CasziB

"Incandescent Duet" by Burkinabe artist CasziB (2024), a figurative painting expressing duality, emotional intensity, and cultural connection through symbolic composition. Presented by Afrikanizm.

"Through vibrant tones, rhythmic patterns and faces created from shadows, blurs and contrasts, CasziB portrays his vision of an active Africa, simultaneously strengthened by its values and overshadowed by Western cultural influences. "

MEET

CasziB

Casimir Balibié Bationo, known artistically as CasziB, is a Burkinabe contemporary painter born in 1982 in Adjamé, Ivory Coast, and rooted in the Lélé tribe of west-central Burkina Faso. Now based in Ouagadougou, CasziB creates striking works that merge Afro-abstract expressionism with deeply human narratives shaped by migration, memory, and identity.

Trained in contemporary painting, life drawing, cinema, and photography, his practice is multidisciplinary, yet unmistakably visual — a textured explosion of colour, gesture, and emotional intensity. Through layered compositions filled with ghostly figures, blurred forms, and haunting gazes, CasziB offers a window into the ever-shifting landscape of postcolonial Africa.

His art explores the tension between ancestral values and the pressure of Western influence, capturing a continent in movement. With every brushstroke, he invites viewers to confront themes like racism, migration, family, environmental injustice, and the fragility of human rights. These visual narratives are at once intimate and political — stories of pain, strength, and transformation.

CasziB’s work transcends borders. Exhibited in Africa, Europe, the U.S., and South America, his canvases echo a diasporic consciousness — a creative resistance that bridges cultures and challenges global perceptions of African identity. Whether viewed in a gallery or in dialogue with grassroots movements, his work insists on being felt, questioned, and remembered.

CasziB remains a powerful voice in Burkina Faso’s contemporary art scene, using his brush to speak of struggle and resilience — and to reimagine the African future through the lens of visual storytelling.

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