Pascale Marthine Tayou was born in Yaoundé (Cameroon) in 1967. He began his career as an artist in the 1990s, when he changed his name, taking a double name in the female form: Pascal(e) Marthin(e). Exhibitions in Cameroon were soon followed by shows in Germany, France and Belgium, the country where he currently lives.
Read MoreHis work is deliberately mobile, elusive of pre-established schema, heterogeneous. It is always closely linked to the idea of travel and of coming into contact with what is other to self, and is so spontaneous that it almost seems casual. The objects, sculptures, installations, drawings and videos produced by Tayou have a recurrent feature in common: they dwell upon an individual moving through the world and exploring the issue of the global village.
Tayou has contributed to a number of major international exhibitions and art events, such as Documenta 11 (2002) and the Biennials of Istanbul (2003), Lyon (2005), Venice (2005 and 2009), and has shown his work in museums around the world. He has had solo shows at the MACRO Rome (2004), at the S.M.A.K. Ghent Belgium (2004), at the MARTa Herford Germany (2005), at the Milton Keynes Gallery UK, (2007) at the Malmö Konsthall Sweden (2010), Gare Saint Sauveur Lille (2010), MACLyon Lyon (2011) at the REVUE NOIR in Paris (2011), MUDAM Luxembourg (2011), Musée du Louvre Paris (2011).