The Circularity of Time: Kader Diaby
The photographer, filmmaker and designer explores the phenomenon of Koh Koro Yé through the medium of film, which translated from the language of Malinke, literally means 'to see old things'.
The photographer, filmmaker and designer explores the phenomenon of Koh Koro Yé through the medium of film, which translated from the language of Malinke, literally means 'to see old things'.
- What is your name and how would you describe what you do?
Kader Diaby: My name is Kader Diaby. I'm a young Ivorian photographer, filmmaker and clothing designer.
- What's your background?
KD: I trained as a photographer with the Klaym organisation, in collaboration with the Zurich University of the Arts. Before that, I graduated in controlling and auditing in Rabat, Morocco, and now work as an auditor for a multinational company in Abidjan. From my fascination with art came a need for expression that led me to photography, which I discovered through Instagram, and design.
- What inspires you?
KD: Most of the time, it deals with topics such as African identity, or how do Africans define themselves nowadays? What is their place in this globalised world and the trend towards uniformity of cultures? How have gender boundaries blurred over the years? The impact of our actions on the environment?
- What is the ambition behind your practice?
KD: I see art as another political instrument. I see the different creative activities I do as one. The way I photograph influences my clothing designs and the way I look at the clothes influences my image. All this allows me to share my emotions and opinions.
- What did you hope to convey with your Bodies Of Knowledge film?
KD: According to Nietzsche's theory of the circularity of time, the universe is reborn and remade on the basis of fixed and necessary time cycles, eternally repeating a certain course and always remaining itself. For me the best way to illustrate this theory is the phenomenon of Koh Koro Yé, which is in Malinke, my native language, and which literally means 'to see old things'. It is the phenomenon of deja-vu. Koh Koro Yé is the sensation of having already witnessed or experienced a present situation, accompanied by a feeling of unreality, of strangeness. This situation is often confusing in that it is difficult to know whether one has already physically experienced the situation or whether it is a neurological or spiritual phenomenon.
