MOUFOULI BELLO
Moufouli Bello, Anguèli, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 160 x 150 cm
Press release - NEXT Exhibition 2023
Beninese artist Moufouli Bello (b. 1987) is a multi-media and visual artist working with painting, drawing, photography, installations, sound, and digital art. Bello’s interest lies in ideological structures, exploring how traditions, culture, politics, and technology affect our emotions and perceptions of society and identity. Examining the role of visual culture in the construction of racial and gender stereotypes, her portraits of strong, powerful women challenge, while the narrative details remain ambiguous. Characterized by her emblematic colour palette, blue particularly reflects myriad qualities such as strength, density, healing, lively emotion, purity, and peace. Blue is frequently present in Yoruba culture and used by Bello to express not only identity but also to create new realities conveying alternative female representations, celebrating the fullness of black, modern femininity. .
MOUFOULI BELLO
Biography
Born in 1987, Benin
Lives and works in Brussels, Belgium
Education
Master degree in International Law, National School of Administration, Cotonou, BEN Thesis in Arts and Social Sciences, ENSAV La Cambre, Brussels, BE
Solo Exhibition
2016 - Papyrus, Institut Français, Cotonou, BEN
Group Exhibitions
2024 - (upcoming) Pavillons Africains pour la 60ème Biennale, Vennice Biennale, IT
2023 - Next, Gowen Contemporary, Geneve, CH
2023 - Un art en apesanteur, Cité Internationale des Arts de Paris, FR
2023 - Art du Bénin d’hier et d’aujourd’hui: de la restitution à la révélation, Musée Mohammed VI, Rabat, MAR
2022 - Dig where you stand, From coast to coast, Tamale, GHA
2022 - AAF Booth, Rotterdam Art Fair, Rotterdam, NLD
2022 - Time is going, Biennale of Dakar, Dakar, SEN
2022 - 1.54 Art fair, Signature African art Gallery, London, UK.
2022 - Art du Bénin d’hier et d’aujourd’hui: de la restitution à la révélation, Cotonou, BEN
2022 - Art du Bénin d’hier et d’aujourd’hui: de la restitution à la révélation, Musée Mohammed VI, 2022 - Rabat, MAR Institut francais du Maroc, Casablanca, MAR
2022 - Seminar L’humain qui vient, UNESCO Paris, FR
2020 - Panorama 22, Le Fresnoy, Studio National, Tourcoing, FR
2020 - 1.54 Art fair, Signature African art Gallery, Londres, UK
2020 - Say my name, Signature African art Gallery, Londres, UK 2019 Artx art Fair, SMO Gallery, Lagos, NGA
2020 - Seeing sounds, HAART, Copeand, Londres, UK
2020 - Introducing, Maison rouge, Cotonou, BEN
2018 - Ils pourront couper toutes les fleurs, ils n’empêcheront pas la venue du printemps, Institut Français, Cotonou, BEN
2018 - Le Fresnoy à Cotonou, Institut Français, Cotonou, BEN
2018 - Nos printemps, Le Centre, Abomey-Calavi, BEN
2018 - Homo planta, Fondation Blachère, Apt, FR
2018 - Kifouli Dossou & Moufouli Bello, Résidence de l’Union Européenne, Cotonou, BEN
2017 - Amazones, Le Centre, Abomey-Calavi, BEN
2017 - Le grand festin, Galerie Mario Mauroner, Vienna, AUT Afrique au cœur, Villa Abdelatif, Alger, DZ
2016 - Open studio, Cite internationale des Arts, Paris, FR
2016 - Les portes ouvertes, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Arts, Dijon, FR
2015 - Rendez-vous climat COP 21, Institut Français, Cotonou, BEN
2015 - Frantz Fanon, Fresque murale collective, Mairie de Vénissieux, Lyon, FR Arkane Africa, Cathédrale Sacré-cœur, Casablanca, MAR
2015 - Regards sur la femme, Institut Français, Brazzaville, COD
2014 - Rencontre internationales d’art contemporains, Galerie Sahm, Brazaville, COD Fanm, Goethe Institut, Lomé, TGO
2013 - La palette beninoise, Galerie Saint-Augustin, Cotonou, BEN
Residencies
2022 - Cité internationale des arts de Paris, Paris, FR
2018 - Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing, FR
2018 - Le Centre, Abomey-Calavi, BEN 2017 AARC Villa Abdelatif, Alger, DZ
2018 - Cité internationale des arts, Paris, FR
2018 - Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art, Dijon, FR 2015 Interférences, Auxerre - Lyon, FR
2018 - Cénacle Expérimental, Togbin, BEN 2014 Les ateliers Sahm, Brazaville, COD