Organized until May 10 by Christophe Person in his gallery at 39 rue des Blancs Manteaux in the Marais, the exhibition offers the opportunity to discover Wilfried Madeleine Mbida‘s works alongside another Cameroonian painter, Arnold Fokam, around the theme “Embodied Absences”. The two young artists share the common ground of having drawn fertile and singular inspiration from the experience of losing a loved one.
Wilfried Mbida particularly manages to capture visitors’ attention with her captivating style and ability to subtly convey the suspension of time and the absence of a loved one amidst an abundance of everyday details.
A Photographic Style
Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nkongsamba, Cameroon, Wilfried Mbida has been pursuing work centered on the representation of traditional domestic interiors for about ten years. In doing so, she seeks to depict lifestyles in Cameroon while capturing the emotional energy of spaces and the personal stories they are imbued with.
Wilfried Mbida aims to represent interiors as faithfully and objectively as possible, without judgment, idealization, or stereotyping. Her work, which earned her an exhibition at the 2024 Dakar Biennale, is characterized by a hyperrealistic figurative style. Her canvases abound with authentic details, from colorful doilies to bamboo furniture and kitchen utensils, reflecting the intimate lives of the inhabitants.
To achieve this strikingly realistic representation, Wilfried Mbida goes through a preliminary photography stage, which allows her to capture the image of the house and its inhabitants. This preparation can take considerable time as the artist seeks to go beyond the moment when her models’ attitudes are conditioned by awareness of the camera, to capture the instant when they let go. It is this precise moment of authenticity, when the individual reveals themselves without pretense, that the artist intends to represent.
Signifying Absence
Wilfried Mbida’s recent work particularly questions mourning. This inquiry is nourished by her personal experience and reflections on the funeral ritual in the Beti culture, her paternal community. “When the rite ends, what does the deceased’s home look like after their departure?” wonders the artist, who focuses on representing the interiors of bereaved families.
Wilfried Mbida succeeds in signifying mourning without representing its manifestations. To convey the shock following the loss of a loved one, everything plays out in suggestion. An impression of calm, silence, and solitude is conveyed through the immobility of characters and the emptiness of their gaze, deserted spaces, and abandoned objects. The work on light, served by the acrylic painting technique, also contributes to this intimate, emotionally charged atmosphere.
In continuation of these pictorial works, the exhibition at the Christophe Person gallery is also an opportunity to discover Wilfried Mbida’s first video work, “Madame Veuve Biyembelé”, which accompanies the artist’s return to her deceased grandmother’s house, encountering memories left by her ancestor. A work that reminds us, if need be, that the most beautiful songs are often the most desperate.
