Dear Shaded Viewers,
Theatre of Bodies – Drama of Matter is the final chapter in a trilogy of exhibitions showcasing new works by Cameroonian artist Jean David Nkot, presented between Douala and Paris. While embracing new formats and venturing into techniques that depart from his usual approach, including sculpture and ceramics, the artist remains committed to a theme dear to him: raising awareness about extraction practices and the exploitation of labor.
In the background of this painting, as if in watermark, appears a series of black-and-white images repeated in a Warholian manner. Referencing archival photography, these images seem to link the colonial past, where industrial plantations originated, with the present-day extractive practices driven by capitalism and globalization.
For Nkot, women also symbolize the African land, whose fertility is exploited, or alternatively, the often-invisible female workers. He depicts them with a theatricality that evokes both classical naturalist painting traditions.
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Yours digitally,
Pedro Guez
