Inna Modja

Inna Modja is a French-Malian artist, singer-songwriter, actress and campaigner for women's rights and climate change. Known above all for her musical career, she has reached the Top 10 hits in Europe and Canada, with some of her flagship titles such as French Cancan and Tombouctou. In 2015, she released the album Motel Bamako, then from 2016 to 2018, she performed at festivals and concerts on five continents. In 2019, she became UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) ambassador for the Sahel, following in her own way in the footsteps of her diplomat father. Today, the artist is one of the leading lights of web3, where she is known for her role as founder and CEO of CodeGreen, a solution that connects donors, collectors, artists and NFT projects to a verified consortium of on-the-ground projects fighting for social justice, climate justice, gender equality and humanitarian emergencies. Today, she is one of Mali's most important contemporary artists on the international scene.

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Her photographies are inspired by the work of her mentor Malick Sidibé, a Malian photography legend who works mainly in black and white, capturing lively portraits and festive scenes. Sidibé, a friend of her father, took photos of her as a child, before illustrating her first album. Whether in a traditional or mobile studio, in nature or on the street, Inna Modja loves to capture portraits of everyday heroes with her camera. The photograph featured in the exhibition highlights two people with albinism, a rare, genetically inherited condition that generally results in the absence of pigmentation in the hair, skin and eyes, making the person extremely sensitive to the sun. It can lead to skin cancer and severe visual impairment.

 

Being born with albinism can still be synonymous with a death sentence in some countries, such as Tanzania. For many Tanzanians, albinos are ghosts who cannot die, or the sign of a curse. Some sorcerers would pay gangs or greedy killers for a kidney or liver in exchange for a few thousand dollars. According to the UN, a limb from a person with albinism can be traded for between 600 and 2,000 euros. A whole body can fetch up to 70,000 euros. Some, after having been mutilated, are killed and their blood collected, while their graves are sometimes desecrated and their bodies dug up. Inna Modja's staging plunges the two protagonists into a fairytale world, far removed from the human sacrifices or racism to which these people may be subjected. Committed art sometimes forgets that denouncing the horrors that certain populations may suffer cannot be the only representation put forward, as it leads to a lack of positive representations to which the latter can cling.

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L'aube amoureux embodies the simplicity of a relationship in a safe and intimate atmosphere, this photograph gives albino people and the public, a positive representation of their lives and their loving relationships. In the ethereal light of dawn in Bamako, the photograph captures an intimate moment between two young lovers, their connection veiled in the tender hues of pink and subtle green. As if stepping out of a lively '90s club, they share a glance through retro sunglasses, symbols of a lively night of dancing. A bold celebration of love and shared moments under the rising African sun.

 

Text written by Annelise Stern - copyright ART GIRLS