Born in 1969 in CAMEROON, Emile YOUMBI discovered painting in 1990 while studying Mathematics at the University of Yaoundé.

When he co-founded the Prim’Art collective in 1993, he experimented with materials, was interested in avant-garde work, and explored memory through African Rites and Traditions. His characters are stripped down to colored silhouettes that he calls “OMBRES”. His first video performance “The Bath” was presented at the 2006 Cape Africa Biennale in Cape Town. In 2003 he learned the technique of lost wax bronze sculpture in Brazzaville with the Burkinabe sculptor SIRIKI KY.

His work has been shown in Zurich, Madrid, Paris, Brussels and Luxembourg.

He has been teaching Plastic Art since 2013 at the School of Fine Arts in Nkongsamba (University of Douala).