Born in 1990 in Paris, she has lived in Ivory Coast, from where she left during the Civil War, to return in Paris in 2004, where she lives and works. She earned her MA in Fine Arts from the ENSAPC – Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paris-Cergy. She took part, among others, in the 38th EVA International Biennial of Visual Art, Limerick, Ireland, in 2018, in the 61st Salon de Montrouge, France, in 2016, and participated in numerous exhibitions in the UK, Benin, Italy, Switzerland, Nigeria, France (Réunion Island), USA, Germany and Ireland.
Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien works across a variety of media, including textile (canvas, clothing and props), drawing, sculpture, photography, painting, video-performance, engraving and installation. In her work, she seeks to juxtapose diverse cultural elements, bringing them together to form new, syncretic pieces with additional layers of meaning. Interested in the complex relationships between notions of a universal popular culture, everyday life, and traditional handmade construction processes, she creates physical encounters between industrial and artisanal materials. The artist speaks of her intention to create ephemeral, poetic narrations which are in perpetual renewal, resulting in tangible pieces which both “witness” and “trace” past diverse cultural histories. With each installation she strives to create poetic spaces, each piece manifesting a plural identity, representing a myriad of cultural influences.
Selected exhibitions
2019 Forces Field, 50 Golborne Gallery, London
2019 Africa Universe, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy
2019 Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
2018-19 Soft Power, Le Transpalette – Centre d’Art Contemporain de Bourges, France
2018 ArtBall, Amref Health Africa, A/D/O, New York Institute of Art and Design, New York
2018 12ème Biennale de la Jeune Création, Houilles, France