Abdias Ngateu
Born 1990 in Douala – Cameroon
Works and lives in Douala – Cameroon

Fabulists of all times and places, have used animals to convey their message, especially when this message is intended to be critical of the world as they see it around them. They live in it and wish they could change it. Using this same medium with humor, amplified by the humor of the situations he stages, Abdias Ngateu tells us through his paintings of the difficulties of his country, Cameroon. But his critical eye for observation is certainly valid from one end of our continent to the other.

Beyond the animals that look so much like humans - unless it is the other way around - the artist has chosen the nagging question of urban travel to carry his allegory. The roads, barely devoted to traffic, are immediately shattered by the disorder and the lack of respect for accepted standards of use, but especially because of the deficiencies of the builders that allow various forms of corruption to involve the use of all kinds of means of transport.

Daniel Onguene

Born 1995 in Bafoussam, Cameroon
Works and lives in Douala, Cameroon

The period of independence, some sixty years ago, saw the creation of the first fine arts schools on the continent, the first individual and group exhibitions, festivals and other events. The euphoria of this freedom, at times hard-fought, the nationalist movements, the return to roots and origins, all this enthusiastic speech was transferred into the works that we admire from Dakar to Yaoundé via Brazzaville! Africa was beautiful, it could finally mix its voice with the concert of nations, its identity became a source of pride and everything had to reflect this faith in a better tomorrow that would inevitably sing.

A generation later, many cries of joy have died down, disputes have arisen, African unity has been shattered and the march towards development raises questions in all segments of the population. The rural exodus causes its multiple ravages, which are multiplied tenfold by a general atmosphere of laxity and fatalism. The countryside hit by all manner of human and natural calamities is being emptied in favor of cities which were not designed to absorb such large population growth.