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« The Clément-Marie BIAZIN’ Project »

« It was in 1967, beginning of January I think.
Somebody knocked at the door of my office in BANGUI (Central African Republic).
There was a little black man asking for me : his name was Clément-Marie BIAZIN, he was 43 years old, and he exposed to me the story of his life and « His Major Project » .

He had left school early, and in 1946 he started__ always on foot__ a first long «voyage d'étude»("study travel"), visiting the CONGO, UGANDA, URUNDI, RUANDA, and returning in BANGUI at the end of 1955.
In March 1956, he did not want to stay home, and he started a second «voyage d'étude», visiting the CAMEROUN, SPANISH-GUINEA, GABON, CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE, CONGO-ZAIRE, coming back the 11th of March 1966 in BANGUI.

Clément-Marie BIAZIN told me that through these 19 years of «voyages d'étude» , he had lived with the people of the countries, ethnic groups, villages he had visited… staying sometimes only for a while, sometimes for months, in all these different places.
He told me that he had learned a lot about the different African ways of living.

He explained to me that we, white people, had books talking about our civilisation.
He exposed that, in 1967, the young african people no longer learnt (through the oral tradition) the history of Black Civilisation, that they no longer listened to Story-Tellers… AND ALL HIS BLACK CULTURE WAS VANISHING !
That was the reason he wanted to paint and write

« THE GREAT BOOK OF THE AFRICAN CIVILISATION »

both in words and in paintings, to expose to the future African generations__ and to the entire world__ the reality and the truth about his African Culture. »

Robert SEVE