BIANCA BATLLE-NGUEMA & IANNE KENFACK KITIO
A JOURNEY OF SELF EXPLORATION - CURATED BY BANSOA SIGAM
Opening in the presence of the artists and the curator:
Wednesday, 18 March, 6 pm to 8 pm
Guided tour with the artists and the curator:
Saturday, 21 March, 2 pm
Exhibition on view till 9 May 2026
In this exhibition, the intimate work of painter Bianca Batlle-Nguema and Ianne Kenfack Kitio’s photographic meditations invite visitors on a journey inward: an invitation to truly see yourself. As we immerse in the images on the wall our gaze should gradually come back to self.
Through this process of introspection, we encounter the wide range of emotions that emerge when we see ourselves represented, when we recognize ourselves in someone else, and most importantly, when we dare to face our own reflection.
What happens When I See Me ?
WHEN I SEE ME: RECLAIMING THE GAZE AND IMAGE MAKING AS SELF DEFINITION
It is in honour of the late Swiss-Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh and her posture on reclaiming our gaze, our presence and our existence as black people, especially with her exhibition “When We See Us”, that this exhibition is titled “When I See Me”. It asks what happens when we center our gaze on ourselves, as black women, as women of African descent, at the personal level. How does an introspecive and safe gaze look like on paintings and photographs, a gaze that acknowledges full being and complexity, that allows for rest, for joy and for celebration and the full spectrum of human emotions?
As the first black woman appointed curator of the Venice Biennale for its 61st edition in 2026, and whose work as curator and cultural institution founder and director has focused on reclaiming space, voice and gaze, Koyo Kouoh, who passed away on May 10th 2025, has left us with a shared vision: telling stories of Black agency and with art as a source of infinite possibility.
The heart of her curatorial practice and the guiding motto of the work many of us are doing is that “people matter more than things”. Not only are artists entangled with their artistic productions but their stories and lives are at the core of the art they produce. For this reason as we engage with their work let’s remain attentive to the fact that we really engage with a part of themselves, and we give a part of ourselves in the process.
The vulnerability that both Bianca Battle Nguema and Ianne Kenfack Kitio gift us in their paintings and photographs is a process of reclaiming the self. Conscious, especially as women of African descent in European contexts of the importance of having black women portrayed, painted and photographed by black women, they had to reflect on questions of representation: How do I represent myself? How do I depict black female bodies as a black woman? What gaze, what perception do I have on my peers, on other women I encounter? How do I actually see me?
It is a different gaze than the one that oppresses, that scrutinizes, that objectifies, it is a gaze that recognizes, that is sincere, accepting. Each in her own unique way, the artists give the gaze a reparative intention, and invite us to grant ourselves permission to be seen, with lightness or with gravitas, and to recognize ourselves in the other. Their free and freeing gaze makes whole and does not fragment, it nurtures and does not extract, and allows us to reclaim our wholeness.
RECLAIMING THE SELF
Both Bianca Batlle-Nguema and Ianne Kenfack Kitio use image making as self-definition. Not only do they use selfportraiture as a way to claim and reclaim their identity, they also depict peers, cocreate with and recognize others in their work.
Central to Batlle-Nguema’s work here is the autoportrait, that she uses to understand herself more, layers, by layers, pigment by pigment, archiving at the same time the major life transformations she undergoes. The intimate works presented in the exhibition speak with nuance and subtlety of self discovery, of turmoil, of emotional truth and of the state of serenity you get, when at last you truly see your own essence, In Stillness. Her paintings span a period of seven years from 2019 to 2025 during which she made one of the most transformative journeys of self discovery in South Africa, embracing her full essence as a woman, beyond prescribed roles, and processing the many emotions of this journey on her canvases.
Ianne Kenfack Kitio who also uses autoportrait in some of her works to reclaim her own gaze also depicts her peers, other women or men with whom she builds community. It is the case for the photographs presented here, taken during her artistic residency in Côte d’Ivoire, and depicting artist Lyra Akissi Ouattara in a process of creation during her own artistic residency in 2024. The two artists built a special bond and their practice came in reflection to each other. Archiving contemporary youth she relates to, Ianne Kenfack Kitio gave life to this series that is both tender, nostalgic and evocative. Her work with light, outside views and the hybrid environment between living and working space tell us of the sense of intimacy we are entering when engaging with the photographs. Through her lens we are pulled in by the mirror that plays the central role in reflecting the self and the universes we create.
Bansoa Sigam
