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Institut français du Cameroun – Yaoundé is hosting a screening and conversation between Cameroonian artist Yvon Ngassam and art historian and curator Dr Christine Eyene.

This event will introduce Eyene’s new research in the village of Bikoka and in Lolodorf, a rural municipality located on the edge of a forest in the South province of Cameroon. Drawing on family and community histories, national archives located in Liverpool, and French photographic archives, Eyene’s research brings to light the memory of a people, its landscapes, as well as the journeys of its mineral and botanical resources, animals, and cultural heritage to Europe and the United States.

This presentation will be followed by a screening of Lolodorf: A Colonial History (2023) by Yvon Ngassam commissioned by Bikoka Art Project, a new independent cultural initiative developed by Christine Eyene in Lolodorf.

Through the voices of the elders and young people from this community, Ngassam’s film traces the oral history, myths, historical facts, and collective memory of this place. The story includes the migration of the Ngoué people, colonisation, the displacement of the Ngumbas, and forced labour. At the end of the film, the fragmented knowledge by Lolodorf’s youth and their ambivalence about colonisation show the importance of preserving and transmitting this disappearing history.

At the crossroads of documentary and artistic film, Ngassam attaches great importance to the landscape which panoramic shots and soundscape immerse the viewer into the lush vegetation of the region.

Lolodorf: A Colonial History was first screened at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London) as part of Orchid Festival 2023, and presented at Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen) in 2023-24, as part of the exhibition ‘Seeds and Souls’ curated by Eyene.

Lolodorf: A Colonial History

A screening and conversation between Yvon Ngassam and Christine Eyene

Wednesday 10 April 2024, 18.00 – 20.00

Free event, open to all

Institut français du Cameroun – Yaoundé

140 Avenue President Ahmadou Ahidjo

Yaoundé

BIOGRAPHIES

Dr Christine Eyene

Dr Christine Eyene is an art historian, critic, and curator. She is a Lecturer in Contemporary Art at Liverpool John Moores University and Research Curator at Tate Liverpool. She is the author of a thesis in art history focusing on the practice of South African photographer George Hallett (1942-2020) in relation to African literature published in English in the 1970s and 1980s.

Eyene is curator of the Landskrona Konsthall exhibition as part of Landskrona Foto Festival 2024. Her international exhibitions include: ‘Seeds and Souls’, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2023-24); ‘Calling in Question’, American Arts Center, Casablanca (2022); ‘Breaking the Mould – New Signatures from DRC’, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, London (2021); ‘Sounds Like Her – Gender, Sound Art and Sonic Cultures’, New Art Exchange, Nottingham and touring (2017-2020); ‘RESIST! The 1960s, Photography, and Visual Legacies’, Summer of Photography, Bozar, Brussels (2018).

Her writings are published in art books, exhibition catalogues, and art journals. She is also part of committees and juries including the selection committee of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair and, in 2022, The London Open (Whitechapel Gallery, London), Jerwood/Photoworks Awards, and the Turner Prize.

Yvon Ngassam

Born in Bangangte (Cameroon) Yvon Ngassam lives and works in Douala. Predominantly known as a photographer, Ngassam’s artistic practice expands the boundaries of the photographic medium to encompass film, sound and visual experiments using traditional techniques like etching and embroidery to most advanced technologies with his NFT works.

His work addresses both historical and contemporary issues such as the legacy of slavery, Cameroon’s colonial history and cultural heritage, urban transformations, displacement, and migration. Central to these topics is the notion of resilience, a theme Ngassam approaches through the prism of dreams.

His most recent exhibitions include: ‘Crypto Genèse: Opus 1’, Institut français du Cameroun – Yaoundé (2024); ‘Seeds and Souls’, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2023-24); ‘Portrait of a Community – Features of a Land’, Municipal Foyer, Lolodorf (2022); ‘Traces’, Doual’Art, Douala (2021). He has participated in international group exhibitions and biennales including: ‘The Nudity of the Soul’, Kunsthal Aarhus (2021); ‘Streams of Consciousness’, 12^th Bamako Encounters – African Biennale of Photography, Bamako (2019); ‘L’Heure Rouge’, 13^th Dak’Art – Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Dakar (2018); ‘Rip It Up’, 2^nd Changjiang International Photography and Video Biennale, Changjiang Museum of Contemporary Art, Changjiang (2017).

His work is part of private collections internationally.