The exhibition Art & Fashion: Field of Alliances, co-curated by Art Comes First and Illa Donwahi, brought fashion into direct dialogue with contemporary art. The installation transformed the galleries of Fondation Donwahi into immersive environments where garments, objects, and artworks confronted each other, complementing and challenging one another in equal measure.

In one room, a single Art Comes First leather jacket stood suspended above a bed of black sculptural forms, framed by expressive paintings. The stark interplay of fashion and artwork turned the garment into both relic and sculpture, a symbol of resilience and rebellion.

Elsewhere, vivid red ACF raincoats patterned with scissors and brass knuckles stood beneath a bold, large-scale painting. Together, they created a striking chromatic alliance, a meditation on identity, craft, and cultural codes.

In another space, traditional textile forms were reimagined as sculptural installations: robes and kimonos juxtaposed with elongated figurative sculptures, blurring the lines between clothing, ritual, and monument.

Throughout the exhibition, fashion pieces by Art Comes First were not displayed as accessories to art, but as art in themselves, cultural objects that could hold their own alongside works by Jems Koko Bi, Aliou Diack, Sadikou Oukpedjo, Ibrahim Ballo, Souleymane Konaté, Hako Hankson, Josué Comoé, Gauz’, and Frank Fanny (RIP).

The result was a true field of alliances: a convergence of disciplines where fabric, form, and fine art collectively articulated stories of memory, resistance, and transformation.