cocoa pickers | 21 21 design Sight
Series of 9 photographs of cocoa pickers for the show ‘Chocolate’
Sorogo Hamidou, 45, Zongkoro, Ivory Coast
Zongo Arouna, 40, Zongkoro, Ivory Coast
Soro Tefolo, 33, Zongkoro, Ivory Coast
Jacob Kabore, 60, Zongkoro, Ivory Coast
Armani Brou, 36, Zongkoro, Ivory Coast
Boniface Zongo, 36, Zongkoro, Ivory Coast
Sagnon Salifou, 30, Zongkoro, Ivory Coast
Mohammad Ouedraogo, 17, Zongkoro, Ivory Coast
17 cocoa pods
Issey Miyake asked me to contribute to an exhibition on Chocolate, he was curating with the designer Naoto Fukasawa. Chocolate in Japan has become a luxury product with organised tastings- similar to wine. I knew that the show would be mainly amazing objects made from chocolate and decided it would be interesting to explore the disparity between the producer and consumer. I choose the Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s largest cacao producing country. These farmers of cocoa beans were photographed in the village of Zongokro in the 25km no-man’s land dividing the country since the civil war in 2003, they earn less than a $1 per day.
Chocolate Exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo