![Joana Choumali, You Stole My Voice , 2023](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/193gallery/images/view/6a0c68e0831e58e2b0763db18f4023bcj/193gallery-joana-choumali-you-stole-my-voice-2023.jpg)
Joana Choumali Ivory Coast, b. 1974
80 x 80 cm
Alba’hian in Agni language, means the first light of the day, the dawn. Since years now, every morning Joana wakes up at 5 and walks for long stretch of times. What started as a physical training for a trekking in Asia, gradually became a daily
routine, a ritual of introspection that accompanies her ever since, even when she travels in other countries, especially in Africa.
She has taken the habit of taking pictures of the landscapes that amaze her every morning, rigorously between 5 and 7 a.m. Afterward, using a mixed technique of collage, embroidery, quilting and photomontage, she superimposes on them several layers of ethereal fabrics intertwined with other images she takes during those walks, like silhouettes of passers-by's, street photographs or stills. The result is the delicate and dreamy toiles which evoke the invisible meanings and revelations of the artist’s morning experiences.