Light + Space

Beyond the obvious cultural syncretism, Dagnogo’s paintings offer several levels of interpretation: a hybrid of aesthetics, mediation painting, and a reconciliation between the human and the sacred. His works, a tribute to the banality of the everyday, question identity, the relative and differences. They include the Sacred as an inner necessity to question human tragedy and our relationship to the world. Memory, consciousness, recollection – the obscure images challenge each other, collide or sometimes isolate themselves.

As with a superimposition, Dagnogo tries to invent and re-enchant a contemporary mythology that emphasizes domestic paradoxes and the contradictions of a world both more civilized and more violent, more respectful and less tolerant, which makes him react with brushstrokes.

Dagnogo has exhibited extensively worldwide. His most recent international exhibitions include solo presentation at Gallery OH in Dakar (2020), and group presentations at H-Gallery, Paris (2020); Galerie Véronique, Paris (2020); and the Abu Dhabi Art Fair (2020). Additionally, he participated in the the 11th and 12th Dak’Art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal (2014 / 2016); the first Biennale of Kampala, Uganda (2014); and the 5th Maiden Tower International Festival, Baku, Azerbaidjan (2014). He has also participated in numerous artist residency programs, including the Art Omi in New York (2014). Some of his works are included in public and private collections, such as the Lisser Art Museum in Sassenheim, Netherlands, and Kuwait’s Museum of Modern Art.

Trevor Stuurman (b.1992) is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning visual artist, creative director and media entrepreneur. Blurring the lines with his work behind the lens and in front of it, Trevor’s oeuvre is crafting a complex new discourse about the role of young African artists and the nature of virtual mediums in the continent’s contemporary creative culture.

Trevor’s work combines his educational background in motion picture & live performance with a multitude of creative fields such as fashion and performance art, allowing him to find and capture a uniquely African ‘perspective on beauty’, he explains, that reminds him of home: ‘a place that is imbued with colour, love and belonging thatreflects Africa.’

Starting out as a street photographer capturing Johannesburg’s vibrant creative scene in the early 2000’s, Trevor rapidly grew into a household name during his tenure as Elle magazine’s style reporter in 2012. Since then he has gone on to captivate the public with his work, seeing him named Marie Claire magazine’s ‘Image Maker for 2018’, GQ magazine’s ‘King of Creativity’, one of Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30 and TIME Magazine’s Next Generation Leader for 2021 among others. In the same year Trevor was selected by the Disney group to interpret Marvel’s Black Panther film into a new work, and became one of British Vogue’s contributors – alongside a prominent feature of his photography in the Photo Vogue Festival — and had his work published in the ‘Swinging Africa’ monograph by Emmanuelle Courreges.

Described as “a cultural force” by CNN’s African voices feature, his work with global humanitarian foundations includes the United Nations, the Bill & Miranda Gates Foundation and the Obama Foundation to document former American president Barack Obama during his travels in Africa. Trevor continues his work in beauty and fashion and has captured the likes of Dr. Esther Mahlangu, Miss Universe 2019 Zizobini Tunzi, Naomi Campbell, Teyana Taylor, Shanelle Nyasiase, Gigi & Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Iman Hammam. 

As a British Vogue contributor Trevor was part of the team who created and styled ‘Black is King’ for Beyonce. Trevor’s work at Arise Africa and Afro Punk Johannesburg has further contributed significantly to the increasing global interest in the work of creatives from the continent.

He is currently featured in the Brooklyn Museum’s seminal Africa Fashion exhibition with his ‘Tongoro Beauty’ series, and an early important work ‘Mama Panther’, which THK Gallery will present at Unseen Amsterdam 2023.