02 july 2024, Flor Linckens
Last chance: the social archeology of Thierry Oussou
Until 6 July, Lumen Travo Gallery in Amsterdam is hosting a solo exhibition by Thierry Oussou. The conceptual artist has a particular interest in marginalised professions that are often overlooked, such as cotton labourers — Oussou manages a plantation himself — and bus drivers. He aims to make these forms of labour visible and highlights how their working conditions impact society. In doing so, Oussou raises questions about visibility and appreciation. In the exhibition ‘Workers Dijksgracht Oost Amsterdam', the artist delves into the lives of the construction workers at Dijksgracht Oost, near his studio in Amsterdam.
Thierry Oussou was born in 1988 in Benin, West Africa, a place that frequently appears in his artworks. After a residency at the Rijksakademie (2015-2016), he chose Amsterdam as his home base. Oussou's work mainly consists of large and expressive works on paper, characterised by drops, scratches and distorted figures. His visual inspirations are diverse: from hieroglyphs and rock drawings to street art and the works of Basquiat and the CoBrA artists. Oussou explores themes such as labour, identity and social structures, drawing inspiration from the people around him — their motivations, relationships and interactions. His practice is marked by in-depth research into subjects such as history, heritage, power, social dynamics and visibility.
Thierry Oussou has a multidisciplinary practice that includes drawings, conceptual installations, audio (i.e. oral history) and video. Initially, the artist worked mainly on black paper for his drawings, which reminded him of the ephemeral nature of a school chalkboard. In his latest exhibition at Lumen Travo Gallery, he presents several works on white paper. He uses collage techniques to combine different layers of paper and textures, offering his works a layered and almost sculptural quality.
