Gone to practice his art, Barthelemy Toguo comes back to Cameroon with, in his luggage, an ambitious artistic project.
The Cameroonian artist has been travelling quite a lot: Abidjan, Grenoble, Düsseldorf, New York, Paris… A few years ago, he decides to return to Cameroon to contribute to the development of his country. His project: a centre to enable the young artists to practise and show their art in a country where the structures are still fragile. Designed as a multidisciplinary meeting space, the artist has also set his personal art collection, created through the exchange of art works with the artists and collectors he met worldwide.
Located in Bandjoun, his parents’ village but also known as the ancestral artistic centre of West Cameroon, the artist drew the plans and the mosaics of the huge building that is now the pride of the inhabitants of the city. Finally, to sustain this centre that he funded with his own money, he started to grow plantations on which he built homes to accommodate artists. It is an amazing open-air museum created to celebrate art and make it accessible to everyone.
Biography of Barthelemy Toguo
Born in 1967 in Cameroon. École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts d’Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), École Supérieure d’Art de Grenoble (France), Kunstakademie of Düsseldorf, (Germany). He lives and works between Paris, Bandjoun, Cameroon, New York. Knight in the Order of Arts and Literature,
Infos & artworks : Barthelemytoguo
Travelling to West Cameroon
Accessible from the two capital cities, Yaoundé and Douala, and rich by its cultural and tourist attractions, the West Cameroon is a region that offers many accommodation options.
Art in Cameroon
Gatcha foundation website
Route des chefferies website
Bamoun Kingdom website
Text & photos : Laure Poinsot
