One of Africa's most celebrated visual artists, Ivorian Frederic Bruly Bouabre, has died aged 91.
Bouabre created many of his hundreds of small drawings while working as a clerk in various government offices.
He also created an alphabet of pictograms to transcribe the oral traditions of his people, the Betes.
In the last 25 years his work has been exhibited at several of the world's most important art galleries and museums.
His work was displayed at last year's Venice Biennale, both at the international exhibition, called The Encyclopaedic Palace, and at the Ivory Coast pavilion.
"Bouabre is himself a kind of builder of encyclopaedias because his personal work consists in inventing a specific African alphabet," the Ivorian curator and art critic Yacouba Konate told the BBC at the time.
"He thinks it's easier for an African to learn, to get new knowledge, when he works inside an African writing system, an African language."
Mr Konate said Bouabre also documented the scarification on people's faces in various West African countries.
According to the Venice Biennale organisers, Bouabre worked as a civil servant until 1948, when he had a vision.
Afterwards he dedicated himself to art and said he should be referred to as "Cheikh Nador", meaning "he who does not forget".
His visual alphabet language was portrayed on more than 400 small cards using ballpoint pens and crayons, with symbolic imagery surrounded by text.
