Hervé Yamguen

His work has been shown in various countries around the world. In France and Germany repeatedly and recently in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal (2015 and 2016). Beside his work as a creative, Yamguen has served other functions in the art world. He taught fine arts at the secondary level (in 2005 and 2006 in Douala). He was the artistic director of the three editions (2011, 2012 and 2013) of the Marché des Arts Plastiques de Bali (a district in Douala).

Hervé Yamguen is one of the members of the Cercle Kapsiki. As a member of the cercle, it took part in Scénographies Urbaines, (Urban Scenographies) in January 2003, a project born from the meeting of Cameroonian artists. The idea consists of a residence of artists from all over the world located in the popular district of New Bellin Douala: the project aimed at leading artists to express themselves and exchange with the inhabitants of the district of Douala whose reputation was not the best. The stereotypes had to be broken to create new words. The communication had to be reinvented. It is during the workshop in the district New Bell that the Kapsiki circle (Hervé Youmbi, Hervé Yamguen, Blaise Bang, Salifou Lindou, Jules Wokam) and the collective Skurk (J-C Lanquetin, François Duconseille) invited other artists from Cameroon, France, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Lebanon, to share with the district’s population details of their lives.

He exposed in 2003 a work at the Mam gallery within the framework of the project Pièce Unique, initiated by the French Cultural centre of Douala. He also published a long poem Le temps de la saison verte (The time of the green season), in 1998. A new book is published by the French Cultural centre of Douala.

Herve Yamguen was born into a family with deeply rooted traditions, who initially refused to accept his choice to become an artist. From childhood, he was attracted by the way in which artists interpret reality in their works. He realizes that making art guides one out of ignorance and lets one wonder about the human being. He started painting at the age of 17 and fully embraces the profession of artist by the late 1980s, after refusing to enter the monastery. After that his family encouraged him to continue on his path of artist. Self-taught, he learned by reading about art history, which led him to develop his singular vision of art. Subsequently, he received a year of training (2000-2001) at École des Arts Décoratifs (ESAD) in Strasbourg, France. He has done many study and production residencies in Cameroon and abroad.

Herve Yamguen (born 1971 in Douala) is a Cameroonian painter and sculptor. Autodidact, he launched himself in painting, sculpture and he discovered a passion for the writing which enables him to wonder about its daily live. He currently works on plays.