Architecture of the Self: What Lives With(in) Us

2022 — ongoing

Using photography, textiles, collage, and embroidery while referring to a reality between many cultures, I aim to breath new life into my family's haptic legacy while anchoring my work in a familiar setting. These textile series were created from secondhand cotton textiles from my family sewing workshop in Douala, where I come from a line of manufacturers and male sewers.  Hand-dyed ferralitic earth pigments offer a range from burnt ochres to dull yellows in parts of the piece. The rich and red soil in west Cameroon's highlands region is a life-giving element that sustains the region's dense forests and abundant agriculture. The work is reminiscent of my paternal home, made of red clay and moulded bricks, as are the majority of homes in Batoufam.