Entre mirage et rêve d'un docteur, 2022

Marcel Tchopwe  

Born in the Far North of Cameroon, Marcel Tchopwe is a young artist passionate about drawing and
painting. In 2014 he interrupted his studies in geoscience and environment at the University of
Ngaoundéré to join the Institute of Fine Arts of the University of Douala in Nkongsamba (IBA) from
which he graduated 5 years later. In order to complete his training and to immerse himself in the
artistic scene of his country, he joined the workshops of such luminaries as Hervé Youmbi, Jean
Jacques Kanté, Salifou Lindou or Jean-David Nkot. Today, he is still coached by Hervé Youmbi who
was his teacher at the IBA and whom he now considers his mentor. 

He is indeed following the postmaster set up by Hervé Youmbi to help young graduates develop their subject and evolve on the
Cameroonian scene. The exercise was set up like a mirror allowing to visit one's own reflection and to
understand one's own questionings. For Marcel, "the obvious" was the psychological portrait in
relation to the issue of social unrest. He explores emotions and human complexity.
Through his work, the artist has noted the inadequacy of university training in relation to the job
market. He denounces the loss of productivity of his country subsequent to this abandonment of the
state in the face of maintaining or even creating professional opportunities for Cameroonian youth. 

"Unfulfilled dream", "the youth are left in the boxes" ... thus draw the portrait of these helpless youth, a
reflection of their own socio-political and economic environment. Through a realistic writing, he opens
a window on the daily life of a youth "trained to unemployed". Marcel thus represents young people
wearing the attributes of their dream jobs - of training - in full exercise of "nourishing jobs" become
their only escape to survive. The artist thus opens a debate on the place of the young people in a
society in full mutation. He questions at the same time the functionality of the social elevator and the
equality of chance in a political landscape where bad governance reign.