CAMEROON - Angele Essamba (b.1962) is a successful, sought-after photographer who has exhibited widely in Europe. Angele’s defining theme is a celebration of the beauty, strength and power of black women. Her pieces are as powerful as Mapplethorpe’s, without the lewdness. Through controlled use of line and contrast, she achieves dramatic results. Comparing Le Fil Conducteur I and VII (The Guiding Thread I and VII), I see women freeing themselves and taking control of their worlds. The compositional structure of Le Fil Conducteur I asymmetrically balances half a face on the left hand side with a thin string, emanating from the mouth, extending across the void on the rest of the canvas. In Heritage II Angele compares a mask and a face. Men usually wear the masks in Cameroonian festivals and ceremonies, but women can still hide many things behind their visages. La Battante (The Victor) represents the quintessential liberated woman, elegantly arranged on top of a cage, in all her glory.