« Absences incarnées »
The exhibition
Wilfried Mbida and Arnold Fokam explore, through the theme of bereavement, the different forms that absence can take, that of a loved one, a place or a family, at the group exhibition at the Christophe Person gallery.
Wilfried Mbida's artistic practice combines different techniques to create or recreate interiors with a history. The artist films and photographs the most personal aspects of living spaces in order to preserve their memory. Silence, absence and emptiness are the three elements on which she bases her artistic approach. Wilfried Mbida captures mourning through those who experience it, but also the suspended moment that precedes death. For her, death is not just a physical reality, it is a topos present everywhere and in everything. The artist strives to recreate the authenticity of the place she explores, while accurately revealing the interiority of its occupants. None of the figures she paints looks at the camera; they all look away, including the central figure in ‘Fleurs de paix’ (2023), who appears to be staring at the artist, but whose gaze is actually empty and lost in thought. The multitude of details in Wilfried Mbida's works encourages identification and proximity to the everyday scene depicted. It aims to convey the emotion and intensity of a moment in the right way.
Arnold Fokam is a multidisciplinary artist who masters photography, painting, sculpture and collage. For the “Absences incarnées” exhibition, the artist has chosen to call his series “Les ré-enchanteresses”, in which he pays tribute to his late sister. Arnold Fokam proposes a world where enchantment, reincarnation and ecological reality meet. His ‘Trying to fit in’ (2025) offers a double vision: that of an urban landscape in ruins, from which emerges a marvellously adorned female figure, at odds with the surrounding desolation. Arnold Fokam elevates his character in a deific way, establishing the idea of communication between life and death. She becomes the link between a destroyed world and a world under reconstruction, as the painting ‘The keeper and the portal’ (2025) testifies. Numerous birds, fish and aquatic flowers fuel the artist's fantastic universe. Indeed, the body and water are two major elements in his work, enabling him to establish a dialogue and connections with grief and the pain that accompanies it. Through his art, Arnold Fokam makes an invisible emotion visible, while perpetuating the memory of his sister. Through his art, he finds a way of accepting and evacuating this heartbreak, by offering a gentle, serene image of the person he lost.
"The notion of authenticity is central to Wilfried Mbida's work" (Christophe Person), which is why she pastes original photographs of the places she has captured in their purest essence onto her canvases. Following a process of observation, acrylic, pastel and oil paint freeze in time and space a suspended moment of letting go, which occurs after the departure or loss of a loved one. Arnold Fokam, in the same vein, uses photographic prints of uninhabited, deserted environments that are brought back to life with acrylic paint and pigment inkjet. He creates movement and animation from a material that has none.
The two artists featured in this exhibition give voice to the traumatic event of loss, offering a gentle, delicate vision. Their artistic practice is a way of distancing themselves from the silent pain they have experienced, by sharing the story of an environment and a being.
Agathe Fumey
Wilfried Mbida's artistic practice combines different techniques to create or recreate interiors with a history. The artist films and photographs the most personal aspects of living spaces in order to preserve their memory. Silence, absence and emptiness are the three elements on which she bases her artistic approach. Wilfried Mbida captures mourning through those who experience it, but also the suspended moment that precedes death. For her, death is not just a physical reality, it is a topos present everywhere and in everything. The artist strives to recreate the authenticity of the place she explores, while accurately revealing the interiority of its occupants. None of the figures she paints looks at the camera; they all look away, including the central figure in ‘Fleurs de paix’ (2023), who appears to be staring at the artist, but whose gaze is actually empty and lost in thought. The multitude of details in Wilfried Mbida's works encourages identification and proximity to the everyday scene depicted. It aims to convey the emotion and intensity of a moment in the right way.
Arnold Fokam is a multidisciplinary artist who masters photography, painting, sculpture and collage. For the “Absences incarnées” exhibition, the artist has chosen to call his series “Les ré-enchanteresses”, in which he pays tribute to his late sister. Arnold Fokam proposes a world where enchantment, reincarnation and ecological reality meet. His ‘Trying to fit in’ (2025) offers a double vision: that of an urban landscape in ruins, from which emerges a marvellously adorned female figure, at odds with the surrounding desolation. Arnold Fokam elevates his character in a deific way, establishing the idea of communication between life and death. She becomes the link between a destroyed world and a world under reconstruction, as the painting ‘The keeper and the portal’ (2025) testifies. Numerous birds, fish and aquatic flowers fuel the artist's fantastic universe. Indeed, the body and water are two major elements in his work, enabling him to establish a dialogue and connections with grief and the pain that accompanies it. Through his art, Arnold Fokam makes an invisible emotion visible, while perpetuating the memory of his sister. Through his art, he finds a way of accepting and evacuating this heartbreak, by offering a gentle, serene image of the person he lost.
"The notion of authenticity is central to Wilfried Mbida's work" (Christophe Person), which is why she pastes original photographs of the places she has captured in their purest essence onto her canvases. Following a process of observation, acrylic, pastel and oil paint freeze in time and space a suspended moment of letting go, which occurs after the departure or loss of a loved one. Arnold Fokam, in the same vein, uses photographic prints of uninhabited, deserted environments that are brought back to life with acrylic paint and pigment inkjet. He creates movement and animation from a material that has none.
The two artists featured in this exhibition give voice to the traumatic event of loss, offering a gentle, delicate vision. Their artistic practice is a way of distancing themselves from the silent pain they have experienced, by sharing the story of an environment and a being.
Agathe Fumey
When
21/03/2025 - 10/05/2025