Gilbert G. Groud
Encyclopedia
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
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Biography
He was born around 1956 in a little village close to Toulépleu in Côte d'Ivoire. He had 23 siblings, not all of whom were born to the same mother since his father was polygamous. 7 siblings were of the same mother.He attended primary school in his home village. His high school was in the city.
1979 he began his studies of art at the Institut Nationale des Arts in Abidjan
Abidjan
Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...
. He specialised on communication. His Master's thesis was on the topic of "magie noire" (Black Magic
Black magic
Black magic is the type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its...
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Due to this paper he created the trilogy "Magie Noire", of which the first book was published in and the second book is supposed to be published by January 2008. The comic book speaks about black magic and marabouts in West-Africa. Because of this and other comic books, the other books were published in small quantities in the Ivory Coast, the Ivorian Ministry of Culture also accepts Groud as an important artist of the 21st Century.
Since 2006 Groud lives as a refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
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Civil involvement
In his book "Magie Noire" Groud speaks openly against the practise of black magic in Africa. He believes that black magic and other traditions were used to stabilize the current social system. In the modern Africa clinging to the old traditions would have an ill effect on the modern society leading to poverty and wars.Groud is active against the military use of children
Military use of children
The military use of children takes three distinct forms: children can take direct part in hostilities , or they can be used in support roles such as porters, spies, messengers, look outs, and sexual slaves; or they can be used for political advantage either as human shields or in...
in his homeland Ivory Coast and the world in general. He is working on the preparation of several exhibitions and writes a comic book about the topic to increase awareness on the topic. One of the pictures of the exhibition he has released on creative commons license in the hope, it will be also used in fighting the use of children in the war.
The artist rejects the tradition of female genital mutilation, that was and in parts is widely practised among his people, as being harmful and against the human rights. In December 2006 the artist hosted an exhibition and party to raise funds for projects against this tradition, chief among which was an illustrated book aimed at the parents, explaining why this tradition is harmful.