Six meters below the Mediterranean, off Marseille, Sofiane Benyahia seams. Here no fabric but cans, landing nets and other waste recovered under the water that become, in the hands of the French visual artist, works of art.
Initially, Sofiane Benyahia is an apnea painter. « Every time I paint pictures underwater, I see waste everywhere despite the fact that I do pollution with local associations, » laments the artist.
« I wanted to raise awareness differently, » continues the former submariner. « This is where I came up with the idea of taking underwater waste and freezing it as an archaeological object. To be able to testify to what humans leave as a trace under water, « explains the 40-year-old freediving instructor.
And this trace is far from trivial. The Mediterranean is considered the most polluted sea in the world. According to Ademe, the French Agency for Ecological Transition, nearly 630 tons of plastic waste are thrown away every day by riparian countries and accumulate there.
To fix the found objects on his recycled PVC canvas, held underwater by weights, the diver uses a nylon thread and a hook. A work can ask him for « at least thirty apneas ». « It takes a lot of back and forth to take the time to sew and make this ancestral gesture, in the same way as painting or dancing, » he says.
Because Sofiane Benyahia is not content to create works of art. Below the surface, he also transforms his work into underwater performance.
Nearly 23 million Congolese are illiterate
The number is dizzying. Nearly 23 million Congolese, out of an estimated population of 100 million, can neither read nor write, or nearly 20% of the population, according to data presented on Tuesday, September 8 by the Minister of State in charge of Social Affairs, Ève Bazaiba. A reality that places illiteracy among the deepest social fractures that the Democratic Republic of Congo remains facing.
