Angèle Etoundi Essamba solo exhibition at Montague Contemporary

Thu, Sep 22 - Thu, Nov 3  2022

Montague Contemporary is excited to present the first solo exhibition A-FIL-IATIONS for acclaimed Cameroonian photographer Angele Etoundi Essamba. Curated by Laura Day Webb, the exhibition features works from Essamba’s latest series shown at the inaugural Cameroon Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale. The exhibition will be on view from September 22 – November 3, 2022, with an opening reception on September 22 from 6-8pm.

Essamba (b. 1962, Cameroon) is committed to a reflection on the identity of the African woman, imbuing her subjects with meaning and majesty, while simultaneously exploring the relationship between tradition and modernity.

A-FIL-IATIONS invites the viewer to examine the world through her lens in an exploration of society, identity, gender, and artistry, drawing inspiration from Greek mythology and a weaving contest between goddess and mortal. Each strives to best the other with the web’s wrought echoing in the connected nature of contemporary virtual society. Knotted, anchored, intertwined, thread becomes a metaphor for human connectivity’s transcendence of the physical, with women as it’s weavers, forever spinning, repairing, reconstructing, and protecting the threads of this world. Vibrant colors intermingled with black and white, merging shapes tied, untied, and unified carry stories and emotions from peace to perseverance.

Born in Cameroon and educated in France, Angèle Etoundi Essamba is a graduate of the Dutch Photography School in Amsterdam where she lives. Since her first exhibition in 1985, her work has been frequently exhibited in museums, institutions, Biennales, art fairs, and galleries in Europe, Africa, the United States, Latin America, and Asia. Her photographs are held in several private and public collections, including the MoMa, World Bank Art Programme, and the Memphis Brooks Museum. In 2016 she was awarded the ‘National Knight of the Order of Valor’ by the President of the Republic of Cameroon.

For further information, please contact the gallery at info@montaguecontemporary.com, or visit www.montaguecontemporary.com