Determined women. Photographs by Angèle Etoundi Essamba

The Museo di Roma in Trastevere hosts the first Italian retrospective of Angèle Etoundi Essamba, an artist long engaged and involved in a reflection on the identity of African women, who is at the center of her artistic expression and an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Born in Cameroon and raised in France, the photographer has been observing the world for nearly four decades through the women featured in her shots. Since her first exhibition in 1985 in Amsterdam, where she studied and still resides, her work has often been exhibited in institutions, biennials, fairs, galleries and museums around the world. Pride, determination, strength and self-awareness are the key words in her work, which breaks with stereotypical representations of black women, often depicted as submissive, passive, dependent, exotic and confined to certain roles, by emphasizing the symbolic and aesthetic dimensions of the female body. Inserted within harmonious compositions, gestures, expressions and emotions capture inner beauty and change the traditional narrative, with a vision that is at once aesthetic, idealistic, realistic and social.

Promoted by Roma Capitale, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, with the organization of Artandite and museum services of Zètema Progetto Cultura, the exhibition provides the viewer with an almost complete reading of Angèle Etoundi Essamba’s creative journey. The 40 works presented to the public, which display either strong colors or a polished black and white, are part of several cycles she executed between 1985 and 2022: Renaissance, Tableau vivant, A-Fil-iations, presented at Cameroon’s inaugural pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2022, Follow the Thread! Noirs (Blacks) NOIRS and Unveilings.