M HKA Ensembles

° 1967

Lives in Ghent (BE), born in Yaoundé (CM).

Pascale Marthine Tayou (b. 1967) is born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where he initially studies law. At the same time, he starts to develop his own artistic course, motivated by social commitment and global curiosity. Tayou travels with his conceptual oeuvre – a cross between Arte Povera, Recycling Art and Land Art - to Europe, and from 2007 he settles alternately in Ghent and Yaoundé. His nomadic wandering between Africa and Europe gives his work the allure of a visual logbook in which he gathers all kinds of information regarding the presence of cultural and national boundaries. His oeuvre is seen as a lively interpretation of the struggle for life, in which traditions and cultural backgrounds clash with the contemporary issues of the new era. His installations are based on artisanal sculptures, made from recycled material. Tayou confronts the viewer with seemingly innocent representations and installations, while the essence and especially the origin of the materials reveal a much less uplifting context: that of pollution, poverty and migration.

Text: Hans Willemse
Translations: Michael Meert