby says.

Kirby has designed Galerie36 to also feel like a place of discovery, particularly of artists and artworks that go unnoticed. Kirby had discovered Uda through a neighbour. They visited Uda's studio on a Saturday, where Kirby says she was moved by their philosophical alignment and "The conversation, which I think is reflected in his work and his use of lines as the primary foundation of his practice, and being a visual language that connects us as human beings."

Uda himself is a self-taught artist whose work revels in the malleability and symbolism that can be destructive but also serve as an agent of repair. The versatility of lines moves him; how they can be used to write, to draw, and to represent multiple perspectives, a sentiment that's sorely missing in global socio-cultural discourse. Uda chooses to leave the figures he paints faceless, because "I want to give the power of speaking and the power of decision to the other part of the spaces in the world that didn't have that power in real life."

Galerie36 makes an auspicious arrival on the African art scene at a time when African art is untangling itself from the Western gaze. Events like the Dakar Biennale and institutions such as ArtX have continued to thrive. Galerie36 will join a line of art outfits offering space for African artists. Kirby is aware of how unpredictable the landscape is, the twisting of African artists into fads and brief cultural trends that have no lasting impact.

"I think we, as a global community, have done a good job of pushing back on this. And it's like everybody has to do their part. No matter where you are, what platform you have, where you're working, even if it's like incremental, pushing back on the narrative is important, you know, and so that's the first piece of it," Kirby says.

Kirby also hopes to contribute to the expansion of what African art can be. "Our artists are multi-dimensional, just like our cultures, just like our histories. We have complexities. We're sensitive, we're human. The artist that I'm choosing to work with that I have hope for, everyone who's on the roster, they have a real sensitivity around their work of how they see the world in those quieter depths, moments filled with real depth and tenderness that are important to me too."