{"id":281,"date":"2010-10-25T08:01:26","date_gmt":"2010-10-25T15:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freedimensional.org\/?p=281"},"modified":"2017-04-03T06:45:19","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T06:45:19","slug":"issa-nyaphaga-the-art-of-exile-world-policy-blog-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fd.artistsafety.net\/2010\/10\/issa-nyaphaga-the-art-of-exile-world-policy-blog-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Issa Nyaphaga – The Art of Exile {World Policy Blog #2}"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Issa Nyaphaga is known as the ragman of painting. He creates art out of garbage \u2013 anything from mud and sand to feathers and human hair. Nyaphaga gives disposed items a sort of renewal.<\/p>\n

But his artwork represents much darker story of rebirth.\u00a0Nyaphaga<\/a> was raised in a small village in the equatorial forests of Cameroon. After high school, he worked as a political cartoonist for the newspaper,\u00a0Le Messager Popoli<\/em>. In 1994, Cameroon\u2019s regime jailed and tortured Nyaphaga for oppositional ideas expressed in his controversial cartoons. Two years later, Nyaphaga escaped Cameroon to seek asylum in France.<\/p>\n

Since his escape, Nyaphaga has continued his passion throughout France and the United States with the\u00a0support <\/a>of organizations such as\u00a0freeDemensional<\/a>. Nyaphaga is currently working on the development of a philosophical installation called Urban Way, which combines body paint, music and performance in a symbolic protest against his exile. The artist also created Capillarism, a painting technique in which a layer of human http:\/\/www.gooakley.com\/<\/a> hair lies on the canvas beneath the paint, adding a unique texture to his work.<\/p>\n

In addition to his own art projects, he also has taught painting courses at universities, led workshops for at-risk children and illustrated books in France. In 2002, Nyaphaga founded\u00a0Hope International for the Tikar People<\/a>, an organization that provides school and health care supplies, such as wheelchairs and books, to seven Tikar villages in Cameroon. He also co-founded the organization African Journalists in Exile, which supports oppressed writers. Nyaphaga has been cheap oakley<\/a> featured in two documentaries, one – called\u00a0The Pen in Exile<\/em> – about his life, with a third in progress.<\/p>\n

By\u00a0Hannah Oppenheimer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0World Policy Journal<\/a> is featuring five freeDimensional stakeholders on its blog this Fall in relation to its current issue, The Creative Canon.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Photo via flickr courtesy of\u00a0networkcultures<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n