Sara Sadik, excerpt from Ultimate Vatos: Force & Honneur (Vol.1), 2022. Video, 23:33. Courtesy the artist. Collection The Vega Foundation.

Ultimate Vatos: Force & Honneur (Vol. 1) follows the mission of a young man played by the artist and actor Émile-Samory Fofana. As a participant in a military-like program called Ultimate Vatos, which is geared towards physical and mental training, he embodies the trope of the perfect fighter. His video game–like journey consists of an endurance test followed by an intimate inner monologue. Ultimate Vatos is an organization of the uprising, led by a group targeted as potential threats in a territory that doesn’t want them and rejects them from the legitimate body of the nation. To integrate into the organization, candidates need to pass an exam to test their physical and mental abilities. The candidates have one unique goal: to reach the organization’s flag situated in the game arena, Stone Island.