Langage corporêtre
Dimitri Wylliam Toung Ondo
May 1st to August 23rd 2026
This exhibition presents two collections of sculptural works that explore the construction of identity through life’s trials, body language, and attitudes.
The masked figures standing on a podium evoke the world of sports and competition: a metaphor for a life experienced as a series of trials, where each individual becomes an athlete of existence, facing challenges that shape their identity. The mask, a recurring element, functions both as protective and revealing. It questions the relationship between appearance and inner self, between the public and the private, in scenes that emphasize the body, its posture, and its expressiveness.
The works refer to an individual’s journey of self-discovery, marked by life’s trials. At the heart of Dimitri Wylliam Toung Ondo’s exploration, the construction of identity is in perpetual motion. The artist says of identity that “it is built, masked, consumed, and transformed like a flame.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born in Gabon, Dimitri Wylliam Toung Ondo grew up in southwestern France, where he first studied science before working in the pharmaceutical industry and then in youth outreach. In 2022, he emigrated to Quebec City to pursue an artistic education at the Maison des Métiers d’art de Québec, where he earned a DEC in fine arts in sculpture in 2025.
His work explores identities, body language, and emotional reactions through sculpture. His research focuses particularly on the duality between what the individual reveals and conceals, questioning the tensions between an intimate bodily vocabulary and one’s postures in public spaces.
Through a process of direct carving, the artist seeks to capture a moment, an emotion, and to show that even in stillness, the human body carries and tells a story. The artist invites us to reflect on the expressiveness of the body, its emotional gestures, and the sense of identity that emanates from them.
Fenêtre sur rue is an initiative of Centre Materia offering graduates of the DEC – Fine Craft Techniques programme, in all disciplines, the opportunity to display unique or serial pieces in its showcase space located on Charest East Boulevard.