World of Wonders: Prince Obasi & Dramane Toloba

World of Wonders opens the door to a territory where childhood appears as a space of innocence and carefreeness, but also of quiet, unspoken promises. Far from being merely a stage of life, childhood is revealed here as a world in its own right—an inner place where ways of seeing, gestures, and ways of being in the world are formed.

Winged cherubs, mischievous cupids, the Christ child of Nativity scenes, or royal children in court portraits: the figure of the child has always been omnipresent in the visual arts. On the African continent, childhood naturally inscribes itself within a broader reflection on transmission. It connects generations, carries memory, and sketches the contours of what is yet to come.

From Moroccan artist Anuar Khalifi, known for his portraits of turbulent young figures, to South African artist Nelson Makamo, whose work draws deeply on the innocence of children from rural communities, many contemporary African artists continue to embrace this subject for its expressive power. Childhood scenes, long associated with joy and lightness, take on a more lucid reading. They emerge on fragile cardboard closely tied to the street and precarious neighbourhoods in the work of Armand Boua, or smile broadly in Aboudia’s paintings while their eyes reflect the instability of the world around them. Everywhere, childhood remains a sensitive space of projection—at once play, presence, and awareness of the world.

It is within this lineage that the works of Dramane Toloba and Prince Obasi come together in World of Wonders. Both artists offer a careful, attentive gaze on ordinary scenes of life, where childhood unfolds through play, simple gestures, and the protective presence of the mother.

Toloba constructs his scenes from fragments of fabric assembled onto the canvas, animated by paper clips that mark connection and attachment. This recomposed material evokes a sensitive memory made of layered stories, transmitted gestures, and worlds stitched together. His luminous works carry a gentle nostalgia—memories of fireside tales, shared riddles, running games, and collective play. suggest the gradual disappearance of these moments of joy and transmission, replaced by quieter forms of solitude. His figures retain the warmth of these past moments.
In Obasi’s work, childhood reveals itself through the delicacy of shared moments. His scenes are bathed in a calm light, where maternal love, play, and everyday attention shape spaces of protection. Revisiting the bourgeois family portrait, the artist introduces a renewed sensitivity that is both intimate and universal. The child appears fully present, rooted in a world still inhabited by wonder.

By bringing these two artistic practices into dialogue, World of Wonders invites us to reconsider childhood not as a distant memory, but as a way of inhabiting the present—a fragile and essential world of wonder, where perhaps what is most true and vital within us finds shelter.

Echoing the themes of the exhibition, a portion of the proceeds from the sales will be donated to the Association Imagine le Monde, which supports education and inclusion for children and young people in vulnerable situations in Côte d’Ivoire.