Cameroon

Artist: Moise Ngolwa

Born: 1972 in Nkongsamba, 170 km from Douala.

1978 – 1992: Active in the Fine Arts Club in school.

1992 – 1997: Studied History at the University Yaoundé. At the time also President of the "Club des Arts Plastiques de l’Université de Yaoundé."

Since 1997 Studied at the Institute for Africa Studies at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (currently intensive work with Drawing, Logos and Poster).

2001: Exhibition of paintings with the theme "Experiencing Racism."

Interpretation

The bear from Cameroon is dressed in the national colours (green trousers, red jacket, and yellow shirt). These three colours each signify a certain part of Cameroon. Green is for the equatorial rainforest in the south, red is for the valuable soil in the central plains of the western provinces, and yellow is for the Savannah in the north.

Due to the variety of its landscapes as well as to its cultural richness, Cameroon also holds the disinguished position of being called "L'Afrique en miniature" - Little Africa.

A depiction of the statue celebrating Cameroon's reunification can be found on the belly of the bear. The statue was erected in 1961 following the referendum which brought about the reunification of the anglophone and francophone Cameroon. This tower, this monument, displays two arms which meet by forming a spiral. A stone sculpture next to the tower shows a man with all the reconciled children in the nation that have been found again.

The back of the bear shows a landscape of northern Cameroon, with a house built in the style of the Massa.

Moise Ngolwa