LAUSANNE.- For this exhibition at the KMD, N’ZO builds a bridge between his hometown of Marseille and Switzerland, using clichés as part of a wider discourse on culture and identity. This approach reflects his vision of art in perpetual motion, driven by a quest for meaning and connection. N’ZO questions the codes and symbols associated with Marseille, a cosmopolitan and energetic city, while reinventing its representation to offer a renewed vision, full of positivity. His work blends influences from Marseille with a creative violence that is far from destructive. This vibrant energy, which is what makes Marseille so unique, is deployed in creations that bear witness to the richness of its roots while seeking to build bridges between different cultures. N’ZO invites audiences on an artistic journey where boldness and freedom of expression are at the heart of the creative process. In keeping with his personal philosophy, N’ZO believes that art is all about links, whether between the individual and his or her culture, between communities, or between oneself and one's own destiny. It's not a question of moving away from Marseille, which is part of his DNA, but of offering an original and intimate vision of it, while connecting it to other horizons. The exhibition here is not synonymous with a point of arrival, but a place of exchange and sharing where cultures, beliefs and passions meet.

Born in Marseilles in 1996, N'ZO C'DG is a self-taught visual artist who develops a free and experimental practice. He works with a range of artists including graffiti artist 3TTAM, Dutch collective Werker, painter SAEIO and Spanish collective Democracia. He took part in the group exhibition BtoB (2018), at the MUCEM in Marseille, and in the Werker collective's publication, ‘Apprendre à ne pas travailler’ (Learning not to work) (2019). The FRAC Paca is including in its permanent collection its very first fanzine, La Bandite (2022), produced during a residency on site and published by the ‘Copie machine’ collective. N'ZO develops a practice of drawing, painting, sculpture and performance. He works on the representation of the essence of Marseilles, with its gentle and violent energy, an image that both attracts and repels. He explores this narrative and takes it out of its reality, almost caricaturing it. His characters (who are often his own doubles) are the abstract incarnations of a collective identity that is both pleasurable and painful, situated between the sun of the south and a precarious daily life far from the tourists and the spotlights.