Angèle Etoundi Essamba

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Photos by Angèle Etoundi Essamba in the streets of Madrid, 2010

Angèle Etoundi Essamba (* 1962 in Douala ) is a Cameroonian - Dutch photographer . She lives in Amsterdam .

Life

Angèle Etoundi Essamba was born in Doula , her mother's hometown, and grew up in Yaoundé , her father's hometown. At the age of 10, Essamba left Cameroon to live with her father, who now lived in Paris. There she spent her school days and then went to the Netherlands . In Amsterdam at the Photo Academy she studied photography. She is a Dutch citizen and lives in Amsterdam.

plant

Guidelines

Angèle Etoundi Essamba breaks with the stereotypical depictions of Africa as a continent torn apart by famine, epidemics and wars and instead celebrates its cultural richness and diversity. In the tradition of humanistic photography , which focuses on people in their everyday lives, Angèle Etoundi Essamba's photographs show a strong bond with the values ​​of community, solidarity and equality between people. She turns against the Eurocentric view of African women.

role models

The early mask paintings from 1985 reveal inspiration from Man Ray and Robert Mapplethorpe , and some of the “tough and highly aesthetic” black and white portraits still do today.

Motifs and stylistic devices

Photo by Angèle Etoundi Essamba as part of a street scene in Madrid, 2010

The artist's work is closely related to her own life, which has led her to different countries. Angèle Etoundi Essamba focuses on portraits of black women who question the concepts of identity, otherness and cultural differences in order to create respect, understanding and tolerance. She deliberately reduces the range of topics in her photographic work to three terms: pride, strength and self-confidence. With everyday motifs, but also staged motifs, her work shows the relationship between tradition and modernity and the social reality of working women from Cameroon to Zanzibar , from Senegal to Benin . The everyday background that is sometimes not very beautiful in her pictures serves to reduce the subject matter: it “makes people face the viewer with more determination and intensity”. Again and again you can see masks , veils or body coverings on the women portrayed by Essamba , but the women do not disappear behind them. “They act like accents on a body or a face and support the charisma of the person depicted, which is perceptible to the viewer.” So they make the women clearly visible. "Masks are a symbol of what you want to hide from the world and what you want to reveal."

Individual photo series (selection)

Large space in Essambas plant, the calabashes a series. These bottle gourds are traditionally used not only for storage, but also for cleaning and as a musical instrument. As a symbol for mother earth, the calabashes also stand for fertility and are richly decorated, repeatedly repaired and often lifelong companions of women. Essamba depicts the women with calabash halves on their heads as a symbol of protection and stages them in a wide variety of forms to keep telling new stories.

Territoires (series)
Adèle Etoundi Essamba , 2015
Color photography
Democratic Republic of Congo

Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

The Territoires series includes scarves that have been printed with various patterns in bright colors. Here, however, the textiles are not shown in portraits of women, but are used to cover the entrance doors or as a curtain on traditional mud houses. The recordings were made in 2015 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .

technology

Angèle Etoundi Essamba takes digital photos and edits her pictures only in exceptional cases. Nevertheless, Essamba's pictures often appear as if they were painted, "develop a magnificence that one normally only thinks to know from paintings". Masks, fabrics and calabashes often make the arrangements look like natural, but very lively still lifes . The artist photographs in black and white and color .

Exhibitions (selection)

More than 200 exhibitions in over 100 countries since 1985 attest to the international recognition and great creativity of Angèle Etoundi Essamba.

social commitment

The Essamba Home foundation set up by the artist sees itself as a mentor for young women in Cameroon, South Africa and Colombia . In photo workshops and other cultural events organized by the foundation, the women should learn to discover their artistic potential and strengthen their self-esteem.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e 'As It Is!' : Contemporary African Art Exhibition Series. In: themojogallery.com. Retrieved April 7, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Introducing Angèle Etoundi Essamba. In: newafricanmagazine.com. August 6, 2013, accessed April 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Daughters of Life - Museum Five Continents. In: museum-fuenf-kontektiven.de. July 1, 2018, accessed April 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ 10 female African photographers you should know. In: leadingladiesafrica.org. November 23, 2017, accessed April 7, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e Evelyn Vogel: The country needs strong women. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 77, April 4, 2018, p. R16.
  6. ↑ 8th Dak´Art 2008. In: kunstaspekte.art. Retrieved April 7, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Essamba, Angèle Etoundi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cameroonian-Dutch photographer
DATE OF BIRTH 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Douala