Portrait of Ruth, 2024

Sesse Elangwe Ngeseli   New & remarkable Artists

Originally from the South West region of Cameroon, Sesse Elangwe was born on February 25, 1994
in Ngaoundéré in the Adamaoua region to Cameroonian parents. He is the fourth child in a family of
seven children. Passionate about drawing since elementary school, this penchant was confirmed
when in 2006, he entered secondary school and joined "Le Crayon de D'jino", a six-year program
sponsored by the Breweries of Cameroon. He then went to the University of Buea where he obtained
a BSC in Political Science. After six years in the program sponsored by the Breweries of Cameroon,
he was hired to teach, then thought for a year before deciding to embark on an artistic career. He
organized his first exhibition in 2013 in Buea, in the Southwest region of Cameroon, entitled WHAT
ABOUT US. Since then, he has participated in over twenty exhibitions around the world. 

Notably, "The
Last Picture Show" in Paris in 2018; "Concordant Transports" in Texas, in 2021. He is also the winner
of several awards including the 1st prize in the Patrimonito storyboard competition of UNESCO in
2012. He was similarly awarded 2nd prize at the Mur Mur festival in Burkina Faso in 2018.
By combining African heritage with art movements such as cubism, surrealism and pop art, Elangwe's
works are enriched. He confidently perpetuates his aesthetic to critically document some of the
conditions experienced by the black community in Africa. His compositions breathe in the art
movements that Elangwe admires, as he plays with notions of light and the blurred lines of reality. He
places his characters in captivating settings full of depth to create his scenes. These scenes
accentuate the magnificence of the skin and face of his subjects. The positioning of their larger-thanlife eyes is the focal point that arouses curiosity and immediately captivates the viewer. Their
magnified eyes lead to an existential place between the here and now without moving, immersion at
its best. The eyes symbolize an awakening that encourages viewers to ask themselves tough
questions - a recurring trait in his current work.