Waaw is an artist/volunteer run residency, situated right in the middle of the Saint-Louis island in the Senegal river. In Saint-Louis, the picturesque decay of the colonial town contrasts with the cultural expressions of modern West Africa.

We welcome practitioners in all creative disciplines, as well as curators, journalists and researchers. A stay at Waaw is perfect for individual work in a semi-secluded setting, but community-oriented projects are also possible. Normallt, 5 artists in residence will be working at Waaw at any one time.

We are now inviting an artist working in drawing or illustration for a one-month stay between 2 and 28 February. (Unfortunately, there is no flexibility as to the arrival date.) In our selection, we generally favour projects with relevance to the Senegalese context - and if you are prepared to contribute to Waaw projects, possibly of a social or educational nature - we are definitely interested in you. We will offer this residency at the reduced price of €450 or 300,000 francs cfa.

Waaw provides individual or shared work space and some project assistance and mentoring, including assistance in establishing contacts locally. There is free wifi, but the connection is often rather poor and if you ever considered taking time off the net, this is a perfect opportunity. Accommodation is provided at a B&B run by a Senegalese family in a building at walking distance.

End-of-residency exhibitions or shows are welcome - but not obligatory. Please see the Waaw residency page (link on the right) for practical details on costs etc. We offer no grants, but selected candidates who have paid the registration fee will be issued a letter of support for seeking grants elsewhere.

This residency period falls in the dry season. Expect afternoon temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees and night temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius.

To apply, send an informal letter to the address info(át)waawsenegal.org. Please  tell us why you would like to come to Waaw and what you would like to do during your residency. One A4 will do fine. Please answer these questions as applicable, attach a concise project plan, if relevant, and link to relevant work or documentation of it online. NB: We are not interested in detailed cv's or artist's statements. If you must attach files, please limit yourself to two single relevant works. Please make sure that your email message is not heavier than 10 MB - otherwise we may not be able to take your application into account. Thank you for your understanding.

We would like to hear from you as soon as possible or by 15 December at the latest.

Hope to see you at Waaw!