Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien Debuts First Dutch Solo Show at Museum van Bommel van Dam

Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien's first solo museum exhibition in the Netherlands, 'Material Memories', opens at Museum van Bommel van Dam in Venlo on 3 October 2026 and runs through 7 March 2027. The Paris-born artist, who grew up between Paris, Guadeloupe and Abidjan, presents six installations that combine textiles, copper, earth, crystals, plants and sound to examine the body, care and intergenerational transmission. Materials are treated as carriers of personal and collective histories: gold references its significance in Akan culture, while copper evokes family workshops. Crystals and organic elements suggest healing, fertility and renewal. Among the works are 'Take Care', 'Mémoires des Corps' and 'Temple du Soin', which address trauma, spirituality and the natural world. Two new installations, 'Myriades' and 'Un Pied de Chance', incorporate fragrant plants, textiles, essential oils, poetry and sound, stemming from the artist's recent research into medicinal plants. Manlanbien frames care not as passive but as a material and collective practice, posing questions about inheritance, preservation and what is passed forward.