Wanderings

Montreal-based artist Anna Binta Diallo explores themes of migration and identity.

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Wanderings, a collection of photo collages on view at Vancouver’s Access Gallery until Nov. 14, introduces viewers to two cultures – Canadian and West African – while pondering mythology’s impact on defining personal identity. 

Montreal-based artist Anna Binta Diallo, born in Senegal but raised in St. Boniface, Man., says the show is less about her own complex history than exploring the determinants of self-identity.

“I’m half white, half black,” she says about her dual ancestry. “I’m francophone, I’m anglophone.

“I’ve explored that confliction in past work. I think this work is more about finding commonalities in different stories, looking at folk stories and how they form identity politics and our own sense of self.” 

At first glance, her work appears playful. Brightly coloured silhouettes are fastened to the wall. Some figures are eight-feet tall, others are tiny. Eight stand-alone cutouts rest on the floor. 

Canadian themes are interspersed with West African ones. Cowboys and Indigenous hunters sit next to African huts and village women and children. The images within their contours, pulled from magazines, newspapers and the Internet, tell us where the artist has been and what she deems important. 

Diallo left Senegal as a baby and the African part of her story consists of myths and folk tales. Her Canadian references are also based on popular culture.

“I reinterpreted folk stories and reimagined or reused them in my own way to create new mythologies,” she says.

Diallo has been exploring the theme of migration and personal identity for years through videos, paintings and collage. Her earlier photo collages were busier and denser. Wanderings is cleaner and more sophisticated. 

Portability is a key component. Because the collages are transferred to an adhesive fabric that sticks to the wall, individual pieces can be moved around according to the dimensions of the gallery. 

Curator Katie Belcher says there’s no right or wrong way to view the exhibition.

“You could read it or walk through it or walk around it,” she says.

Wanderings demands close inspection. Senegal didn’t win its independence from France until 1960 and Manitoba’s Indigenous people have long been marginalized. Given Diallo’s Franco-Métis ancestry, I expect to see a statement about colonization and discrimination. It’s there, but it’s subtle. Images of police officers are hidden among the silhouettes, although it’s unclear what they are doing. One form looks like a person with a bandolier across the chest. French text within the bandolier identifies him as a Métis fighter in the Riel Rebellions. At least, that’s my interpretation.

Belcher acknowledges the work can be ambiguous.

“I think it’s important that there’s space for artists of colour, Indigenous artists and Black artists to open questions with their work and allow us all to sit in discomfort and humour and joy, rather than presenting a definitive thesis,” she says.

Diallo says she’s not consciously trying to address conflict. 

“For me, it’s not about being overt,” she says. “I’m trying to not zoom in so much. I’m trying to zoom out.” ■ 

Anna Binta Diallo: Wanderings at Access Gallery in Vancouver from Sept. 30 to Nov. 14, 2020.

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