WALKING INTO THE PUREST SPACES OF MAISON LA ROCHE IN PARIS—DESIGNED AND BUILT BETWEEN 1923 AND 1925 BY LE CORBUSIER AND PIERRE JEANNERET FOR THE MODERN ART COLLECTOR RAOUL LA ROCHE—IS ALMOST A SENSORIAL JOURNEY, WHERE THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN SUNLIGHT AND SPATIAL VOLUMES LEADS THE BODY THROUGH A "PROMENADE ARCHITECTURALE".
YET, VISITORS SEEM TO BECOME QUIET VOYEURS AS THEIR GAZES ENCOUNTER THE VIBRANT AND THICKLY IMPASTOED
PAINTINGS OF ARTIST LUDOVIC NKOTH THAT ARE POETICALLY ANCHORED IN THE SPACE.
BORN IN YAOUNDE, CAMEROON, NKOTH MADE HIS HOME IN THE UNITED STATES, LIVING BETWEEN SOUTH CAROLINA AND
NEW YORK BEFORE MOVING TO FRANCE FOR A YEAR-LONG RESIDENCY AT THE CITE INTERNATIONALE DES ARTS IN PARIS.
HIS WORKS MIRROR HIS EXPERIENCES AS A BLACK MIGRANT IN A FOREIGN LAND, RUMINATING ON THE CONCEPT OF HOME,
ORIGINS, TRADITION, AND THE ONGOING LEGACY OF COLONIALISM THAT CONTINUES TO IMPACT BLACK LIVES TODAY.
INVITED TO DELVE INTO LE CORBUSIER'S ARCHIVES AND RESPOND TO THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE VILLA, NKOTH SPECULATES: "WHAT IF A FAMILY OF COLOR HAD LIVED AT MAISON LA ROCHE? IF YOU WERE WALKING INTO THEIR HOME, WHAT WOULD THEY HAVE ON THE WALL THAT WOULD SIGNIFY THEM?"
HIS ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE ARTICULATED THROUGH PAINTINGS THAT NARRATE THE LIFE OF AN IMAGINARY FAMILY RESIDING IN THE VILLA. PORTRAYED IN SCENES OF REST, MEDITATION, AND OCCASIONAL STARGAZING, HIS FIGURES EMBODY COMPLEX INTERIORITIES, FACETS OF HUMANITY—BEAUTY, HAPPINESS, STRUGGLE—AND ARE POWERFUL PORTALS TO THE CONSIDERATION OF THE "WHAT IF..."
SITTING IN A QUIET, SQUARED ROOM IN THE OFFICES JUST NEXT TO THE VILLA, THE CONVERSATION BEGINS WITH THE
PAINTER BEING GENTLY CARESSED BY OCTOBER SUN RAYS SHINING THROUGH A WIDE CEILING WINDOW.
ARTIST LUDOVIC NKOTH,
TEXT BY MADDALENA IODICE,
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIMOTHY SCHAUMBURG FOR THE TRAVEL ALMANAC.
