Artists Find Creative Haven in Côte d’Ivoire’s Grand Bassam

Artists find creative haven in Côte d’Ivoire’s ‘calm and soothing’ Grand Bassam

Creatives priced out of Abidjan have breathed new life into a city that was hit by a jihadist attack in 2016 By the poolside of La Fourchette de Rōze hotel in Grand Bassam, a Côte d’Ivoire city sandwiched between the Ébrié lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, a birthday party was in progress. On the second-floor gallery, the artist Nuits Balnéaires stood by a huge painting in one corner and looked out through the window towards the billowing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s poetic … that immense ...

By Eromo Egbejule in Grand Bassam; photographs by Aïcha Fall