<p>‘We are nourished by the places we’ve lived’ say the Chicago and Paris-based collectors and founders of the SARR Prize</p>

As told to Ingrid Luquet-Gad

Catherine and Mamadou-Abou Sarr open up

<p><strong>Mamadou-Abou Sarr:</strong> The collection began very many years ago. My father owned a Russian Zenit camera, so we always had black-and-white and studio photos at home. These evoked a nostalgia for my parents’ homeland, and I always contemplated them with great interest. What first drew me to photography was the interpretation; the cultivation of an emotional attachment. Later, I familiarized myself with the medium by going to art fairs and looking through Revue Noire. The first artists whose works I acquired were therefore photographers, including Samuel Fosso, Mama Casset, Seydou Keïta, and Malick Sidibé. There were others as well, such as Toshio Shibata, Denis Darzacq, and Andreas Müller-Pohle.</p><p>At the time, Catherine found it difficult to imagine hanging portraits on the walls other than our family portraits. Later, her artistic sensibility as a jeweler knitted together with my own, and we expanded our outlook to other mediums. We continued to collect, but did so together. We were drawn to the arts in the broadest sense of the term, without necessarily striving to present the pieces together one day.</p><p><strong>Catherine Sarr:</strong> I joined Mamadou in his passion for art when I fully grasped the historical, sociological, and cultural interest that art – and African photography in particular – could represent. This memorial and introspective aspect has always been important to us, encompassing France, which we left some 20 years ago, as well as African ancestry.</p>

<p><strong>Mamadou-Abou Sarr:</strong> A second focus of our collection concerns the support of young French artists. My wife and I were both born in France, to Senegalese and Beninese parents, but we have been living abroad for over 20 years. We are now based in Chicago, having spent time in London and the Middle East. About 15 years ago, we began to follow the work of young artists fresh out of art school, as a way to maintain a connection to this part of our multifarious identities. Whenever we were passing through France, we would see them and do studio visits.</p><p>At some point, the question of establishing a more permanent vehicle to support young French creation arose. We thought of a prize, and the idea of a partnership with Beaux-Arts de Paris came up because many of the young French artists with whom we had connections had gone there: Joël Degbo, Julien Creuzet, Abdelhak Benallou, Halida Boughriet, Bilal Hamdad, Juliette Green, and Jérémie Danon. We established a set of well-defined specifications for the prize, the most important point being the constitution of an international jury. In partnership with Beaux-Arts de Paris and Villa Albertine, the SARR Prize has awarded three artists since 2021, with one laureate receiving a month-long residency in Chicago.</p>

<p><strong>Catherine Sarr:</strong> In reality, it was a matter of formalizing activities that we were already doing naturally. We were already bringing artists to Chicago to enable them to discover the scene there, and to be discovered in turn. We were also organizing exhibitions at our home, to which we invited curators and collectors. Pierre-Alexandre Savriacouty, the first SARR Prize recipient, completed his residence in October. The second will be Abdelhak Benallou, who is set to come in September 2023. The next prize winner will be announced in June.</p><p><strong>Mamadou-Abou Sarr:</strong> When we wake up on a Sunday morning, we can say to ourselves that these activities have an impact: on individuals and communities, on a narrative that we must also revisit, and on a conception of identity that we understand in all its plurality. Through the arts, it becomes possible to give form to this identity. Part of what helped us to realize our vision was our arrival in the United States. We realized the extent to which African-American artists have been left out of art history in the US, and how important it was to appreciate their contribution and the fullness of their impact. Today, we collect great names in African-American art such as <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/6949/Carrie-Mae-Weems">Carrie Mae Weems</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8327/Kara-Walker">Kara Walker</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/10414/Lorna-Simpson">Lorna Simpson</a>, and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/19770/Lorraine-O-Grady">Lorraine O’Grady</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Catherine Sarr:</strong> We are nourished by the places we’ve lived, and it is true that Chicago has been a defining context for us. That is why Chicago artists are also part of our collection, including, for example, Amanda Williams,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/29466/Dawoud-Bey">Dawoud Bey</a>, and Nate Young. I would also add that in Chicago, art is not concerned with fashionable society; it is civic. This is the city of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/9868/Theaster-Gates">Theaster Gates</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8633/Kerry-James-Marshall">Kerry James Marshall</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Mamadou-Abou Sarr:</strong> By way of our philanthropy, we have a place at the institutional table: I am a trustee of the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Art Institute of Chicago, and FACE Foundation (Villa Albertine), while Catherine is on the board of the Terra Foundation for American Art, as well as a member of several committees at the Art Institute of Chicago. We have been able to make acquisitions for museums that enriched their collections and allowed them to broaden the stories they tell. We also sponsor certain exhibitions, such as  ‘Closer to the Earth, Closer to My Own Body’, at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021-2022, the first major US museum exhibition dedicated to the Kenyan photographer Mimi Cherono Ng’ok&hellip;</p><p><strong>Catherine Sarr:</strong> &hellip; who was the first African woman photographer to have an exhibition in a North American museum.</p>

<p><strong>Mamadou-Abou Sarr:</strong> I often spend my Sundays advising young artists. I tell them to live their career with passion and patience. When you look at an artist’s career over the long term, there can be specific moments or certain series that allow them to take off. A second piece of advice I frequently give is to be sure to create a network, because that is the world we live in; a world where international digital platforms have replaced the old word-of-mouth channels.</p><p><strong>Catherine Sarr:</strong> Indeed, I would advise patience above all. I take inspiration from a piece of advice given by American curators that comes back time and again, about the importance of residencies. Residencies are an important moment of reflection that enable young artists to flesh out their practices.</p>

<p><strong>Mamadou-Abou Sarr:</strong> The art world has evolved tremendously. It has become more democratic, digitalized, and fragmented, at the same time as speculation has taken on a larger role. I am also thinking here of recent questions raised by NFTs: Can you buy a fraction of a piece of art? What is its value? For intangible goods, such as art, the price first and foremost comes from a sentimental attachment. Of course, there is a market value defined by auctions and sales histories, but all of that can be quite relative. We have never sold any artworks, so our collection has become rather substantial. Among the questions that arise as a result, we ask ourselves: What will the legacy of this collection be? Will we need a museum for it one day? For the time being, the most important thing for us is to make sure these pieces continue living, and to keep supporting artistic creation.</p>

<p>Ingrid Luquet-Gad is an art critic and PhD candidate based in Paris. She is the arts editor of <em>Les Inrockuptibles</em>, a contributing editor at <em>Spike art magazine, </em>and a writer for <em>Flash Art.</em></p><p>English translation: Jacob Bromberg.</p><p>Caption for full-bleed images, from top to bottom: 1.&nbsp;Dhewadi Hadjab, <em>Sans titre</em>, 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Sarr Collection. 2.&nbsp;Alexandre Diop,&nbsp;<em style="background-color: initial;">Give me Respect,&nbsp;</em>2021.&nbsp;Courtesy of the artist and Sarr Collection. 3.&nbsp;Carrie Mae Weems,&nbsp;<em>When and Where I Enter - Ancient Rome</em>,&nbsp;2006.&nbsp;Courtesy of the artist and Sarr Collection. 4.&nbsp;Lorraine O’Grady,&nbsp;<em style="background-color: initial;">Art is (Cope eyeing a young man),&nbsp;</em>1973/2009.&nbsp;Courtesy of the artist and Sarr Collection.</p><p>Published on March 7, 2023.</p><p>Catherine Sarr took part in the Conversations panel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/stories/art-basel-miami-beach-journeys-across-diasporas-collecting-african-art" target="_blank">'Journeys across Diasporas: Collecting African Art'</a>, held at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022.&nbsp;Watch it in full below.&nbsp;</p>

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‘We are nourished by the places we’ve lived’ say the Chicago and Paris-based collectors and founders of the SARR Prize

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