Bëre - Senegalese Wrestling

Paris - From February 13 to March 6 - 2023

Photographers encounter: February 18 from 1pm to 6pm 

Venue: Saargale - 47 Av. Daumesnil, 75012 Paris

For several years, my friend Daryl Weill and I have been travelling together, sharing a passion for street photography. Attracted by the exercise of photo documentary, we attempted to approach a country, Senegal, through a traditional sport, wrestling. The objective was to discover and document a practice that attracted our curiosity because of its emblematic character. Our objective was to convey the way in which we perceived this discipline through the medium of photography. In addition to the research conducted prior to our departure, we had no contacts on the ground and no particular programme. Consequently, we planned to allow ourselves to be guided by our first impressions and the encounters we made. As soon as we arrived, we were struck by the presence of sport in the conversations of the people of Dakar, who mentioned it even before we had time to broach the subject.

The omnipresence of sport was confirmed when we conducted an on-site visit to Ngor Beach, where aspiring wrestlers train from morning to night. We were also impressed by the enthusiasm as we observed two accomplished wrestlers engage in a spirited competition in Dakar's national arena, surrounded by enthusiastic supporters. We were also afforded the opportunity to observe the training sessions of the Fass stable for a week and to participate in a training session with the wrestlers, thereby gaining valuable insight into the intricacies of this sport. Finally, when we were invited to the Grand Yoff tournament with the sports press, where wrestlers compete without weight categories despite sometimes impressive differences in size, we were able to appreciate the difficulties young wrestlers face in distinguishing themselves from their competitors.