A Cameroonian Clay Addict Spotlights the World Stage of Ceramics.

Can Art Save Us?

Cameroonian clay addict, Djakou Kassi Nathalie, is a ceramic artist now based in Nigeria. With over 30 years of practice and numerous prestigious awards, this is statement art that understands architectural design, artistic innovation and creative craft. Natalie responds to discrimination, racism, solidarity, human and environmental violence, education and equality. Her work combines contemporary issues with ancestry always reflecting her deep love and admiration of African art. Her use of the iconic African mask carved into her clay in repetitive patterns, is like a language of love, showing the cultural roots of her life that continues to flourish with possibility. From objects to sculpted figures, all of her work, just like her larger-than-life fist clenched in solidarity ‘Speaks Out.’ We talk about fighting for her place at the only art school and the cultural disapproval, learning to be creatively fearless, to be a mother figure to her siblings and in the community and how she is an inspirational educator. We talk about the power of art as knowledge and our responsibility to educate each other. We talk about love over brutality and how the use of her iconic African mask is also a statement of human accountability in the world.

We were relying on a power generator lasting for this interview and Nathalie was kindly working in a second language too. I asked her to write an additional few words in her first language in response to the question, Can art save us?

L'art peut nous sauver si les sujets abordés par les artistes sont pertinents et accessibles au plus grand nombre et surtout accessibles aux plus jeunes . L'art peut nous sauver à travers une education permanente sur les sujets de société en revelant et en proposant des solutions à travers l'expression artistique que ce soit par la musique, le theatre les arts visuels, les performances, l'ecriture ou autres formes artistiques. L' art peut nous sauver en nous montrant l'autre facette des choses que nous voyons mal. Translation: Art can save us if the subjects addressed by the artists are relevant and accessible to the greatest number of people and especially accessible to the youngest. Art can save us through a lifelong education on social issues by revealing and proposing solutions through artistic expression whether through music, theater, visual arts, performances, writing or others art form. Art can save us by showing us the other side of things we see are wrong.

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com

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