Doff
Doff was born Apollinaire Guidimbaye in Massyéna, a small town southeast of N’Djamena, and grew up in a loving family with eleven siblings. From the youngest age, he was exposed to art - his mother is an artisanal dyer and his eldest brother a painter. As a little boy, he created toys with cans and disassembled the toys he was given to build other objects. Fascinated by mechanics, he became a metal assembly “expert” by watching his uncle work in his auto repair shop. When he decided at age 15 not to pursue his schooling, another uncle gave him a fret saw. He started doing marquetry, embarking without knowing it, on his artistic path, and acquiring skills that he uses today.
Doff dabbled into other activities, including painting and working as a scenographer. At one point, he was nicknamed “Doff” - “the Fool” in Wolof - by his friends who could not understand why he scoured dump sites in search of scrap material for his creations; he adopted the name. The pivotal moment came in 2018 after he was selected as a young creative talent to participate in the 5-day intensive workshop of the AtWork Tour “I had a dream” of the Moleskine Foundation, conducted by writer, independent curator, and art critic Simon Njami. “I had a dream” was “a call for action here and now", and that call resonated with Doff.
Doff creates his artworks with non-traditional art materials and found objects: printed circuits, discarded pieces of fabric, steel wires recuperated from burnt tires, paxalu (a bituminous waterproofing material that he first saw on a beach in Côte d’Ivoire in 2019), bullet shells found on shooting ranges, etc.
Through these materials, Doff denounces the consequences of ecological damages, such as pollution and drought, as well as the sufferings resulting from wars and killings, but the messages conveyed by the subjects of his pieces are positive and hopeful: children play with the toys they’ve just made, proud women sell their wares, a sunflower grows in a field of bullet casings, the color black flashes streaks of gold.
Every skill Doff acquired, he acquired on his own. He is a truly self-taught, self-built, visual artist and scenographer. His courage, determination, ingenuity, and originality are critical to his work. Doff is a mentor to youth - he encourages them to create with scrap material while educating them on the necessity of protecting the environment. He has organized several workshops in local schools in N’Djamena and opens his studio to aspiring artists. He founded Knock on Art, an association aiming at promoting contemporary African art in Chad, and is now working on Fondasia, a festival around contemporary art which would take place in N’Djamena.
Doff has participated in art residencies in Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon and France. He has exhibited in Bordeaux, Dakar, Paris, N’Djamena, Washington DC, and Zürich, as well as at the Dak‘Art Biennale, the Douala Art Fair and AKAA (the Art & Design Fair) in Paris.
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Unravel Iron / Défaire le Fer, Embassy of Chad, Washington, DC, USA
Le Fil du Sahara, Ngala African Art Space, Zürich, Switzerland
2022
Au Coeur du Noir - Monochromes, Galerie Art-Z, Paris, France
2020
L'Intemporalité, Institut français au Tchad, N'Djamena, Chad
2019
L'Homme Africain, Les Vivres de l'Art, Bordeaux, France
2017
Le Temps, Institut français au Tchad, N'Djamena, Chad
Duo Exhibitions
2022
Intimité Teranga, Château Papillon des Arts, St Moritz, Switzerland
2021
Habiter la Terre - Doff & Christophe, Galerie Art-Z, Paris, France
Collective Exhibitions
2023
BAD+ Fair, with Soview Gallery, Bordeaux, France
AKAA - Art & Design Fair, with Soview Gallery, Paris, France
2022
We Are Afrika - The Power of Women and Youth, a virtual exhibit, the World Bank, Washington, DC, USA
Ces Mots qui Blessent - Réparation, OFF exhibit, Dak'Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art, with Solidarité laïque in partnership with Galerie Véronique Rieffel, Senegal
At Work N'Djamena, Moleskine Foundation, N'djamena, Chad
2021
OFF exhibit, AKAA - Art & Design Fair, with galerie Art-Z, Paris, France
RIAC - Rencontre Internationale de l'Art Contemporain, Institut français du Congo, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
2019
Douala Art Fair, Douala, Cameroon
Salon des Arts, Radisson Blu Hotel, N'Djamena, Chad
Scenography of the Exhibit of Chadian Artists, N'Djamena, Chad
2017
Exhibit at the Salon des Arts Tchadiens, Hilton Hotel, N'Djamena, Chad
Exhibit at the Salon des Arts Appliqués – Institut Français au Tchad, N'Djamena, Chad
Residencies
2024
Duvungu, la Fabrique Créative, Project of the French Embassy in Gabon, Libreville, Gabon
2022
SCAC Marestaing, Montesquieu-Volvestre, France
RIAC - Rencontre Internationale de l'Art Contemporain, Institut français du Congo,
2021
Africa 2020, with the Association Montevidéo and Les Ateliers Sahm (Congo) at the Couvent de la Cômerie, Marseille, France
2019
Festival des Arts de la Rue (FARA), Assouindé, Côte d’Ivoire
2018
5-day intensive workshop, AtWork Tour I Had a Dream, Moleskine Foundation, with Simon Njami, N'Djamena, Chad
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