Opera Gallery Announces Global Representation of Maurice Mboa

02 September 2026

Opera Gallery is delighted to announce the global representation of Maurice Mboa, the Cameroonian-born, Geneva-based artist whose distinctive practice explores the shifting boundaries between the visible and the invisible and the presence of the individual and the collective.

Born in Yaoundé in 1983, Mboa has developed a singular visual language centred on what he describes as Âmes-preintes("Soulprints"). These enigmatic, faceless figures emerge through a highly distinctive and labour-intensive process: the artist applies layers of colour to metal panels before engraving their surfaces by hand with a tool made from glass. The resulting works combine painting, drawing and engraving, transforming the industrial material into richly textured fields populated by ethereal silhouettes, vegetation and intricate patterns.

Deeply informed by his Cameroonian heritage and the spiritual teachings passed down by his grandmother, a traditional healer, Mboa’s work considers the ways in which emotion, memory and ancestry can exist beyond physical form. His figures are not conventional portraits but ‘soulprints’: anonymous presences that invite viewers to look beyond identity and towards a shared human experience.

Mboa was among the invited artists featured in 'Dreaming in Colour', Opera Gallery London’s 2026 exhibition, introducing audiences to a practice in which colour, symbolism and material experimentation converge.

Opera Gallery now looks forward to supporting Maurice Mboa internationally and sharing his compelling artistic vision with audiences and collectors worldwide.