HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

After searching in vain for a job, Jacky, a college graduate with a law degree, ends up running a shop in a market, just like his parents.

Irene Pesonka, a civil servant at a government ministry, has to take on a second job—selling doughnuts at a roadside stand—to make ends meet.

Pascale Marthine Tayou, a sculptor and poet who finds his raw materials in the massive piles of garbage that clog the streets of Yaoundé, refers to his artistic expression as “slum art,” through which he exposes the dilapidated state of Cameroonian society.

The stories of these three individuals depict the chaos of urban life in Cameroon in 1994 and illustrate the vital role played by the “informal economic sector,” in which an increasing number of Cameroonians are engaged.