Grâce à Dieu, Sa ira Maman

‘Grâce à Dieu, Sa ira Maman’ is a photographic night series, which seeks to make visible an invisible community of cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire. The project is inspired by a narrative found on the walls of the village of Amanikro. The words and drawings that decorate the houses here depict a community where spirituality, family and artistic expression play a primordial role.

Once the sun goes down, an intense darkness envelops the small village of Amanikro and the life of the cocoa farmers and their true nature become clearer. Men and women return from a long, hard day in the fields but as dusk sets in, another kind of day begins. Families gather to discuss the harvest, children do their homework in the moonlight and the whole village gathers to dine al fresco, then dance to the joyous sounds of Ivorian music late into the night.

This series presents both a visual narrative and a poetic interpretation of the lives of the villagers of Amanikro, like a kind of open window on darkness. I took decided to take a curious look at the community to depict what the media do not say about the cocoa producers at the heart of globalised production. I sets out to disclose more intimate moments of the village which are only revealed once night falls.

Armed with a flash, this project captures shadows and silhouettes, blending them with the writings and wall drawings scattered across the village. Mysterious and sometimes very discreet, they reveal the imperceptible riches of the village of Amanikro - a close-knit, spiritual community that expresses, through its creativity, the hopes, fears and joys of cocoa farmers.

This project was completed as part of the NOOR Foundation Visual Storytelling Programme 2023, in partnership with Tony's Chocolonely in Amanikro, Côte d’Ivoire.