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SANKARA The eternal watchman

Gallery

The work in pictures

The finished monument, its making in the workshop, and the drawing it came from. Each image carries its credit line, to be used as it stands in case of reproduction.

The monument in the park

An indicative view of the monument standing on its stepped concrete base, as it stands at the Parco Thomas Sankara. Its installation is still to come.

Siting render of SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR by Hamed Ouattara: the Corten steel prism standing on its two-stepped concrete base, in a tree-lined walk. The portrait face shows the face of Comrade President Thomas Sankara cut clean through the plate, above the block ISIDORE NOEL THOMAS SANKARA 1949 - 1987, and the adjoining face is covered with hemispherical bosses.
Siting render. SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR, Hamed Ouattara, 2026, Corten steel

The finished monument

The Corten steel has taken its first oxidation. It will go on darkening and settling over the years, under the rain and the sun of Rome.

The finished SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR monument by Hamed Ouattara, in oxidised Corten steel: the portrait face shows the face of Comrade President Thomas Sankara cut clean through the plate, above the block reading ISIDORE NOEL THOMAS SANKARA 1949-1987, and the adjoining face is covered with hemispherical bosses.
The portrait face and a textured face, Corten steel after first oxidation. SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR, Hamed Ouattara, 2026, Corten steel
The prism of SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR by Hamed Ouattara in bare steel, before oxidation, in the Bologna workshop: the hemispherical bosses catch the light and the cut face stands out black.
The prism in bare steel, before oxidation. The workshop, Bologna. SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR, Hamed Ouattara, 2026, Corten steel

The Bologna workshop

The plates were laser cut and the bosses pressed by specialist workshops. The assembly, the welding and the finishing were done by the artist himself.

Hamed Ouattara, welding mask down, welds the prism of SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR in the Bologna workshop, the work hanging from the hoist.
The welding of the prism, carried out by the artist. SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR, Hamed Ouattara, 2026, Corten steel
Hamed Ouattara, author of the work, standing beside SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR in bare steel in the Bologna workshop, his hand resting on the portrait face.
Hamed Ouattara beside the work, Bologna workshop. SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR, Hamed Ouattara, 2026, Corten steel

The drawing of the portrait face

The fabrication document sent to the workshops, dimensioned to the millimetre: the top row of four bosses, the face and the name block cut clean through, the twenty-four bosses of the lower part, and the artist's signature.

Dimensioned drawing of the portrait face of SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR by Hamed Ouattara: a prism 2000 by 700 millimetres in 6 millimetre Corten steel, bosses 139 millimetres across standing 20 to 25 millimetres proud, 167 millimetres apart horizontally and 165 vertically, 28 bosses in all for the portrait face.
Thomas Sankara monument — portrait face, index E, with the artist's signature. SANKARA, L'ÉTERNEL VEILLEUR, Hamed Ouattara, 2026 — Studio Hamed Ouattara

See the drawing of the two faces and the count

After the installation

As soon as the monument stands at the Parco Thomas Sankara, this gallery will grow with photographs of the work in place, in the park, at every hour of the day. The site will then open the virtual tour: a complete rotation around the monument, for those who cannot come to Rome.

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