Zraê, the son of God

Dated October 16, 1988, this drawing by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré unfolds as a layered cosmological narrative in which myth, genealogy, and everyday life intersect. The inscription—invoking “Zraê, the son of God”—frames the composition as a fragment of a larger mythological system, one that Bouabré constructs through both image and text. The upper register presents two enigmatic figures: a large, almost monstrous being with exaggerated facial features and a second, more human figure, whose gesture suggests greeting or revelation. Their presence establishes a divine or primordial dimension, hovering above the earthly scene below and introducing a hierarchy between the sacred and the human.

In the lower half, a group of figures gathers in a communal setting, where a seated musician plays a drum, anchoring the scene in rhythm and social ritual. The surrounding women, rendered with Bouabré’s characteristic clarity and repetition, evoke both individuality and archetype, suggesting a collective identity shaped by tradition and shared experience. A vertical, almost serpentine form links the upper and lower registers, visually binding the divine and the human realms into a single continuum. As with many of Bouabré’s works, the drawing is executed on a reused printed sheet, embedding traces of contemporary life beneath a personal mythology. Through this synthesis, Bouabré creates not merely an image, but a system of knowledge—one that seeks to map the origins, beliefs, and lived realities of humanity within a unified visual language.

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Zraê, the son of God, 1 original drawings, 63 x 32 cm, hand signed by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, 1988

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