Yinka Olatunbosun
After a brief but enlightening conversation in English with the Cameroonian artist, it becomes clear that Salomon Moneyang’s art is a reflection of his deep roots and connections. This is evident in his ongoing solo exhibition at Rele Gallery, Lagos, titled ètô y’a Nda-bot: Intimate Interiors, which opened on May 3. The show features delicate paintings that articulate the themes of bonding, family and kindred spirit, memory, ancestral roots, and communal living.
Born in 1994 in Yaoundé, Salomon Moneyang nurtured a passion for drawing from early childhood. He further honed his skills at the Fine Arts Institute of the University of Douala, where he earned a degree in plastic arts.
While his artwork intimately captures everyday scenes and portraits, his true sensitivity emerges in depictions of subjects like love, family, and Afro-love culture. Through his art, he delicately narrates the story of his life—his frustrations, desires, and joys. Working predominantly in acrylic, he often draws inspiration from his memories, dreams, and photographs.
In his first solo show in Lagos, Moneyang explores home not as a physical location, but as a living, emotional interior: a terrain shaped by memory, inheritance, and return. Drawing upon his journey back to his ancestral village in Cameroon, the artist interrogates the concept of homecoming not just as a physical incursion but emotional and spiritual travel connecting generations.
Using watercolour and acrylic, Moneyang weaves together two visual modes. His delicate watercolours act as memory maps: translucent, soft, and intimate scenes rendered in bleeds and washes. They depict fleeting moments: a reclining figure, a person beside a basin, capturing the fragility of memory and the subtleties of kinship. In contrast, his acrylic works are bold and emotionally charged, rendered in rich, saturated hues. Domestic spaces, whether quiet or animated, hold emotional complexity: glances linger, silences echo, and everyday objects become symbolic witnesses to unspoken histories.
Influenced by the work of Wilfried Mbida and projects like Kédé Ndap, this exhibition aligns with broader conversations around emotional interiors, identity, and the architecture of belonging.
Fresh out of school in 2020, he began practicing art and has since carefully documented his experience of reconnecting with the familiar. “I can’t explain why it is very important,” he says. “It was something that I wanted to share, because I felt it at the moment and I wanted to relive it.”
The portrait showing a family watching the television together evokes nostalgia. Today, social media have imposed boundaries in many homes as many youths have cultivated virtual friendships and connections which threaten the organic structure of African communal life. “I think the really important thing with my work is I want people to relate with my work,” he adds. “You can recognise yourself in my work.”
His pieces in “Intimate Interiors” are enthralling, telling a singular yet deeply emotional story from wall to wall. His audiences are invited into this visual journey to celebrate bonding moments and familial intimacy.
More importantly, he explores painting as a therapeutic outlet, healing the wounds of his childhood through his practice.
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