Daily Wrestling

Stitched into Senegal’s social fabric, wrestling bares witness to a distinct form of modernity.The magic and beliefs surrounding wrestling still remain intact from the origins of the sport, with marabouts preparing different charms, potions and spells to bless the fighter. As the nation’s economy has plunged, laamb’s appeal has skyrocketed. As the sport entered the realm of corporate sponsorship, the traditional and spiritual nature of the sport has become imbued by the phenomena of materialisation, mondialisation and wild capitalism. Destilling wrestling’s underlying ties to global capitalism, social struggle and political symbolism, Baba-Ali eliminates the opponent and replaces him with objects taken from wrestler’s daily lives. Invigorated by the sound of the drums and rowdy crowd, the wrestlers thus battle it out against the struggles of their daily existence. Humanising issues too often spoken of in terms of economy and politics.