Salifou Lindou

SALIFOU LINDOU WAS BORN IN 1965 IN FOUMBAN, CAMEROON. HE LIVES AND WORKS IN DOUALA.

A self-taught artist, Salifou Lindou is part of the former generations of artists in Cameroon who now teach the new generation. He co-founded the Kapsiki Circle in 1998 to introduce the arts in Douala by organising exhibitions, projects and residencies. 

While Salifou Lindou started his career mainly creating installations, sculptures and mixed collages on canvas, he works with pastels on paper for a few years now. His pastels emerge from an energetic and spontaneous tangle of lines and strokes. If the artist deals with topical issues, he always illustrates the passion and desire to live in opposition to the vulnerability of the body. He puts forward the duality of human beings: between strength and weakness, immobility and movement, peace and chaos. 

On paper and on canvas, Lindou explores the complexity of human beings through scenes of daily life, fed with references to legends and classics, whilst within modern painting. From internal fights to TV debates, going through political instability that leads to an exodus, the work of Lindou talks about and starts from daily life. It is both introspective and inspired by his observation of society. 

In 2022, Lindou celebrated the 30th anniversary of his career. However, it is his participation in the 1-54 London art fair in 2020 with AFIKARIS Gallery, which truly marked his recognition on the international art scene. Since then, his work has been featured in numerous international fairs such as Art Paris (France); Investec Cape Town (South Africa) and 1-54 New York (USA). It has also been part of exhibitions in institutions including the National Museum of Yaounde (Cameroon); Institut des Cultures de l’Islam (France); Art Hub Copenhagen (Denmark). Finally, Lindou represented Cameroon at the last Venice Biennal (2022).