Born in Dakar in the year 1945, Mbaye is an artist Senegalise contemporary painter, sculptor and art teacher. He goes by the nickname "Tita" and used to be an assistant and then a professor of plastic arts at the Academy of Arts of Dakar and a graduate of the Arts Education High School (Magnin, 1996:88). He completed an internship in cartooning and set design under the aegis of the French Community of Belgium. It is important to note that very little information is available on Mbaye because of his isolated location in Africa. It is known that he has a passion for historical theatre, he created small versions of theatres and plays in boxes and puts situations on stage that belong to Senegal and typically uses strong symbolism, found objects and geometric motifs which is an integral part African aesthetics and the rhythm that forms it. The work Coronation of Musaa Moolo Casamace, Southern Senegal consists of beadwork, found objects like cans shaped to represent figues and an overall stage-like composition, it speaks mainly of cultural rituals in Casamance and hope for the future (Magnin, 1996: 89). Tourists are known to have a major influence on Mbaye's work as he resides in the "Village des Artes", a large space with 50 studios set aside especially for artists by the Senegalese government in 1998 in order to give the people of the country a chance at the global contemporary art scene and to have them continue the tradition of unique Senegalese art (McKinley, 2003). .
Betye Saar .
Betye Irene Saar was born in 1926 in Los Angeles, she is an American artist known for her part in the black arts movement in the 1970s, in her work she challenged negative myths and stereotypes existing of African Americans (Hillstrom, 1999: 581). Saar's work in the field of assemblage grants her much attention as well as her almost politically driven controvertial work such as the piece entitled The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972).
