Yvon Ngassam Tchatchoua

Presentation

Yvon NGASSAM (born 1982, Bangangté, lives and works in Cameroon) Yvon Ngassam came into contact with the visual arts in 2009 when he produced his very first short film through the FREEK'1 Entertainment label, which he created with the help of friends during his first year at the University of Ngaoundéré. After these multiple forays into the art world, he decided to make a radical commitment to it. He left the university in 2012, and it was with elders such as photographer Em'Kal Eyongakpa, musician Rass NGANMO, curator Landry MBASSI and French photographer Hervé DANGLA that Yvon forged his knowledge. In 2013, on Em'kal's recommendation, Yvon joined the prestigious Art bakery international residency initiated by the late Goddy LEYE. The young artist discovers the codes of video art, which he will adopt and explore in various future projects. Curious by nature, NGASSAM is keen to explore other media. So, in addition to photography and video, he is opening up to metal sculpture, wood engraving and sound installations. #artforthehumans is the leitmotif of this form-maker, who is interested in questions of resilience. But he is even more interested in the sources of resilience, the most poetic of which, in his eyes, is the dream world. The dream, he says, “is an entity that echoes our humanity and that we share. Yvon's initial interest was in issues relating to human alienation, and later, through contact with Hervé DANGLA, he explored architecture, but always with a human echo. It is thanks to this artistic exploration that Yvon has succeeded in being present on several important platforms, the most recent of which are in 2021, Saison Africa 2020, the exhibition “The Nudity of the Soul” at the Kunsthal Aarhus Museum in Denmark; in 2019, the African Biennial of Photography in Bamako; in 2018, the Dak'art Biennial; in 2017, the international exhibition of the Changjiang Biennial of Photography and Video in China. Yvon has had 6 solo exhibitions and numerous group shows. He has benefited from the trust of several institutions such as “Le center” in Benin, the “Raw material company” in Senegal, the “Bandjoun station” museum, the OTHNI center, the “Espace doual'art” in Cameroon, and “Les ateliers Sahm” in Brazzaville, whose guidance has had a strong impact on Yvon NGASSAM's career. Building on the experience he has acquired in recent years, Yvon teaches photography at the Beaux-arts in his home country and gives workshops across the continent. Landry MBASSY