Under the title "PERJECIUM", Galerie Melbye Konan is delighted to exhibit the works of Yeanzi, a contemporary and multi-award winning artist born in Katiola, Ivory Coast, from 26 of August to 24 of September 2022 on 400 sqm. Yeanzi was given the great honor to represent the Ivory Coast at the 2022 Venice Biennale. In the current exhibition, Melbye-Konan Gallery is also showing two works by the artist that were selected for the Biennale.
The title PER-JEC-IUM is composed of the titles of his three main series PERSONA, PROJECTIONS and COLLOQUIUM, which frame a critical examination of the task of human societies to pass on memories. In the exhibition Galerie Melbye-Konan will present six artworks from his most recent series, Colloquium.
With Persona, the artist not only questions his own personality, but the role of the individual within society. The concept of inheritance and the associated form of amnesia, as well as its significance for the formation of identity, are the key factors in his work. Projections examines the significance of the community for itself and the individual finding itself in it, whereas the third series, Colloquium, focuses on the aspect of amnesia and deals with the significance of historical memory in the construction process and the development of societies and peoples.
Through the use of various media, Yeanzi continually refines a rigorous aesthetic in the technical execution of the drawing and in the thematic expression of his visual vocabulary. He integrates elements from ancient Egyptian civilisation, as its hieroglyphics, time-honoured traditions, its iconographies and general history as well as Bété signs, an ancient writing that has its roots in the culture of the Ivory Coast and whose alphabet was created by artist Frédéric Bruly Bouabré in the 1950s.
In synthesis with his unique technique of melting plastic to create faces and sceneries, he contrast the millennia-old cultural richness of Africa with the development of modern societies taking place today and the amnesia associated with it. This density of elements nourishes both, the complexity and understanding of his work.
Yeanzi's plastic approach is at once historical, memorable, and utopian. He questions the collective memory of people and societies, drawing a parallel between people's real experience and the utopia of a memory to be rediscovered. This is necessary to create the ideal of a society corroded by what he calls "collective amnesia." Traditional choreography is combined with contemporary elements that open a dialogue between the past and the present. The question of the cultural identity of today's societies and peoples, as well as the individuals living within them, is thus emphasised.
“We have developed models that do not resemble what we are at the moment, what we are becoming. When I talk about collective amnesia, I am talking about restoring the memory, a strong identity, my new development model (…). We humans do not always act as freely and independently as we might think. Social constructions of culture and identity that determine our actions in everyday life are deeply embedded in our minds.” -Yeanzi, 2022
An exhibition by Stella Melbye-Konan, Curatorial assistance by Rena Taeger and Caecilia Reemtsma.
