Graffiti is considered an art form in Senegal, the works often bearing messages on issues such as politics, education, health and the environment.
In the capital Dakar, graffiti forms part of the urban backdrop, especially along certain major highways through the capital and out into the suburbs where many youngsters have a craze for hip-hop.
The 26-year-old Soumare abandoned other studies to register at RBS Akademya, a graffiti school in the Dakar suburb of Guediawaye.
The school, which opened its doors in December 2021, "wants to serve as a meeting place, a place to exchange, to share, one of savoir-faire," says Serigne Mansour Fall. Better known as Madzoo, he is one of a 25-strong founding collective behind the project.
The objective, says Madzoo, "is to bring to the table our heritage... to train young professionals" to be useful to society and enable people to "understand the challenges of their era."
Long seen by many as "a pastime for the lazy that couldn't earn a man a crust," in Madzoo's words, graffiti is gaining increasing recognition. The founding of the RBS Akademya was a timely stroke of luck for fans seeking formal training.
Art tableaux and graffiti pieces jockey to show off their beauty and color in the corridors of the two-story building that houses the school.
One arresting painting of an old, white-bearded man draped in blue fabric draws the visitor's gaze, a small plant made up of shells sprouts from his shaven head.
"He symbolizes Pan-Africanism," explains Madzoo, the artist of the work.
The classroom, with a long work table and wall chart, is no less original. Large letters in a mix of pink and green decorate the wall at the entrance. It is difficult to make out what is written.
To register at the school costs 25,000 CFA francs (40 euros) and then 15,000 francs per month. The money goes towards buying material for lessons and the school's rental charges.
In March 2021, after serious rioting in Dakar following the arrest on rape allegations of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, one of Madzoo's murals bearing the signature of his collective was widely shared on social media.
It represented President Macky Sall, his blazer sleeve in French red, white and blue, shooting at point blank range at a youth holding a Senegalese flag.
The drawing was swiftly removed from public view and Madzoo says the authorities have since had him in their sights.
