invited guest: Angèle Etoundi Essamba (part one)

The F blog invites you to explore the photography of Angèle Etoundi Essamba.
She has rapidly become one of my favourite photographers. The pictures
here are selected by Angèle exclusively for The F Blog. My warmest regards
to you Angèle.
invited by ulf fågelhammar

On May 12 the exhibition "Pride and Strength" will open at Kulturhuset in
Stockholm. The works of Angèle Etoundi Essamba will be on show until
August 5. Be sure not to miss it! Also visit www.essamba-art.com to
find more of her work.

Photography has a universal language which speaks across all barriers
It is for me a need, to express, to communicate,to question and to protest.
As long as the need will exist I will create.









Dialogue and symbols

My work has always been about dialogue.The internal dialogue within
myself between different cultures gives my photographic work a
simultaneous personal and universally symbolic character. My roots
are in Cameroon, but the different cultural backgrounds into which I
grew up have considerably influenced my life and my vision.I get my
inspiration inside this cultural mix mainly dominated by my african
heritage.

People fascinate me and so the human being became central
in my work. I try to shape a world of unicity and meeting of forms,
races and cultures, to show the existing dialogue between cultures.
I also want to break through with the stereotypes of an african continent
ravaged by war,misery,oppression or made of romantic myths of
Mother Africa. Keywords to my photography are: Pride, Strength
and Awareness, interaction, respect and openness.


Communication in the broadest sense: “Beyond words”.Gestures have a
dominant place in my work. My images show a dialogue between humans,
shape and content, body and soul, Africa and the world: deep black and
white graphic compositions that offer a timeless visualisation of universal
symbols and wisdom.


In my earlier work of the eighties (1980s), I mostly focused on contrasts
between black and white. The theme "Contrast / Harmony " is an important
issue in my photography, as a black woman living in a white world ,I have
choosen to picture the world in black&white.

Otherness,identity/duality,modernity/tradition,mysticism/ reality... In the
work of the nineties (1990s ), I turned my attention to a vocabulary
of symbols. that refers to the human need for contact, pride, willpower
and the self confidence of women, but also to their connection with the earth.
Here in I emphase on the aesthetic and symbolism.


Pictures from top of post:
- Heritage
- L`arbre de la vie
- La femme et l`objet
- Roots
- Symbole
- La calebassiere

Pictures and text ©Angèle Etoundi Essamba
to be continued...(part two)