Tools for Conviviality Anna Ehrenstein

Anna Ehrenstein (b. 1993) found inspiration for her Tools for Conviviality during extended stays in Dakar in 2018 and 2019. In the Senegalese capital the artist met Saliou Ba, Donkafele (Mandé Mory Bah and Thibault Houssou), Nyamwathi Gichau, Lydia Likibi, and Awa Seck, all of whom would become her friends and artistic collaborators.

Ehrenstein’s own migration experience between Germany and Albania sensitised her to the living conditions of her collaborators, who all migrated at various times to or from Senegal. She views Dakar as a special place that attracts a broad spectrum of Africa’s creative diversity, in part because it is possible to work there without a visa. The artists working in the city share a life in constant motion, along with their accumulated knowledge, their joie de vivre, and a common world they have themselves created.