A2c/Olive Grachet has retained a real passion for Cameroon, the country of her ancestors... She presents us with traditional masks.
A2c / Olive Grachet has retained a real passion for Cameroon, the country of her ancestors... Born in the city, in Douala, she dreams of a round hut like the ones you find in Bessong Kang, a red earth village not far from the coast.
For us, she has come to the Halle ronde to tell us about her country and its neighbours, Gabon, Cameroon, Nigeria and Congo, through a series of masks that are an expression of tradition. The masks on show bear witness to the richness of African cultures. They have great heritage value. They are unique objects that were created by local artists a long time ago. They are used for ritual ceremonies such as weddings, births and mourning. Some have a social, legal or even a policing or peacemaking role... Others are used to intercede with animals and spirits.
Martine Malley accompanies these memories of Africa with a series of abstract paintings that attempt to intercede with the spirits... Trained at the Chalon School of Fine Arts, Martine Malley, a painter from Giverny, says: "Painting opens up a world for me where movement and light express conflict, tension and fragility. For these acrylics and collages, I enter a process of liberation from reality that combines the impulse of gesture, rhythm and the evidence of the unexpected. Painting is a perpetual need for invention, more than a pleasure, it's a passion.