SERIES | WE ARE NATURE: HERVÉ YAMGUEN

  • WE ARE NATURE

    SERIES OF BRONZE SCULPTURES BY HERVÉ YAMGUEN
  • Inspired by the words of Kenneth White — “Every tree a totem, every rock an altar” — Hervé Yamguen unfolds,...
    Inspired by the words of Kenneth White — “Every tree a totem, every rock an altar” — Hervé Yamguen unfolds, in this series of bronze sculptures, a meditation on the essential bond that unites the human being with the living world.
    Here, the tree is not a mere element of the landscape: it is a dwelling, a landmark, a mediator. In the artist’s mother tongue, the “tree of peace” embodies the only true magic — that which binds man to the earth through gentleness and vital force. This fruit of peace, a metaphor for the energy that flows through the body and the world, recalls that human rhythms are nourished by the cycles, seasons, flavors, and forces of nature.
  • Rooted in an animist heritage, the series calls upon the memory of the ndeuh Siê, the “house of God”: a...
    Rooted in an animist heritage, the series calls upon the memory of the ndeuh Siê, the “house of God”: a sacred tree planted in every family compound, a point of contact with invisible powers. The tree thus becomes both axis of the world, genealogical archive, and threshold to the infinite.
    The six sculptures that make up We Are Nature — each bearing its own identity — form a constellation in which bodies are traversed by openings, air bubbles, and roots. Faces inhabited by memory, temple-like silhouettes, hybrid figures blending human, animal, and vegetal forms: all invite us to recognize within ourselves the enduring nature of an ancestral legacy — universal and open — and the deep permeability of the human to the natural world.
  • ABOUT THE ARTIST

    ABOUT THE ARTIST

    A self-taught artist, Hervé Yamguen has developed his expertise over thirty years of eclectic artistic practice, touching on fields such as writing, visual arts, performance and theatrical set design. In 1998, alongside several artists, including Salifou Lindou, he co-founded Cercle Kapsiki, an initiative aimed at integrating art into Douala’s urban space through the organization of exhibitions, projects and residencies, inviting artists from all over the world to transform the public space.

     

    Hervé Yamguen’s work draws on a deep current of consciousness. His art aims to transcend the everyday, to go beyond tangible reality to explore wider spheres of existence. His bronze sculptures, characterized by hybrid beings combining human, animal and plant forms, question the links within the living world, symbolising metamorphoses that celebrate a communion between beings. Through his creations, Hervé Yamguen invites the viewer to a contemplation imbued with wonder, revealing the strengths and beauty of existence.

  • «nature is not a mere setting: it is a partner, a breath, a memory, and a celebration of the livinG.»  

    — HERVÉ YAMGUEN
  • RELATED EVENT, ART FAIR | 1-54 LONDON
                       Ozioma Onuzulike. Armour for Senator Natasha, 2025.

    RELATED EVENT

    ART FAIR | 1-54 LONDON
    16—19 October, 2025
     
    Somerset House
    Strand, London WC2R 1LA
    United Kingdom 
     
    AFIKARIS Gallery
    Booth | E2 
     
    Exhibiting artists:
    Beya Gille Gacha, Fabiana Ex-Souza, Jean David Nkot, Ozioma Onuzulike, Mouhcine Rahaoui, Hervé Yamguen