Jean David Nkot, born 1989
Biography

Jean David Nkot was born in 1989 in Douala, Cameroon, where he lives and works. He trained at the Institut de Formation Artistique in Mbalmayo and the Institut des Beaux-Arts in Foumban. In 2017 he participated in the Post-Master Moving Frontiers programme at the art school in Paris-Cergy, France.

His paintings place closely observed human figures over cartographic backgrounds, economic information and written markings. The World Bank’s We are Afrika: The Power of Women and Youth catalogue describes how these layers connect individual lives with migration, poverty and the extraction of natural resources. Faces and bodies bring a human scale to systems that are often represented only through borders, statistics and commodities.

In the Human@Condition series, the mapped surface becomes a setting for portraits of people whose labour supports international economies. Rather than treating them as anonymous examples of hardship, Nkot draws attention to their resilience and dignity. He uses painting, ink and screenprinting to bring different kinds of information into the same image.

His practice also extends to sculpture, ceramics and installation. In Théâtre des corps – Drame de la matière, presented in Paris in 2025 and curated by Christine Eyene, paintings of agricultural workers appeared alongside blue ceramic figures and an installation evoking a mine. Archival images, jute surfaces and the colour associated with cobalt connected the bodies of workers to the materials they extract and the histories behind their exploitation.

His work is held in public and private collections, including FRAC Sud, Fondation H, Fondation Blachère, Fondation Almas and the Amir Shariat Collection.