What is a tradition?
Where do you stand ? Hein ?
In the depths of a country
By the blown winds
I'm the old-fashioned mad king
Sovereign of memories
Which become statutes

"Cooking Mama Series has its roots in the 2008 "hunger riots" in Cameroon, two years after the artist left Cameroon to live in France. "Hunger riots" are violent popular uprisings triggered by rising fuel and food prices, making food inaccessible to a large part of the population. The event highlighted the precariousness of food security in Cameroon, its growing dependence on massive imports of basic foodstuffs, and a deterioration caused by the globalization of agricultural trade. In France, events related to the "Yellow Vests" movement echoed those of 2008 in Cameroon. The "Yellow Vests" movement was characterised by large-scale demonstrations and protests against rising fuel taxes, the cost of living and economic inequality. As a Frenchman of Cameroonian origin, these two movements resonated with the artist. They are two protest movements that reflect the tensions going through the two countries that saw him grow up, and both are a popular refection of economic hardship and a sense of social injustice.

It is from these tensions that Bisso conceived of the everyday and the vernacular as a place of sharing as well as of conflict. Cooking Mama Series explores the tensions between traditional and contemporary, between local and global. This installation highlights the processes of invisibility of knowledge and cultural heritage, questioning the dynamics of exchanges stemming from colonial history and its in influences on everyday life.

More about Sobremesa Visual Art Exhibition here and the Guided Tours here.