Chronicles of the living

« Qui controllera de pres ce que nous voyons ordinairement des animaux qui vivent parmi nous, il y a dequoy y trouver des effects autant admirables que ceux qu’on va recueillant ès pays et siècles estrangers. C’est une mesme nature qui roule son cours ». 
        Montaigne, Apologie de Raymond Sebond, 1580 

In the Occident, modern scientific thought invented the concept of nature to distinguish Man from the rest of living species, and establish his domination. But it is another reality that Barthélémy Toguo reveals to us, a different way of being in the world, more generous. “The images I made on these amphorae are similar to what I’m trying to share with the world. It’s all connected. We are in a self-regulating nature-human system. One needs the other, and vice versa.”   

With a confident gesture, he draws a chain of life where man, animal and plant coexist. The path never stops, the hand is guided by intuition. Nature germinates on the surface of one of these large terracotta jars and extends over the next one. The whole thing comes to life in the beautiful colorful light diffused by the stained glass windows of this majestic breeding cellar. 

Constance Rubini
Director of MADD Bordeaux

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An important figure in contemporary art, the artistic approach of Barthélémy Toguo is rooted in current events and forcefully questions our relationship with inequalities, the human condition, and environmental protection. His artistic production is characterized by a great diversity of mediums, materials and techniques. At the same time painter, videographer, photographer, performer and sculptor, it is his subject that determines the choice of medium with a more or less figurative approach. From the early 2000s, he was invited to exhibit at the Biennale de Lyon, at the Palais de Tokyo and then at the Centre Pompidou. He participates in major international events such as the White Box in New York in 2001 and the Venice Biennale in 2015. In 2016, he is selected for the Marcel Duchamp prize and exhibits the installation Vaincra le Virus ! In 2021, the Musée du Quai Branly dedicated a monograph to him: Desire for Humanity. Barthélémy Toguo’s universes. As part of the exhibition Les Choses, une histoire de la nature morte, which was held at the Louvre Museum from October 2022 to January 2023, the artist presented under the Pyramid of the Louvre The Pillar of the Missing Migrants, a monumental sculpture. 

The works of Barthélémy Toguo are present in numerous public collections in France: national contemporary art collection, FRAC Corse, Haute-Normandie et Réunion, Centre-Pompidou, Musée national de l'Histoire de l'immigration. And internationally, at the Tate Modern (England), the Chazen Museum of Art, MOCA and Moma (USA), the Palestinian National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Arts (Rwanda), the New Church Museum (South Africa), Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (Australia).