Mguilguidigueu-Mteun
The starting point for this collection was the discovery of the works of the painter Paul Chmaroff from the Thierry Schneider collection, which includes several hundred pieces. I knew absolutely nothing about this painter, coming from a (Russian) culture far from mine and difficult for me to classify in a known artistic movement. Yet I was able to instantly appreciate the beauty of this painting. Hence my reflection on the fact that the search for beauty spans cultural differences and is, on the contrary, what binds all members of humanity. Throughout the world, the beginning of a graphic work is always a set of lines and curves, a line and a circle (Mguilguidigueu-Mteun in the Ewondo language of Cameroon) and any creator can recognize himself in the work of another Creator.
This collection is therefore, echoing the work of Paul Chmaroff, above all a pure search for lines, shapes, volumes, movements, colors and textures. But today no aesthetic research can do without questioning its environmental impact, which is both a constraint, a limitation to creativity and at the same time an incentive to be more creative with these constraints. Hence the desire to use essentially natural fibers in this collection, including linen, undoubtedly the most ecological fiber, in combination with silk, or bamboo viscose, the manufacturing of which has a low ecological impact. and which is bio-degradable, and embroidery made from fabric scraps. And as always I also used fibers and textiles characteristic of the African continent: raffia from Cameroon and Madagascar, Obom (patched tree bark) from Cameroon, tinted bazin from Cameroon, Adire from Mali and Nigeria, Kenté from Ghana …
Imane Ayissi