Acrylic on canvas
70 x 60 cm
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The subject has no face, but does sport a red beret. Francis Mampuya manages to express dignity and determination in the sparingly sketched body, the vibrant palette in the centre of the canvas, and the hand that conveys more than a military salute. The work also conveys a sense of being incomplete, symbolising a life and work cut short by violence. Assassinated in 1987 in Ouagadougou when he had been in power for four years, Thomas Sankara made fighting corruption one of his priorities. Nicknamed the African Che Guevara, “l’homme intègre” (honest man) has remained an African anti-colonialist icon.