The Matriarch: Unravelled Threads

2021 - ongoing

This work is the continuation of an ongoing larger body of work titled Architecture of the Self: What Lives Within Us, that has taken root during a residency at Bandjoun Station Museum, followed by a stay at Villa Lena Foundation artist’s residency in Tuscany in 2021.

Made from the distinctive and highly fertile red ferralitic soil found in the highlands region of west Cameroon - a life-giving material that is the source of the region's dense forests and abundant agriculture - the installation The Matriarch (Unravelled Threads) is reminiscent of my family home, which is made of red clay and moulded bricks, as are the majority of homes in Batoufam. Coming from a family of manufacturers and male sewers, The Matriarch textile installation is made of more than 120 linen and cotton panels recycled from my family sewing workshop in Douala, hand-dyed with red earth pigments varying from burnt ochres to dull yellow. Each panel is hand printed with a family photograph or a self-portrait.

Before her passing in March 2023, I was designated by my grandmother as her successor and new family matriarch. Since then, the work has became an anchor for me, a space where I could process & think through this transition. “The Matriarch (Unravelled Threads)” is a labor of love and slow-pace, it is about repetition as meditation and an opportunity to build belonging between places.