When Madi Dermé touches down at Thomas Sankara International Airport in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, he is met by a phalanx of men on horseback with whom he rides through the city streets. Every year, the French-Burinabè equestrian artist trades the polished arenas of Europe, for the bustling streets and dusty hippodromes of his homeland—where his ancestors, who were blacksmiths and cavaliers, or traditional horsemen, rode steeds into battle and made them dance for kings. Dermé is one of the few black equestrian artists who has built a name for himself…
