Photo: Patrick Wokmeni
His work reflects his concern with the mundane and speaks of the reality of his social environment. Wokmeni casts an empathetic gaze on the youth living in the challenging neighborhood of New Bell in Douala and their aspiration to a better life. His pictures seek to capture their daily lives made of rebellion, illusory dreams and quite often weariness.
Photo: Patrick Wokmeni
Monique Pelser, Lecturer in Fine Art Photography at Wits School of Art, Johannesburg, writes that Wokmeni reminds her of “a flaneur; an idler walking the streets at night witnessing the beauty and sadness in debauchery, decay and social crisis”. She also notes how potently the presence of the photographer is felt by the fact that the photographed subjects often look directly at the camera.
Wokmeni engages with the night revellers he encounters and, just like the roughness of the scenes he captures, his are not “composed” and nicely framed settings. Rather the out-of-focus and skewed quality of his images gives them “a snapshot aesthetic” genre, as Pelser observes.
Photo: Patrick Wokmeni
In 2009, Wokmeni earned a residency from the MTN Foundation / Galerie Mam and explored the Hip-Hop movement in Douala. He produced a series of photographs, including portraits, capturing the enthusiasm of Cameroonian youth for this global phenomenon.
blog Patrick Wokmeni: http://patrickwokmeni.blogspot.com