Biography

Ican Ramageli is a member of the Laboratoire Agit’Art, an important collective for artistic experimentation in Dakar, founded in 1973 by Youssouf John and the performer Issa Samb. As an artist living in Senegal, Ican Ramageli expresses himself through different languages such as painting, video, photography, performance, installation and music. His poetry reveals a keen observation of cultural phenomena and their social reality. The artist is convinced that creative possibilities allow to perceive the complexities of existence, to assert positions, to develop a critical consciousness. As art is an important energy strategy, it enables possible changes in the world.

Siimb (2003)

A popular street show in Senegal features characters dressed as lions. Men roar and dance to the rhythm of the drums in an electrifying performance that mixes frenetic music with moments of rest. Through dance, a link to the rituals of pre-colonial cultures persists.
With Simb (which means The Dance of the False Lion in Wolof) the artist refers to an ancestral legend, a hunter who magically survived a lion attack. Inhabited by the spirit of the animal, the hunter’s body was covered with hair, he ate only raw meat and communicated by roaring.