Les Oiseaux de Cameroun (The birds of Cameroon), 2017

Antje Majewski’s film Les Oiseaux de Cameroun (The Birds of Cameroon, 2017) was recorded in a sacred place in Cameroon known as the Grotte Fovu. The gigantic rocks are surrounded by banana trees, mangoes, eucalyptus, avocados; its most frequent visitors are the birds that come there to eat the offerings left by pilgrims. Another sacred site is the waterfall of Métché, in which many insurgents died, who were thrown to death by the French. Again we see offerings on the ground as well as a chicken running away freely. It could have been used in the ritual of “Ngop Boù”, in which a chicken rests on the head of a young person to mark his or her coming of age, the beginning of fertility.

The film is shown together with an installation of chicken baskets, partly from an ethnographical museum, partly bought by Olivier Guesselé-Garai on a local market in West Cameroon. The baskets are used to carry chicken home from the market alive.

Antje Majewski’s painting Panier de Poulet, 2017, shows such a chicken basket in a trompe l’oeil painting on handwoven canvas.

Les Oiseaux de Cameroun (The Birds of Cameroon), 2017
4 K video, color, sound, single channel projection, 10 min
Camera, sound, editing: Antje Majewski
Sound corrections: Christian Obermaier
Thanks to: Ginette Daleu