Exodus

For the last three decades, Barthélémy Toguo has worked across painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, performance, and installation to address enduring and immediately relevant issues of colonialism, race, migration, and displacement. At the core of his practice is the notion of belonging, which stems from his dual French/Cameroonian nationality. Recognized in the 1980s and 1990s in a number of seminal exhibitions on contemporary African art, Toguo’s practice has continued to evolve as he has become a leader in the field. Nonetheless, his first solo show in an American museum only occurred recently, in 2018, at the Parrish Art Museum. The body of work from which Exodus is drawn was begun in 2008 for an exhibition at the National Museum of Immigration in Paris. The series "addresses the migrant and refugee crisis, specifically, the desire of young Africans to escape in hopes of a better life." This work consists of a bike-drawn wagon filled with bags made from African fabrics and polypropylene; the artist has also created variations representing boats.