Doff

Doff: Recycled Matter, Chadian Memory and Environmental Consciousness

Doff, born Apollinaire Guidimbaye in Massyéna, Chad, is a Chadian contemporary artist whose mixed-media works transform discarded materials into powerful visual reflections on memory, ecology, resilience and collective survival. Working with circuit boards, steel wires, burned materials, fabric, paxalu, bullet casings and found objects, he creates textured compositions in which matter itself carries the weight of history.

His practice occupies a distinctive position within contemporary African art, where environmental awareness, cultural heritage and formal experimentation converge. Doff’s work is rooted in the realities of Chad and Central Africa, yet it speaks to global concerns: pollution, war, displacement, repair and the urgent need to imagine new futures from damaged materials.

View available works by Doff ›

From Found Objects to Contemporary Assemblage

Doff’s relationship with material began early. Growing up in a large family, he was surrounded by craft, repair and making: his mother was a craft dyer, his older brother a painter, and his uncle worked in a car repair shop. As a child, he created toys from tin cans and dismantled objects in order to build new ones. This experience shaped a practice grounded in invention, mechanics and transformation.

His works are made through heating, gluing, scraping, carving, assembling and layering. Blowtorches, hammers, newspapers, industrial fragments and recovered matter become part of his artistic vocabulary. Rather than hiding the origins of these materials, Doff allows their scars, textures and histories to remain visible. Each work becomes a site where destruction and renewal coexist.

Black Surfaces, Environmental Memory and Resilience

Black occupies a central place in Doff’s recent work. It appears not as emptiness, but as density: a surface of memory, endurance and possibility. In his dark, textured compositions, traces of figures, landscapes and structures emerge from layers of metal, bitumen and recovered materials, suggesting both buried histories and future forms.

Through these surfaces, Doff addresses ecological damage, pollution, drought and the human consequences of conflict. His materials are often drawn from systems of waste, violence or abandonment, yet he reactivates them through composition. The work insists that what has been discarded can become a language of resistance, repair and imagination.

Experimentation, Transmission and Contemporary Art in Chad

A self-taught artist, visual artist and set designer, Doff has developed his practice through experimentation and persistence. A decisive moment came in 2018, when he participated in the AtWork Tour I Had a Dream, an intensive workshop by the Moleskine Foundation led by Simon Njami in N’Djamena. This experience reinforced his commitment to art as a call to action.

Doff is also committed to transmission. He mentors young people, encourages the use of recycled materials and leads workshops in local schools in N’Djamena. He founded Knock on Art, an association dedicated to promoting contemporary African art in Chad, and continues to support new artistic initiatives in the country.

Selected Exhibitions and Residencies

Doff’s solo exhibitions include Black Roots, Bold Futures: Doff’s Perspective at OOA Gallery; Unravel Iron at the Embassy of Chad in Washington, DC; The Thread of the Sahara at Ngala African Art Space, Zurich; At the Heart of Black – Monochromes at Galerie Art-Z, Paris; Timelessness at the French Institute in Chad, N’Djamena; and The African Man at Les Vivres de l’Art, Bordeaux.

His recent duo exhibitions include Metal. Art & Design at OOA Gallery and Unseen Origins with Patrick Tagoe-Turkson at OOA Gallery. His work has also been presented at AKAA in Paris, Douala Art Fair, Salon BAD+ in Bordeaux, Dak’Art OFF, the World Bank’s virtual exhibition We Are Afrika – The Power of Women and Youth, and RIAC at the French Institute of Congo.

Doff has participated in residencies and artistic programmes in Gabon, France, Congo and Ivory Coast, including Duvungu Creative Factory in Libreville, SCAC Marestaing in Montesquieu-Volvestre, RIAC in Brazzaville, Africa 2020 in Marseille, the Festival of Street Arts in Assouindé and the AtWork Tour I Had a Dream in N’Djamena.

Available Works

Explore a selection of available works by Doff at OOA Gallery, including mixed-media works that bring together metal, bitumen, found objects and recycled materials to explore memory, ecology, resilience and contemporary Chadian identity.