Clay Apenouvon explores the possibilities of materials such as cardboard – as a material that is widely available and provides heavy-duty support, yet contains a certain fragility. For Apenouvon, cardboard has a metonymic quality and is frequently used within his work to respond to ideas of use and material value. Further explored is packing: from the ubiquitous use of cardboard in transport and global distribution, to the phenomenon of vacuum-packing. Another material of interest for Apenouvon is plastic. Having been influenced by the work of Steve McPherson and Pascale Marthine Tayou, he produced Plastic Attack in 2010. Designed to embody the ‘fatal beauty’ of its materiality, the work raises awareness of the dangers that plastic poses to the environment on a global scale.

Apenouvon has previously performed and exhibited in Europe and the US. More recently, an installation work of his, Film noir de Lampedusa (2015), was included in the exhibition Visibles / Invisibles: l’Afrique urbaine et ses marges at Fondation Blachère in Apt, France in 2015.