Josèfa Ntjam reveals mythical sculptures for her LVMH Métiers d’Art artist residency
LVMH Métiers d’Art presents ‘Une cosmogonie d’océans’, celebrating Josèfa Ntjam’s artistic residence
LVMH Métiers d’Art presents ‘Une cosmogonie d’océans’, celebrating Josèfa Ntjam’s six-month artistic residence. Comprising 12 sculptures exhibited in an abandoned space, Ntjam’s work is a take on Central and West Africa’s mythology and ancestral divinities. The new series of characters was built upon digital works the artist had previously created. Now, Ntjam presents a series of experimental iterations that mimic an ancient future.
LVMH Métiers d’Art presents 'Une cosmogonie d’océans’
Since its establishment in 2015, LVMH Métiers d’Art has striven to forge new links between artists and craftspeople through its artistic residency programme. Providing access to raw materials that are often hard to come by, and guidance throughout each six-month residency encourages an artist to learn techniques, methods and tools specific to LVMH Métiers d’Art.
Ntjam’s artistic development consisted of building upon prior research within science, socio-philosophical concepts, and mythologies, and combining this with new technologies.
During her 2023 residency, Ntjam was based in Jade Groupe workshops in Paris and Portugal, which specialise in metalworking. While the workshop focused on finely detailed metalwork, it didn't deter the artist from envisioning sculptures scaling 2m high. ‘The artisans at Jade made the impossible into reality,’ said the French artist. By challenging production methods and technology, the technicians rethought tools, design, and finishes to help create the sculptural collection.
‘Each residency surprises us with the extent of its impact,’ says Jean Baptiste Voisin, president of LVMH Métiers d’Art. ‘The artist’s passion quickly finds an echo in that of the craftsman. These residencies are also extraordinary from a human perspective. They foster relationships. They bring teams together.’
In previous years, residencies have been undertaken by Thomas Mailaender, Amandine Guruceaga, Mario Verboom, Sabrina Vitali, Raphaël Barontini, Eva Nielsen and Anne-Charlotte Finel. The identity of the artist selected for the 2025 residency will be announced in the next few months.
‘Une cosmogonie d’océans’ will run until 25 March in Paris on rue de Richelieu
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Tianna Williams is Wallpaper’s staff writer. When she isn’t writing extensively across varying content pillars, ranging from design and architecture to travel and art, she also helps put together the daily newsletter. She enjoys speaking to emerging artists, designers and architects, writing about gorgeously designed houses and restaurants, and day-dreaming about her next travel destination.
-
20 things that positively delighted us in and around Design Miami this yearFrom covetable 20th-century masterpieces to a tower made from ceramic pickles, these were the works that stood out amid the blur of Art Week
-
Montcalm Mayfair opens a new chapter for a once-overlooked London hotelA thoughtful reinvention brings craftsmanship, character and an unexpected sense of warmth to a London hotel that was never previously on the radar
-
Magniberg’s latest bedwear collaboration with Our Legacy is beautifully sun-faded and lived-inColoured using dyes derived from plants and minerals, the new bedding sets and pyjamas are meant to evoke the feeling of ‘a well-worn band T-shirt or your favourite vintage sweatshirt’, says Our Legacy co-founder Jockum Hallin
-
Inez & Vinoodh unveil romantic new photography series in ParisA series of portraits of couple Charles Matadin and Natalie Brumley, created using an iPhone in Marfa, Texas, goes on show in Paris
-
Inside Davé, Polaroids from a little-known Paris hotspot where the A-list playedChinese restaurant Davé drew in A-list celebrities for three decades. What happened behind closed doors? A new book of Polaroids looks back
-
All eyes on Paris Photo 2025 – focus on our highlightsThe world's most important international photography fair brings together iconic and emerging names, galleries large and small – and there’s much to covet
-
Ten things to see and do at Art Basel Paris 2025Art Basel Paris takes over the city from 24-26 October. Here are the highlights, from Elmgreen & Dragset to Barbara Kruger and Dash Snow
-
Yulia Mahr digs beneath the skin in her modern update of classic Greek statues in ParisIn 'The Church of Our Becoming', on view at the Courtyard at Dover Street Market Paris, Yulia Mahr celebrates real human bodies
-
Wolfgang Tillmans brings a performative edge to bibliophilia at the Centre Pompidou’s libraryAs the Centre Pompidou’s library is emptied ahead of the venue’s five-year restoration, the German photographer moves in for a final fling of a Paris exhibition
-
A song for the dead – Josh Homme on performing for six million souls in the bowels of the Paris CatacombsA rock band, a brush with death and an underground tomb coalesce in haunting new Queens of the Stone Age film, ‘Alive in the Catacombs’. Wallpaper* meets frontman Josh Homme and director Thomas Rames
-
‘David Hockney 25’: inside the artist’s blockbuster Paris show‘David Hockney 25’ has opened at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Wallpaper’s Hannah Silver took a tour of the colossal, colourful show