Rising Star Josèfa Ntjam’s Shimmering, Otherworldly Works Illuminate Afro-Diasporic History

During the Black Panther Party’s fight against white supremacy in the U.S., they fought for enfranchisement. In many ways, their struggle echoed anti-colonial struggles in Cameroon and Nigeria, where each nation demanded autonomy. “I think Black people dwelling in these societies have a lot in common in terms of history and revolutions,” French Cameroonian artist Josèfa Ntjam said in an interview with Artsy, just before the opening of her debut U.S. solo museum show of technicolor sculptures, videos, and photomontages that gesture to many of these themes. “Futuristic Ancestry: Warping Matter and Space-time(s),” which creatively envisions Afrofuturist philosophy through works incorporating sci-fi narratives and colonial histories, is showing at Fotografiska New York through May 24, 2024.

It’s part of a remarkable surge for the artist, which began with her inaugural solo exhibition, “Molecular Genealogies,” in 2021, at her London gallery NıCOLETTı. Over the past three years, Ntjam has worked on a diverse array of projects in video, photography, and installation, winning the inaugural Fluxus-CPGA prize for her Frieze booth with the gallery, as well as a prestigious residency with LVMH. Following her Fotografiska show, Ntjam will also be opening a major new show as a collateral event of the Venice Biennale, commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. “It happened so fast that it’s kind of a mystery to me. But I’m thankful to NıCOLETTı Gallery for their immense support,” the artist said.

In “Futuristic Ancestry,” the artist draws on her Cameroonian family’s archives and history in shimmering biomorphic sculptures and photomontages printed on plexiglass and aluminum. Revolution and clandestine resistance emerge as central themes within the exhibition—many of the photomontages feature pictures of deceased members of The Union of the Population of Cameroon (UPC), who fought for independence. “It’s the first time I’m showing this much photomontage work,” Ntjam said. “Usually it’s more of video and immersive installations.”

In particular, these themes are emphasized in Fire Next Time (2023), a photomontage in burnt orange, brown, and black hues with overlapping layers of fire, water, intertwining tree roots, and silhouettes of people marching in revolt. The piece, she explained, correlates with the theme of underground resistance, as described by Fred Moten’s theory of the “undercommons”: “I found the roots of trees underground to be synonymous with information distribution channels during a revolution, in that, to achieve the best possible outcome, anonymity is crucial,” Ntjam explained, noting the roots’ tendency to stay out of sight. “I try to spell out events in detail as much as I can, especially when discussing critical issues.”

Also included in the exhibition is the U.S. premiere of Matter Gone Wild (2023), an immersive video installation produced by Ntjam, and co-directed by Sean Hart and Nicolas Pirus. In the speculative world of the installation, extraterrestrials are rebelling against colonial oppression. “It’s an incarnation of three characters talking about revolution and how to infiltrate systems,” Ntjam said. Each character, embodied by Ntjam, represents a historical or mythical figure renowned for their resistance, dressed in outlandish costume, with mid-tempo performative sound. The installation connects human and non-human struggles, exploring their political, social, historical, and poetic ties. This intricate symbolism is portrayed in Ntjam’s signature hallucinatory, coral-reef color palette, which suffuses her entire body of work.

Through imaginative realms, as in Matter Gone Wild, Ntjam provides a space where we can think about different ways of living and consider new possibilities for the future. Jessica Jarl, global director of exhibitions at Fotografiska, noted, “Josèfa Ntjam’s work combines disciplines, ideas and images in ways that were previously unimaginable.”

While Ntjam was born in Metz, France, as a Black artist discussing themes of race and colonialism, her work has a specific resonance within the context of Black History Month in the U.S. The artist was conscious of the similarities between the two nations’ histories of racism: “Though the colonial histories between the U.S. and France are different, there is a systemic similarity in certain struggles like police brutality,” said Ntjam.

Though she exhibited at prestigious Paris venue Palais de Tokyo in 2020, as a multidisciplinary artist, Ntjam found the French art scene conservative, steeped in rigid expectations, and limiting to her practice. “In the beginning, my work didn’t resonate well with the French community. I was expected to choose one medium of expression,” she said. “Eventually, something switched in the audience and they started getting interested in my work.”

Her work makes repeated references to biology. In “The Deep & Memories,” a series of perspex sculptures with shapes suggestive of aquatic plants and animals, she prints poetic phrases such as “I’m asking for the infinity of potentials [sic] worlds.” These works evoke current conversations around transformation and hybridity in nature. “Writing is important in my work. Because people really could just say ‘this picture is pretty’ and that’ll be it,” she said.

This approach makes her a perfect fit for NıCOLETTı, which is dedicated to supporting emerging artists working on colonial history, ecology, and identity. “Josèfa is seeing a meteoric rise in her career because her work addresses and reformulates some of the crucial questions of our time without falling into the trap of the simple declaration of intentions,” said NıCOLETTı director Camille Houzé.

Born to a Cameroonian father, Ntjam acknowledges the profound colonial legacy embedded within her family history. But her family was silent about this past, leading the artist to do her own research. “My grandfather was murdered by French colonial power and my relatives were surprised to find out I knew about it,” she said. Her 2022 film Dislocation mirrors this experience, and it eventually started a process of healing within her family. “My father was so shocked he even cried when I included the only picture of my grandfather (his father) in it,” she shared.

Her forthcoming Venice show, meanwhile, will bring together West African creation myths, with research on plankton and outer space, in a series of sound sculptures, some of which are inspired by jellyfish. “This is going to be one of the biggest projects that I’ve done,” she said. “After Dislocation, which was based on my life’s story, I decided to create something different that didn’t have any link to me.” The show will also feature an AI-based interface that will allow visitors to generate their own hybrid plankton species informed by the Dogon figures in the film.