He dreamed of being a professional footballer, he became a talented photographer. Between the two destinies, a terrible accident which will have decided the turning point of his life. At 32, the artist Baba Diédhiou embodies the meeting between sport and culture, dear to the eyes of the Francophonie.
3 mins
From our special correspondent in Kinshasa,
What he could not achieve with his feet, he succeeded with his eye and his hands as his sister-in-law predestined. ” You have something in your hands she told him. He wanted to conquer the world with his feet. Like the Senegalese African champion, Sadio Mané, also from Casamance like him. El Hadji Samba Diédhiou, “Baba”, for those close to him and for all those who are lucky enough to see him on a football field, had talent to spare. Gifted with the ball to the point of being nicknamed “Ribéry” or “Iniesta”, the midfielder was on the verge of signing a professional football contract after conclusive tests in Italy. It was before the tragedy.
Fifteen days in a coma
One night, on a sidewalk in his Grand-Dakar district, the young 21-year-old apprentice footballer was mowed down, with a friend, by a ” because fast », a Dakar transport vehicle sometimes nicknamed « rolling coffin “. The friend dies instantly, Baba, in a coma, lands in the hospital. He woke up 15 days later, underwent five operations, before, miraculously, being able to walk again after the wheelchair-walker-crutches stage.
Nearly six months after the accident, he resorts, he lives again. But… ” I resumed football well, but I felt very quickly that my dream of becoming a professional footballer was over. So I started studying to become a graphic designer. But the love of photography was too strong and I immersed myself in it. »
Baba puts all his energy, his creativity, into the photo he has been teasing since childhood. ” I liked to take pictures of my football buddies “says the Bayern Munich fan.
If he kept the athletic body, now Baba Diédhiou, with his glasses, has above all the look of an art school teacher, with a smile that rarely leaves him.
Today, almost 13 years after his accident, Baba has finished rebuilding himself thanks to photography with which he expresses himself fully. ” I think I do poetry through photography. This allows me to bring out my creativity, of course, but above all my emotions. And they are strong. My photos are always “in motion”. Like on a soccer field.
” He is sensitive to other art forms »
Gossete Lubanda, president of the Games photo jury, without getting too wet, agrees to talk about Diédhiou’s style. ” I know his work, he is someone who is sensitive to other forms of art, in particular dance, music. And, he uses photography to convey the emotions he feels through these other art forms. Visually, we feel his energy through the moving bodies in his photos. “.
This presence at the Francophonie Games is a bit like the CAN or the Champions League of Baba Diédhiou, proud to defend the national flag with the Senegalese delegation. ” You impress me all the time », Launched his dad before leaving for Kinshasa. Proud to see how his son has recovered and built himself to arrive today to represent Senegal in an international competition. ” I often said to my mother: “They didn’t know me through football, they will know me through photography. I am the Sadio Mané of photography he laughs. I came to defend the Senegalese flag, and if that can inspire Senegalese youth, so much the better. »