Pierre-Christophe Gam: SANKARA – The Upright Man

Hosted by The Africa Centre and designed by Pierre-Christophe Gam, “Sankara, The Upright Man” is a mix-media installation offering an apocryphal retelling of the life of Thomas Sankara, the late president of Burkina Faso.

Thomas Sankara was a military captain, a humanist, a pan-Africanist, an ecologist and a feminist who served as President of Burkina Faso from 1983, until his death in 1987, at 37 years old. A visionary and a charismatic figure, Thomas Sankara quickly became the leading African voice for the global fight against imperialism and neo-colonialism, as he launched one of the most ambitious programs for social and economic justice ever attempted on the African continent. His revolutionary programs for African self-reliance made him an icon throughout the continent but also the rest of the world.

Informed by interviews with family members, classmates, Ministers, and peers, the series is a thoroughly-researched and deeply intimate expression of Sankara as a torch-bearer of Africa’s destiny towards self-determination.

The installation is composed of 21 pieces — including 12 mix-media collages, 6 digitally-printed fabrics, one sculpture and one video installation. Gam employs a luxurious, architectural fusion of digital and material techniques ranging from pixel art to pencil colour drawing and photography, that collaborate to teleport us into a matrix of Sankara’s politic.

Deeper than a look into Thomas Sankara’s legacy, The Upright Man is a multi-layered archive of prophecy. Gam constructs Sankara not merely as a revolutionary, but as a prophet– a spiritual incarnation of purpose into flesh. Pierre-Christophe Gam resurrects Sankara’s legacy as a catalyst for social and political inquiry into Africa’s present reality, with eyes on the past and action towards the future.

Opening: Friday , 5 October, 6 -8:30 pm Special Performance: 7 -7:20pm After Party from 8 -11pm

The Africa Centre,
66 Great Suffolk St,
London Se1 Obl