Landscape Tanzanie, 2001

Foreigner, nomad, traveler: these are the definitions that Pascale Marthine Tayou most often uses to describe himself. While today he is one of the most well-known African artists, having participated continuously since the late 1990s in large international exhibitions, Tayou was educated as a lawyer and did not begin exhibiting his work until the mid-1990s, in his native Yaoundé and in Douala (both in Cameroon). He does not acknowledge any influence of Western esthetics, although his works, in which he often uses discarded materials and detritus, can be associated with that of other contemporary “accumulators.” His inspiration comes from everyday life, both African and European, which have merged for him in recent years. Tayou lives and works as a professor in Ghent, Belgium. [...]