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Games of Seduction and Games of History: Alioum Moussa’s Fashion Victims in Niamey, Niger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2015

Amanda Gilvin
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Abstract:

In his November 2011 solo art exhibition, Fashion Victims, held in Niamey, Niger, the Cameroonian artist Alioum Moussa launched a critique of global participation in the industrial fashion system by employing secondhand garments as his primary medium. The show had special resonance in a city attempting to cultivate both industrial and artisanal production of dress and fashion for global markets. Moussa demanded that viewers reckon with their own consumerist dress practices and potential fashion victimization in what he described as “global games of seduction,” and he offered tributes to the different “fashion victims” by inviting others to play in shared games of history.

Résumé:

Dans son exposition d’art de Novembre 2011 intitulée Victimes de la mode, tenue à Niamey au Niger, l’artiste camerounais Alioum Moussa a pris position contre la globalisation du monde de la mode industrielle en utilisant des vêtements de seconde main comme médium principal. Le spectacle a eu une résonance particulière dans une ville qui tente de cultiver à la fois une production industrielle et une production artisanale pour la mode et le prêt-à-porter sur les marchés mondiaux. Moussa a poussé les spectateurs à réfléchir sur leurs propres pratiques vestimentaires consuméristes et sur la victimisation potentielle de la mode à travers ce qu'il décrit comme des “jeux mondiaux de la séduction.” Il a également rendu hommage à différentes “fashion victims” en invitant d’autres acteurs à jouer dans des jeux partagés de l’histoire.

Keywords

ArtfashionNigerglobalizationindustrializationconsumerism
Type
ARTICLES
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , April 2015 , pp. 55 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2015 

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