De Ouagadougou, capitale du Burkina Faso, on a l’usage d’entendre « Ouaga est doux ».
Cette expression courante en Afrique de l’Ouest qualifie la satisfaction que l’on peut ressentir suite à une expérience.
At the mention of Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, it is common to hear people say “Ouaga est doux”, meaning “Ouaga is sweet”.
This expression is widely reiterated in West Africa to describe the satisfaction felt following some experience.
Ouagadougou attracts visits from many Africans of neighbouring countries eager to taste a lifestyle based on a tolerant, secular social model that is renowned throughout the West African sub-region. For anyone who has the means, an oasis of idleness. Fertile ground for resourcefulness, it is also a nest of dangerous liaisons.
I focussed essentially on night-time Ouaga, observed through the leisure activities that are predominant in the everyday life of many.
While investigating various locations, including bars, clubs, live band dance halls, maquis and streets, as well as more intimate settings such as houses and yards, I sought to represent subtly and poetically the way in which a liberal dream takes form, up to the point of its economic and moral disenchantment.