Ras Sankara Agboka, an unclassifiable Togolese artist, has established himself as one of the leading figures in performance art in West Africa. Behind this stage name is Agboka Kossi Aféli, born in 1989, whose self-taught career has developed outside of traditional academic circles, in a deeply personal and committed approach.
It was in the street, starting in 2015, that his artistic language took shape. In places where the public is not chosen but encountered, he transforms his own body into a tool of expression, a living medium capable of denouncing social, political, and historical divisions. For him, art is not decorative: it is confrontation, questioning, sometimes shock.
An art that disturbs and awakens
His work is based on a strong conviction: "to kill fear and resurrect courage with optimism." This philosophy permeates each of his performances, where the body becomes a space of memory, pain, and resistance. Through his installations, photographs, and performance art, he stages the invisible scars left by history and contemporary crises.
Ras Sankara doesn't just create; he unites. As the founder of the Cascad Togo association, he works to structure a local artistic ecosystem while also carrying out social initiatives. Within this framework, he launched the Emome'Art international festival, which has become a key event for performance artists from Africa and beyond.
His influence quickly spread beyond the borders of Togo. From Benin to Ghana, from Ivory Coast to Europe, he undertook numerous residencies, exhibitions, and performances. Paris, Brussels, Strasbourg, and Guadeloupe became stages where he exported an artistic voice deeply rooted in African realities yet universal in its scope.
Memory as raw material
Memory plays a central role in his artistic approach. Blood, a recurring symbol in his works, embodies, according to him, "the residual memory of history." His performances explore the legacies of the slave trade, social violence, and contemporary identities, inviting the public to collective introspection.
His creations, such as Blood memory, Recycle me ou The voice of the captiveThese works bear witness to this desire to create a dialogue between past and present. Each piece is conceived as a mirror held up to society, a space where inherited pain and hopes for the future confront each other.
But Ras Sankara is also a mentor. A socio-cultural facilitator, he works with young people, organizes workshops, and advocates for the recognition of performance art as a distinct discipline. His ambition: to eventually create a school dedicated to this art in Togo, to nurture and develop a new generation of artists.
A commitment without borders
His career, marked by extensive international mobility and strong local involvement, makes him a key player in the contemporary art scene. Through commitment, education, and creation, he embodies a vision of art as a tool for social transformation.
As evidenced by his performance The Symphony of DictatorshipThe exhibition, which will be presented on Thursday, April 23, 2026, from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the LN Gallery, located at 32 rue Jacques Louvel-Tessier, 75010 Paris, shows Ras Sankara tirelessly pursuing his artistic struggle. A struggle where every gesture, every silence, every staging becomes a political act, in a profound quest: to rehumanize the world through the power of art.
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