Goddy Leye

Life and career

Goddy Leye (real name Godfried Kadjo) was born 24 November 1965 in Mbouda, Cameroon. He obtained his diploma at a bilingual high school in 1989 and studied African literature and philology at the University of Yaoundé between 1986 and 1991. In 1990 he obtain his master's in African literature.

His artistic training started in 1987 with the artist and art historian Pascal Kenfack in Yaoundé until 1992. He continued his training in 1994 at the National Art Institute in Bamako, in 1997 at the ZKM Karlsruhe Centre for Art and Media in Germany, in 1999 at 18th Street Arts Complex in Santa Monica, California and between 2002 and 2002 at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. In the Netherlands he co-funds and he becomes member of the Rijksakademie International Network (RAIN), a network of artists who support contemporary cultural practices in their countries of origin. Specifically for his interest in supporting art practices, Leye moved back to Douala in 2002 to create the art centre ArtBakery in Bonendale, devoted specifically to facilitating artistic training and exchanges among artists and to support multimedia, installations, video and digital art.

In 2002 he was the curator of the project Bessengue City, a workshop and a series of site-specific art projects in the neighbourhood of Bessengue in Douala; the project involved Goddy Leye, James Beckett, Hartanto, Jesus Palomino and the local community. In 2006 he promoted and participated in Exit Tour. In 2007 contributed to the Ars&Urbis Workshop organised in Douala by doual'art for the preparation of the SUD Salon Urbain de Douala and he was in residency at the Blachère Foundation in Apt, France. In 2008 he was in residency at the Gasworks cultural space in London; in 2009 he participated at the project Image Art After in dialogue with Florence Ayisi and he contributed at the Cairo Residency Symposium.

Leye's work received prizes from UNESCO, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As an artist and intellectual, he was involved in numerous expert committees; he was a member of the think tank of the Africa Centre in Cape Town and was an ambassador of CAN (Creative Africa Network).

Work

Leye started working as an artist in 1992. His work was focussed on memory, African postcolonialism and on the construction of history. More specifically he expressed himself with multimedia works, videos and video installations. Through time, he started to be involved more and more in the production of projects both in Cameroon and at an international level. He contributed to publications, produced and curated site-specific artworks and founded the centre ArtBakery. The centre offers tools and an infrastructure to artists interested in multimedia productions and it is characterised by an active role in training. Leye was considered a key artist and intellectual by Cameroonian artists of his generation and younger.

Leye expressed his attention to the ways history is told and knowledge is transmitted and forgotten through his art works, writings and his active involvement in conferences and think tanks. His theoretical contributions focused on the structure of cultural institutions, on network systems, on artistic and cultural practices and on urban transformations.

Videos and installations

Na Lingi Yo, 2007

Sankofa River, 1997

We Are the World, video, 2006

Elections, UCA project, 2007

Honey Moon

Avis sur Visage, video installation, 2007

The Beautiful Beast, video installation

Stickers and Wall, Alexandria, Egypt, 2004

Dancing With the Moon, video installation, 2003

Reel Location, video, 2002

The Walking Mirror, video, 2001

Visa-je, video installation, 2000

The Voice of the Moon, video installation

Collaboration with Collectif Auto Da Fe, No Art on Two Dollars A Day, video. Video made from the performance made during SUD Salon Urbain de Douala 2007.

Solo exhibitions

Fiction ou realite?, Fri'Art, Fribourg, 2003

Dancing with the Moon, doual'art, Douala, 2003

Goddy Leye, Icba Gallery, Salvador de Bahia, 2001

Sankofa Blues, doual'art, Douala, 2000

Sankofa Blues, Goethe institute, Yaoundé, 1999

Behind the Scenes, Electronic Cafe International, Santa Monica, US/on Internet, 1999

Sankofa River, doual'art, Douala, 1999

Sankofa, French Cultural Centre, Douala, Douala, 1999

Sankofa Video, Goethe institute, Yaoundé, 1999

Fouilles Sauvages, doual'art, Douala, 1996

Bois Sacré, Goethe institute, Yaoundé, 1995

Bois Sacré, Ifa, 1995

Group exhibitions

Goddy Leye's work is exhibited in numerous festivals and international exhibitions.

Breaking News. Contemporary Photography from the Middle East and Africa, Ex Ospedale Sant'Agostino, Modena, 2010

SUD PARIS, Maison Revue Noire, Paris, 2010

Cameroonian Touch.2 – doual'art, Douala, 2010

This is now 1 & 2 – L'appartement 22, 1st Johannesburg Art Fair, 2088 and Rabat, 2009

Prêt-à-pARTager, Mode-Fotografie-Workshop, curated by IFA Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Dakar, 2008 (touring exhibition)

Africa Remix, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, 2007

Ba Mama, Galerie Mam, Douala, 2007

Contemporary Vision, The World Bank, Yaoundé, 2007

Africa Remix, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2006

Exit Tour, Douala, Cotonou, Lomé, Accra, Ouagadougou, Bamako, Dakar, 2006, promoted by ArtBakery.

Africa Remix, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2004

New, Netwerk galerij, Aalst, 2003

Unesco laureates, 18th street arts complex, Santa Monica, USA, 2003

Post-border land, SBK, Amsterdam, 2003

Nuits métis, la Ciota, 2003

Electromediascope, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 2002

Slow, Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland, 2002

Rendez-vous at Xiamen, Chinese European Art centre, Xiamen, 2002

Nuits métis, la Ciota, 2002

Videoformes 2002, Clermont-Ferrand, 2002. Presentation of the video The Walking Mirror.

Right 2 fight, Sarah Lawrence College, New York, 2002

Sao Paulo Biennial, Blick Wechsel, São Paulo, Brazil, 2002

Playtime, Johannesburg, 2002

Bili Bidjocka / Goddy Leye, Espace Doual'Art, Douala, Cameroon, 2001

BlickWechsel, IFA-Galerie, Berlin, 2001

Lucarne, Goethe-Institut, Yaounde, Cameroon, 2001

BlickWechsel, Bonn and IFA-Galerie Stuttgart, 2000

Total Global, Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Bale, 2000

Havana Biennial, Havana, 2000

Dak'Art 2000, Biennale de l'Art contemporain africain, Dakar Biennale, Dakar, 2000

South Meets West, Berne, 2000

Boulev'Art, Cotonou, 2000

Sept des cents derniers jours, Espace Doual'art, Douala, 2000

Lille 2000, Lille, 2000

South Meets West, Accra, 1999

Dream, Espace Doual'art, Douala, 1999

Triennale der Kleinplastik, Stuttgart, 1998

Dak'art 98, Dakar Biennale, Dakar, 1998

Fenac 98 Festival national de l'Art et de la Culture, Ebolowa, 1998

L'Art entre Tradition et Globalisation, Goethe-Institut, Yaoundé, 1997

Le Kwatt, Espace Doual'art, Douala, 1997

Babil 2, Espace Doual'art, Douala, 1997

Resource Art Cameroon, Goethe-Institute, Yaoundé, 1996

Cameroon Art, Galeria Arte Mondo, Sarrano, 1996

Africa Unite, Galerie Africréa, Yaoundé, 1996

Nouvelles Tendances de la Peinture camerounaise, Galerie Africréa, Yaoundé, 1996

Babil, Goethe-Institute, Yaoundé, 1995

Taxi-couleurs, ERBA Ecole régionale des Beaux-Arts, Angers, 1995

Fenac 94, Douala, 1994

Taxi-Couleurs, CCF-INA, Bamako, 1994

Festac 88 National Festival of Arts and Culture, Douala, 1988

Theoretic contributions and curatorial work

Goddy Leye contributed to publications and magazines such as Chimurenga magazine. He actively supported the creation of the magazine DiARTgonale founded by the artist Achilleka.

He was the founder and director of the centre ArtBakery, started in 2002. He was the curator of the project Bessengue City organised in the neighbourhood of Bessengue in Douala in 2002 and he was the promoter in 2006 of Exit Tour.