Pélagie Gbaguidi articulates the social and symbolic undercurrents of colonial and postcolonial legacies, processing the signifiers of trauma through materially embodied images. In her paintings and drawings, the artist produces a choreography of blurred, vivid pigments, in which space is disputed by superimposed silhouettes and bodies. The violent clashes between abstract demarcation and figurative reference replicate a tension between recognition and estrangement. The artist describes herself as a contemporary griot – a West-African storyteller, redefining the dimension of orality in traditional heritage through her own approach to plasticity. Gbaguidi often alludes to overlooked stories, ridding them of simplifications and archetypes produced by so-called official historiography.
Among Pélagie Gbaguidi’s most relevant solo exhibitions are Antre, La Verrière – Fondation d’Entreprise Hermès, Brussels, Belgium (2025); Murmurations, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – Château de Rochechouart, France (2024); and Le jour se lève, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2022). The artist has also taken part in relevant group shows such as Drawing Today – recent additions to the collection, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2024); Motel Corona. Resilience Acquisitions by the Flemish Community, S.M.A.K., Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium (2023); A Parábola do Progresso, SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil (2022); Écrire, c’est dessiner, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France (2021); 11th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (2020); Multiple Transmissions: Art in the Afropolitan Age, WIELS, Brussels, Belgium (2019); and documenta 14, Neue Galerie, Kassel, Germany; Documenta 14, Athens Conservatoire (Odeion), Athens, Greece (2017).
The artist’s works are in important public collections, such as S.M.A.K. – Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium; KANAL – Centre Pompidou, Brussels, Belgium; M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium; Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium; Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland; CNAP – Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris, France; and the Holocaust Memorial Foundation, Chicago, USA.
