Annabelle Mandeng & Marion Mandeng | Galerie Z22 | 06.03.-05.04.2025

until 05.04. | #4619ARTatBerlin | Galerie Z22 is currently showing an exhibition by the artists Annabelle and Marion Mandeng.

Marion Mandeng is an artist who has recently been exploring the links between social prejudices and the role of women. She holds an MA from Central Saint Martin (with distinction).

Marion Mandeng’s work focuses on human behavior to draw attention to what she sees as persistent discrimination in society. Her practice reflects her experiences as a woman and mother of three daughters. The Me Too movement has reminded us that society continues to struggle with gender conflict. In politics, too, the image of strong male leaders associated with nationalist and populist ideologies seems to be resurgent. Her projects aim to raise awareness and concern for a shift in the masculine and feminine elements in society.

The objects are often shown in large numbers. This refers to the concept of repetition as a reference to Freud’s analysis of conflict resolution. Repetition is a psychological phenomenon in which a person repeats or replays an event, often associated with a traumatic incident or anxiety, several times.

Annabelle Mandeng, Courtesy Galerie Z22

Annabelle Mandeng
about herself:

I started to focus on my art as a teenager. I had been painting since I was a child, and I also experimented with sculptures made of wood and clay. However, studying art was out of the question for my family. I therefore opted for a profession in which I could also express myself and became an actress and presenter. However, my need to express myself haptically and create something lasting remained, and so I continued to paint and exhibited my mainly figurative oil paintings in the early 2000s. Because of my high profile due to my profession, the press reported on me, I was invited to talk shows, asked to paint live, etc. I felt uncomfortable with this. I felt uncomfortable with this, so I put down my rubber spatulas – which I used exclusively for painting.

For almost two years now, I have dedicated myself to the realization of my Hope series. My style had changed; instead of using a spatula, I dab with acrylic. The dabbing technique allows my work to develop and reveal synergies where there were initially none. Harmonies and disharmonies emerge, which ultimately merge into one picture.

I create my images by thinking about the content that I want to communicate. First I formulate the content in writing, then I create the corresponding vision in my head, which shapes and colors are necessary to convey this content. Only then do I go to the canvas. Acrylic is my chosen material, as the dabbing remains more recognizable and I can apply layer after layer until the overall structure of the motif is achieved. Each painting is created in a few weeks, symbolizing the time required for changes to develop.
I paint to communicate, to visualize issues that affect each of us today.

As the daughter of a Cameroonian minister of state and a German teacher, I spent several years in Pakistan and Togo as a teenager due to my mother’s work abroad as an expatriate. In addition, my skin color was and is a constant topic in both my professional and private encounters. My need for harmony between supposedly opposing backgrounds, experiences, needs and views shaped me early on and is reflected in my current work.

Exhibition dates: Thursday, March 6 to Saturday, April 5, 2025