Care

"How might education contribute to purge from consciousness that there exist no under-beings but that the birth of a life is a value in itself. That every human has a right to a cradle." Pélagie Gbaguidi, 2017.

In 2019-2020, Pélagie Gbaguidi was in residence in Ifitry, near the city of Essaouira on the Moroccan coast. From the local women who took her painting class, she learned an embroidery technique that is central to Care. The textile work consists of vibrant embroidery on white plastic bread bags that are presented on a wooden tripod, in a kind of tent shape.

Care combines themes like exchange and bartering, which are essential to Gbaguidi. The sacks call to mind traditional flour sacks, which are a universal commodity, and the embroidered arms invoke the exchange of skills and knowledge in the run-up to the creation of the work. The intertwined arms reaching towards the sky also represent a gesture of protest or a collective embrace. By showing the textile work as a tent or shelter, the artist reinforces the titular concept of “care” on different levels: human, relational or spiritual, but also the transformation of something toxic into something ethical and just. It also relates to the concept of globality as described by philosopher Edouard Glissant in his book Poetics of Relation. Glissant uses the term to advocate for a global dialogue that does not erase local cultures, a counterweight to economic globalisation.

In a time in which political and social boundaries are becoming increasingly fragile, Gbaguidi calls on us all to carefully guard our own.