
Helene Love-Allotey
Head of Department
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Head of Department
Provenance
Acquired from Ed Cross Fine Art, London, 2006;
A private collection.
Exhibited
Edinburgh, The English Speaking Union, Witness: The Spectre of Memory in Contemporary African Art, (2010);
Cambridge, Heong Gallery at Downing College, When The Heavens Meet The Earth, (2017)
Literature
When The Heavens Meet The Earth, ed. Claire Varley & Tessa Jackson (Cambridge: Heong Gallery at Downing College, 2017), pp, 102 - 105. (illustrated)
Born in 1969 in Cotonou, Benin, a self-taught artist, Dominique Zinkpè works with a wide body of media, showcasing his ability and freedom in creating art. Benin's history, its pre-colonial greatness and the impact of subsequent French rule, is embedded in his work. His visual language draws inspiration from Catholicism, Animism and indigenous traditions - celebrating the nation's rich diversity, but also highlighting the unresolved tensions. His works have become famous and successful for their hybrid forms of part human and part animal characters. It is often unclear whether they are among the living or the dead.
Zinkpè was awarded the Prix Jeune Talent Africain (Young African Talent) Award at the Grapholie in Abidjan in 1993. In 2002 he received the West African Economic and Monetory Union (UEMOA) Prize at the Dakar Biennale.