Serge Mouangue

Wafrica, an innovative concept refusing to alter

"The starting point was a way to question the Japanese culture. This culture is very disturbing and very captivating at the same time. By questioning it, I questioned my own culture and where I thought I came from. My way of answering as a creator is by creating. I chose what I thought to be one of Japan's icons."
This is how Serge Mouangue came to choose the kimono as a first approach to answer these questions. By working on the kimono's expressiveness he tried to find a different angle that would help him understand the Japanese culture better, and his own at the same time.

All the force of the Wafrica concept is based in the will to not make a simple « mix » because that, in Serge Mouangue's opinion, would generate concessions. But rather it's about working on an "association" of two esthetics to give birth to a third, new one.

"It's a work without concession on the two codes' juxtaposition, and I try to find a third one, which could be the expression of a new esthetic." This third esthetic, the Wafrica esthetic, means to him, all by taking care of not altering where it came from nor what is associated with it, "creating something that doesn't belong to neither one, but which tells a different story". Thus, he avoids all fusion, or mix, to keep the spirit complete, and the West African esthetic and the Japanese esthetic, neither reproduce one nor the other, and inventing his "new story" - original and personal. Also, he says, the Japanese in his surrounding, were all very encouraging when he told them about his project. And they were positively baffled by the result, which seemed to them almost like "evidence", and they showed a strong rapture, charged with an important emotional nature. Even if not as many have seen the Wafrica creations, the African, too, were considerably delighted of the result. "What's interesting is, on both sides, nobody felt betrayed or rejected."

Two opposed creative approaches to two cultures with many similarities

He though considers those two esthetics being completely opposed. "In Africa, even the essence of the life's esthetic is improvisation. You improvise to learn. In Japan, you improvise after you've learned. If you give a trumpet to an African child, it will master this instrument by trying and attempting and he'll end up knowing it really well by playing in its very own way. Whereas you first have to teach a Japanese how to play the trumpet, so he can make music once he's mastered the instrument. Like this the creative approach is very different. "In Japan, there's an effort in repetition, routine and gestures to acquire, to be able to become a creator". Quite different from the creative approach in Africa, which is quite more individual and personal, based on tentatives, a little clumsy at first maybe, but which can surely be mastered little by little. "What's more, the African esthetic is very expressive and explosive. The Japanese esthetic is based more on absence, detachment and withdrawal to create presence."
Nevertheless, he explains, what he tries to prove with Wafrica is that if you put two aspects a priori opposed side by side, then you will obtain another, very harmonizing esthetic.

On the other hand, he considers there are many similarities between Japan and Western Africa, from the point of view of culture and behavior. In particular the relationship with the elder. "In Africa you often say that once an elder person dies, it's a library that burns", he says before letting us know of a similar impression in Japan, that of "the value of the wise, the ancestors, of those who have experience". He also mentions the similarity between those two cultures lies in their hierarchic relationships, in their tribal aspect. "When I came here, there were no difficulties and I was surprised by the fact that often I got along better with the Japanese once I tried to approach them, to understand them, with my African means. There's a room of silence in these two cultures which is very important"

First, create

When asking him about his method of learning, Serge Mouangue answers: "I am totally African". He insists on the fact that, seen from this angle, it's by improvising that you improve, even if you won't ever be able to do everything. Thus he takes up his example of the little African again to explain that he will never be able to read a partition but he will know how to play music. In his own case it's to "create first". When he started his Wafrica adventure, he knew nothing about the kimono's fabrication, but, with plenty of improvisation, of creation, he today knows perfectly how a kimono's made, knows the codes, and he adds that "you're never done learning". Moreover, the improvisation contributes in an obvious way to the birth of Wafrica. Serge Mouangue wasn't initially convinced that the juxtaposition of the Japanese and African esthetic would work and successfully lead to his "third story". He tried. "There were no convictions. When you create, you don't know where you head". He wanted to try and to learn more about the Japanese culture and his own. Currently he experiments with other things without knowing what will be the result. He even welcomes the fact that not everything can work out each time, because that's the proof that a creation isn't a systematic approach.

The curiosity of the creator makes towards Japan

Since his childhood in France he was able to watch plenty of Japanese animation, diverse in their genre, style, and when growing up he discovered Japanese calligraphy, Japanese film. He also read books such as Junichiro Tanizaki's "In Praise of Shadows", and with the mind of a creator he couldn't help but think that "this is so different, it's built so well, it's a place that has nothing to do with what I know, and it's something that interests me." Concerning the esthetic, "there's an emptiness that's appealing. In calligraphy, the material is as beautiful as the void around it." Serge Mouangue is taken with the humanity that you find in the characteristic "presence through absence", which - according to him – is what makes the Japanese esthetic. Also, as a designer, he considers the Japanese design as a reference. A set of elements therefore pushed him to have a closer look at this amazing country.

He also admires the will that exists in Japan to maintain the ancient things and the traditions without however freezing them. There's always the urge for perfection, for adaptation to modernism.

Also he cannot help but be surprised by the relative calm of Tokyo, of its faint sound level, that everything's moving freely despite a strong density, in short, this tremendous "contrast between frenzy and calm". And for him, this contrast is even reflected in products. You could, for example, have a screen that broadcasts CNN the whole day long in a high-quality sushi restaurant. Serge Mouangue is a big stroller, and reveals that he loves the uncountable peaceful back streets of Tokyo, a true paradise for pedestrians, and adores walking through the streets for hours.

Lastly, as noted above, it's just the beginning, Serge Mouangue wants «to get to know more ». The kimono is only the first way of Wafrica's expression, and there'll be more. When asked about it, he says, in Japanese in the text, that "it's a secret". So have a little patience.