Les mondes de l'oiseau-conteur (The worlds of the storyteller bird) is Cameroonian artist Hervé Yamguen's first major solo show in Europe. Through an ensemble of drawings and bronze sculptures, the show celebrates thirty years of artistic practice and reflection. The 'storyteller bird' is a metaphor for the visual artist, who, through their creations, translates and transmits the shapes and stories of the universe. The faces interweave and merge to create hybrid beings that bear witness to the connections between living beings.
The following poem has been written by the artist. It crystallises the spirit of the exhibition.
"The image of the bird appeared in my drawings after an intense night of love.
It brought me to raise my gaze above the trees and to look at the changing hues of the heavens and to be blinded by the flights of the birds.
I hence entered into a vivid consciousness of what is happening inside of me in rapid movements of life. I also am conscious of what the outside world gives me to see that moves, that hurts me and that carries me on a permanent journey between yesterday, now and tomorrow.
I came back to my village Ballassié in Bandja in the West of Cameroon to take the family charge and occupy the function of guardian of the traditions. I've been thus named with the title of ‘Zeuheukap”, which means ‘the one who shares’ or ‘the one who doesn’t eat alone’. The brother of my deceased father, who stayed for a long time in the house of the ancestors, told me that he would teach me to listen to the birds’ language.
During my travels, I took the time to develop my taste of the world, to stick to the vibrations of my heart and to let this heart become a ‘storyteller bird’.
Today, what I’m manifesting through my art is the strength of spirit and imagination that comes from the fact that I know how to walk and carry stories to tell and represent in images.
The storyteller bird is a curious walker who has their eyes wide open.
The storyteller bird is never alone. And if they seem alone, it is to stay in the silence and catch better what is happening where they are standing.
The storyteller bird is a sower of fruitful words. And the words they collect in the eyes, mouths, and wounds of other sparkling walker-dreamers are also their gracious food.
The storyteller bird alights in a space to bring a luminous presence and deploy their chant of wonder where some people circle in the darkness of their own navel.
The storyteller bird unfolds in order to be, from head to toe, the sweet fragrant of the beauties of the world."
