Imane Ayissi Present Its New Haute Couture Fall Winter 2022-23 Collection: MIYENÉ

Miyené" means both appearance and "to be seen" in the Ewondo language of Cameroon. A word that sums up fashion but also reflects the importance of appearance in the perception of one's personality by others. In this collection I explore various "typical" appearances and I was inspired by the role of hairstyles in traditional African societies, means of expressing prestige, today largely devalued and negatively perceived.

This collection includes a collaboration with the Cameroonian artist Boris Nzebo, whose work follows the same lines...

IMANE AYISSI

Boris Nzebo

Boris Nzebo was born in Port-Gentil, Gabon, and lives and works in Douala, Cameroon. Boris Nzebo's adventure began in a hairdressing salon in Douala, a colourful city full of life, as the economic capital of Cameroon. Boris NZEBO works as a sign painter, before devoting himself to plastic arts.

Self-taught, Boris NZEBO explores traditional African hairstyles in the urban space, in the throes of daily life, in the night. The hairstyle then becomes a pretext to question our identity, our social inequalities through graffiti close to advertising codes.

"I aim to reproduce the questioning that is mine in front of a society in search of reference points and in full mutation. I wonder: how can we understand that our environment is not as well cared for as our heads?...". Boris Nzebo.

Every day, he observes faces that are bruised, crushed, tired or suffocated by the old city. A megalopolis marked by numerous degraded architectures and the weight of a coherent urbanization stopped a long time ago... and with its contours which surround the drawing, these lines, these curves, these lines which intermingle, cross, uncross taking an unknown direction, it is at the same time personal and universal, readable for the greatest number. Her large formats elaborate the immensity of the city and the grandeur of the World...

His work is regularly exhibited in Africa, England, France, Switzerland, Haiti, USA, Brazil and at international events such as the 1:54 contemporary art fairs in London and New York, Art Paris Art Fair, AKAA and ART X Lagos. He is part of many collections such as the Fond National d'Art Contemporain de France ( FNAC ), Saatchi Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, ( MACAAL ) Musée d'Art Contemporain Africain AL Maaden, Morocco.

He is a laureate of the Jacobs Foundation Prize in Switzerland.