Wire report

‘If the lion does not tell its story, the hunter will’: a century of thrilling Cameroonian art

Key players in the country’s art history feature in a hefty new tome that covers everything from royal-carvers to bronze-smiths to work inspired by a horrific video smuggled out of a torture chamber One Sunday last year, the Cameroonian-Guadeloupean-French artist Roxane Mbanga was relaxing in bed when she received a message that made her sit up. It was about working on an art history project. Growing up in Paris, she had been a regular at Maasai Mara, the now defunct restaurant owned by her father, where Africans in the diaspora, including the artists whom he helped organise exhibitions, convened to eat and chat. Thus the concept of a book, attempting for the first time to comprehensively compile and document key players in Cameroon’s vast visual art history, made obvious sense to her. Continue reading...

Image from linked report: ‘If the lion does not tell its story, the hunter will’: a century of thrilling Cameroonian art
Image from the linked report: ‘If the lion does not tell its story, the hunter will’: a century of thrilling Cameroonian art.Credit: The Guardian Thumbnail shown with attribution and outbound source link; VINI does not claim ownership or republish the original article body. Image source External image shown with attribution and an outbound source link; VINI does not claim ownership or republish the original article body.
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Why it mattersCulture

Key players in the country’s art history feature in a hefty new tome that covers everything from royal-carvers to bronze-smiths to work inspired by a horrific video smuggled out of a torture chamber One Sunday last year, the Cameroonian-Guadeloupean-French artist Roxane Mbanga was relaxing in bed when she received a message that made her sit up. It was about working on an art history project. Growing up in Paris, she had been a regular at Maasai Mara, the now defunct restaurant owned by her father, where Africans in the diaspora, including the artists whom he helped organise exhibitions, convened to eat and chat. Thus the concept of a book, attempting for the first time to comprehensively compile and document key players in Cameroon’s vast visual art history, made obvious sense to her. Continue reading...

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What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, ‘If the lion does not tell its story, the hunter will’: a century of thrilling Cameroonian art, Key players in the country’s art history feature in a hefty new tome that covers everything from royal-carvers to bronze-smiths to work inspired by a horrific video smuggled out of a torture chamber One Sunday last year, the Cameroonian-Guadeloupean-French artist Roxane Mbanga was relaxing in bed when she received a message that made her sit up. It was about working on an art history project. Growing up in Paris, she had been a regular at Maasai Mara, the now defunct restaurant owned by her father, where Africans in the diaspora, including the artists whom he helped organise exhibitions, convened to eat and chat. Thus the concept of a book, attempting for the first time to comprehensively compile and document key players in Cameroon’s vast visual art history, made obvious sense to her. Continue reading…

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Culture file for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-10-20T12:00:36+00:00.

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Primary source: ‘If the lion does not tell its story, the hunter will’: a century of thrilling Cameroonian art via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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