MONUMENTAL INSTALLATION 2026
In resonance with the prominent place given to contemporary photography throughout its 11th edition, AKAA presents a Monumental Installation by Senegalese photographer Gabriel Dia, centred on his series Mother’s Heritage.
Conceived as an immersive experience, the installation unfolds through a series of large-scale photographs printed on fabric and suspended throughout the space. Inspired by the artist’s childhood memories, the scenography evokes garments hanging from clotheslines, transforming each image into a fragment of memory suspended between presence and remembrance.
With Mother’s Heritage, Gabriel Dia, born in 1985 in Rufisque, Senegal, explores questions of identity, transmission and reconciliation with oneself.
The series originates from an intimate memory: that of the traditional garments made by his mother in her sewing workshop. As a child, the artist was fascinated by these clothes and would secretly try them on, drawn to garments that those around him considered to be reserved for women. This formative experience, marked by misun- derstanding and stigma, now informs a sensitive reflection on the social constructions of gender, self-acceptance and the cultural legacies that shape individual trajectories.
By revisiting these fabrics, patterns and silhouettes several decades later, Gabriel Dia enters into a dialogue with his family history while questioning the norms that continue to shape bodies and identities. Through this deeply personal work, he also celebrates the aesthetic and symbolic richness of African textiles and the craftsmanship associated with them, both of which are increasingly threatened by the growing standardisation of clothing practices.
At the intersection of personal memory and collective narrative, Mother’s Heritage explores notions of belonging, transmission and emancipation. By wearing these feminine garments, the artist raises questions about his own identity and speaks with subtlety of all those who are compelled to conceal their difference in societies where homosexuality remains condemned.