'I was inspired by an artist I met in Abong-Mbang, East Province of Cameroon in January 2000. The artist, known as Meke, specialises in working with the material, a product made locally by the pygmies using barks of trees. Abong-Mbang is the divisional headquarters of the Upper Nyong division and the Baka pygmies are to be found in this division. The Upper Nyong division falls within Central Africa's tropical rainforest zone. The pygmies extract barks of trees, pound them, straighten them, sun them to form the material known as Obom in Maka (spoken in the East province) or Akwag in Beti (spoken in the Centre and South provinces). This material was used by the pygmies for clothing. The technique I used was mainly cutting and pasting. After cutting the pieces I apply white wood glue to the reverse of the pieces and press on top of my background or main piece. A heavy and very flat object is used to press the pieces together. This barkcloth material is not common in Nseh where I hail nor in Nso' where Musa Heritage Gallery is located. When I brought along the piece I did while in Abong-Mbang my mother told me that the "Mfu-bam" people commonly referred to as "Njari" people found in Ako sub division in the Donga Mantung division of the North West province produce a similar material mainly of white colour. These people according to my mother also used it for clothing.

For the piece on the right (behind my head!) a weaved fibre strip is stitched to form the border for the tree. The green and orange colours were obtained by dipping white Obom into dyestuff. The other colours are original colours obtained naturally from the tree barks. This is an environmental portrait. In it I look at biodiversity putting emphasis on the disappearing forests. I tried to show the beauty of our biodiversity which is at the threat of humans. When I made the piece I thought about Abong-Mbang, I thought about the tropical rainforests, I thought about the many logging companies. This portrait makes me to think about the pygmies who are losing their natural habitat, the trees, the birds and the animals.'