Born in Maroua, a city in northern Cameroon, Moustapha Baidi Oumarou worked in a silkscreen workshop before devoting himselfto painting.The characters in his paintings are often anonymous, though their clothes and gestures are carefully rendered, and they float in and out of foreground and background which often feature flora and fauna. Oumarou says that the anonymity of his subjects allows them to become a springboard for exploring the human condition.

He also focuses on the power of love, which he describes as “the light and source of life.” While his wild motifs recall Matisse and Gauguin, Oumarou takes an approach to portraiture that recalls Amy Sherald, Barkley L. Hendricks and others. In 2022, he participated in the 1-54 in New York and Paris, in Art Genève, and presented several solo exhibitions, including one in Paris, one in Geneva and one atthe French Institute of Cameroon.