Barthélémy Toguo is a French/Cameroonian interdisciplinary artist. He was born in 1967 in M’Balmayo, Cameroon, and lives and works between Paris, France, and Bandjoun, Cameroon.
Working across painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, performance, and installation, Toguo addresses enduring and immediately relevant issues of borders, exile, and displacement. At the core of his practice is the notion of belonging, which stems from his dual nationality. Through poetic, hopeful, and often figural gestures connecting nature with the human body, he foregrounds concerns with both ecological and societal implications, and his recent work has been informed by movements and humanitarian crises including #BlackLivesMatter and the global refugee crisis.
In 2008, Toguo founded Bandjoun Station, a community art center in his native Cameroon comprising an exhibition space, a library, an artist residency, and an organic farm. He has participated in numerous international biennials, including the Sydney Biennale (2011, 2022); the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2018); the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (2018); the 56th Venice Biennale (2015); the Havana Biennial (2012); the 11th Biennale de Lyon (2011); and the Dakar Biennale (2000, 2010, 2016, 2018, 2022).
Toguo’s artworks are held in the permanent collections of numerous institutions, including the Tate Modern; the Centre Pompidou; the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon; the Studio Museum in Harlem; and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. His work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Museu Picasso de Barcelona; the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art; the Centre d’art La Malmaison, Cannes; the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York; and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
In 2022, Toguo was commissioned for the monumental site-specific installation The Pillar of Missing Migrants, presented under the Louvre Museum’s pyramid in Paris, one of only a handful of works by a living artist to be shown there. The same year, he presented the installation Vaincre le virus! (Defeat the virus!) at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and in 2016 he was shortlisted for the Prix Marcel Duchamp.
Toguo was also the recipient of numerous prizes and distinctions. In 2011, he was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s honor recognizing significant contributions to the arts, and in 2023 he was promoted to Officier (Officer) of the Order. In 2021, he was appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace (Ambassadeur pour la Paix à l’UNESCO) by Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
To read this bio in French, please click here.
