Côte d'Ivoire Wed 04-05-2011

Ivory Coast Chaos, Painter Captures the Upheaval on Canvas
By Finbarr O'Reilly/ Reuters Life!

All Pictures by Finbarr O’Reilly/ Reuters

While fighting raged on the streets outside his studio in Abidjan and stray bullets hissed through the air overhead, Ivorian artist Aboudia painted.

Only when the walls of his studio shook from the concussions of nearby explosions did Aboudia, 26, seek shelter in a basement.

^{Ivorian painter Abdoulaye Diarrasouba, 26, who goes by the name Aboudia, sits with his work depicting recent upheaval in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan, on April 19.}^{Heavily influenced by the late U.S. Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, Abdoudia continued working on his grafitti-style paintings as fighting raged outside his studio during recent weeks. He was sometimes forced to stop painting when bullets whistled too closely overhead, but he used his fear and worry to create a colourful and often ghoulish record of the violence that gripped the country since contested elections late last year.}

Untitled by Ivorian painter Abdoulaye Diarrasouba

"I was so afraid while I was painting all these tableaus," he said, casting a glance over a collection of work created during the months of political upheaval in the West African nation since a disputed election last November.

"Some work was hard to finish, a lot of the paint is running, dripping. It's not intentional, but it's like fear or sweat, or tears - like my soul is crying," said Aboudia, whose full name is Abdoulaye Diarrasouba.

His work over the past few months provides a haunting interpretation of the uncertainty and violence sweeping the country since incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power after losing an election to his rival Alassane Ouattara.

Untitled by Ivorian painter Abdoulaye Diarrasouba

The deadlock was broken when Gbagbo was arrested two weeks ago after French and United Nations forces attacked his military installations and residence.

Thousands died during the unrest. The main city of Abidjan remains awash with fighters and violence has simmered.