Rio Kapatchez – Bagataï 04

Jean-Claude Moschetti
Medium:
Baryte Print, 2015
Dimensions:
90 x 148 cm
Enquire
More Artwork by Jean-Claude Moschetti
ABOUT JEAN-CLAUDE MOSCHETTI
Jean-Claude Moschetti was born in France but his work as an independent press photographer allowed him to travel extensively and sparked his interest in Africa. He now lives and works between France and West Africa. During his extensive travels around the continent, in particular the West African Region, Moschetti came into to contact with many traditional, and some very secret, African voodoo and magic societies.
The African continent is steeped in a rich and complex history of mysticism and in many traditional societies magic is accepted as an integral part of life. But unlike the Western interpretation of magic as a series of smoke and mirrors, magic in the African sense is part of the physical realm, a physical reality that manifests during rituals often through the wearing of masks. By donning a mask the wearer straddles both the physical and mystical realm, and becomes a conduit between the living world and the supernatural world of the dead, the ancestors and other mysterious entities. As a Vodun initiate of the Egungun cult in Benin, Moschetti has a unique insight into this world of shadows,
In West Africa, the supernatural is part of daily life; spirits and divinities are never far away. The artist wants to introduce this mystery and immateriality in his photographic compositions. Triptychs and diptychs allow him to deconstruct the space and to build it again in a new way, more poetic and odd. The mask, the character, takes place within this space, opening up a crossing from one world to the other, from the spirit world to earth. More generally the artist questions the reality we see, and wishes to inspire the doubt in our minds; things are not always what we believe we see.
Moschetti’s work has been published among the likes of National Geographic Traveller, Géo, Le Monde, Le Figaro, Times, Forbes, Musée magazine, Label magazine and the Financial Times.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Magic Africa, solo show, Westred Art Museum, Harbin, China
2021 Magic Africa, solo show, Yellow Crane Tower, Wuhan, Chinas
2016 ‘Paralles Worlds’, Mariane Ibrahim Gallerie,Seattle, USA
2014 ‘Magic on Earth’, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Seattle, USA
2004 ‘Black Hollywood’,CCF, Lagos, Nigeria
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 “Funérailles Vaudou”, Report’Images #4, Rennes, Saint Malo, Brest, Douarnenez, France
2019 International Photo Festival Incadaquès, Cadaquès, Spain
2018 Also Known As Africa (AKAA) Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Paris, France
2018 ‘The Summer Exhibition,’ EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
2017 ‘Backs Stories’, Mariane Ibrahim Gallerie, Seattle, USA
2016 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, London, UK
2016 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, New York, USA
2016 ‘Disguise’, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
2015 ‘ARTalk, Disguise and African Masquerade’, Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, USA
2015 ‘Afrika: Architecture, Culture and Identity’, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
2015 Disguise: Masks and Global African Art,’ Seattle Art Museum, USA2015 Seattle Art Fair, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery , Seattle, USA
2015 ‘Origins’, Heist Gallery, London,UK
2015 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, New York, USA
2014 Cape Town Art Fair, South Africa
2014 International Biennial of Photography and Visual Arts, Liège, Belgium
2014 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, London, UK
2013 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair,EBONY/CURATED, London, UK
2012 FNB, Joburg Art Fair, South Africa
2010 ‘Under the Bridge’, Athens Photo Festival, Athens, Greece
2009 ‘Voies Off’, Arles, France
2007 ‘Act Off Faith’, Noorderlicht Photofestival, Groningen, Netherlands
2003 ‘Visa pour l’image’, screening ‘Croisade du pasteur Bonnke’, Perpignan, France
Press
2019 https://onartandaesthetics.com/2019/10/26/magic-on-earth-the-traditions-of-burkina-faso-by-jean-claude-moschetti/
2017 https://www.imodara.com/magazine/artist-spotlight-jean-claude-moschetti/
2016 https://www.designindaba.com/articles/creative-work/photographer-jean-claude-moschetti-documents-magic-west-africa
2015 https://zonezero.com/en/interpreting-collectives/295-magic-on-earth
2013 http://www.anotherafrica.net/art-culture/jean-claude-moschetti-magic-on-earth
Collections
Fondation Zinsou
The Paul Allen Foundation
The Museum of Modern Art, Equatorial Guinea