La terre est ronde comme une boule et Histoire du Rwanda
Self-portrait of Clément-Marie Biazin (1924-1981), Yakoma painter
Central African Republic, Bangui. 1972-1973. Collage and gouache on folder cardboard (?), on both sides
Jean-Yves Montange Collection, loan from Justin Montange
©Photo Johnathan Watts/MEG
This double work represents on the inside Biazin’s self-portrait as a walker, with a rucksack and a globe marked with the cardinal points balanced on his head. It evokes the perigrinations through the immensity of Central Africa of the “painter – historian” to be. 22 years old at the start of this walking adventure, Biazin was in quest of fundamental knowledge, his eyes wide open on the colonial society enslaving contemporary Oubangue-Chari, his heart turned towards his Yakoma (Ngbandi) ancestors, “the river people” and the Virgin Mary. F. Morin/MEG