The Walther Collection

Cameroonian, b. 1981; lives and works in Yaoundé, Cameroon and Amsterdam, Netherlands

Rife with blurred shadows and mercurial forms, the images in Ketoya Speaks (2016) attest to the artist’s belief in the existence of spiritual spheres and strong energies. The work focuses on charged spaces within Ketoya, an enclave village in the current Manyu division of southwest Cameroon that was a significant region within the history of resistance movements of German colonial Kamerun—particularly the Mpawmanku Wars from 1904 to 1906. By deconstructing the elements of the body, and abstracting them in time and space, Em’kal Eyongakpa creates a mosaic of separate narratives that circulate around and within the history of Ketoya. With his body as a fulcrum, the artist allows us to weave the narratives together for ourselves, locating and destabilizing our own ideas of truth in the process.