Ouagadougou: In the middle of the Saha International Graffiti Festival (FIGS) which is in full swing in Ouagadougou, West African artists have left, on the walls, messages of support for the soldiers who are fighting to liberate the Sahel of terrorist actions.

Placed under the theme ‘the walls have ears’, the 2nd edition of the Saha International Graffiti Festival (FIGS) is used to discuss the security situation in the Sahel.

The festival, supported by African initiatives, a Russian-Burkinabe association, brought together for this edition artists and painters from Burkina, Mali and Niger. It includes performance activities, exhibition-sales and a hip hop concert hosted by Tely, Manoos, Dr Mario, Owsy, Marto, Eric Benin, Deris, Sié etc.

For the festival coordinator, Ousmane Guigma alias Manoos, this edition constitutes an opportunity offered to artists to transmit messages to the population, in a difficult security context in the Sahel.

‘We are here at the foot of the wall of the Ouagadougou airport cantee
n. We started our work yesterday, Thursday, and we must complete it this Friday,’ he said.

The Malian graffiti artist, Christian Macaire Bayala, says he conveys a message of encouragement to the armed forces of his country and those of Burkina Faso, in their fight against the terrorist hydra.

For Mr. Bayala, it is also about sending a message of solidarity to the women of the Defense and Security Forces whose husbands have fallen on the field of honor and to the mothers who suffer violence in their environment.

The artist-designer and painter, Eric Krudch from Niger, said for his part that he is in Ouagadougou to learn and perfect his artistic talent.

Graffiti remains underdeveloped in Burkina Faso. The festival which ends on Saturday aims to promote this urban art and introduce it to the Burkinabè public

Source: Burkina Information Agency