CHADA GNANGORAN

Charles-David Gnangoran, known as Chada, Gnangoran was born in 1998 in Côte d’Ivoire. He lives and works in Abidjan.

After studying law, Gnangoran went on to pursue artistic training alongside a degree in interior architecture at the Institut National Supérieur des Arts et de l’Action Culturelle in Abidjan, before further developing his practice at the Beaux-Arts de Marseille, where he graduated with honours. He is also the recipient of the Alberto Cortina Prize for African Art.

Gnangoran’s artistic practice, spanning ceramics, sculpture, textiles and installation, is grounded in a dense materiality. His background in interior architecture is reflected in installations that are attentive to spatial structuring, volume and the movement of the gaze.

In his textile works, raw or dyed jute – a symbol of trade and exchange – merges with worked fabrics and embroidered braids, onto which the artist layers screen-printed elements. Across the flat surface, Gnangoran accumulates shells, beads and coins gathered during his travels between Africa and Europe. These additions, which often obscure human figures, may be understood as a form of cultural hybridisation, whereby different cultures evolve through contact with one another.

Gnangoran’s works bring together diverse traditions and belief systems, operating within a process of both material and ritual transmission. The transmission of ancestral knowledge thus informs a reflection on the permeability between craft and art. He further enriches his practice through encounters with artisans committed to preserving traditional techniques, such as indigo dyeing or bronze casting using the lost-wax process.

Gnangoran’s work was presented at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris in April 2025 as part of the group exhibition 100% l’Expo, showcasing recent graduates of French fine art schools. In the same year, he was commissioned by the Margaux & Raphaël Blavy Collection to produce a site-specific installation, presented in the exhibition Noir Matters within the Ar(t)chipel festival organised by the Centre Pompidou and the Centre-Val de Loire Region. His work is consequently held in that collection, as well as in the Kadist Foundation collection, the Alberto Cortina Collection, and other distinguished private collections.

In 2026, the artist will present his first solo exhibition at GALERIE FARAH FAKHRI in Côte d’Ivoire.