The two brothers Guebehi and Damas were born in a family that came from Nikeïde in Krou country (in the western part of the Ivory Coast, close to the Liberian border). Emile Guebehi was involved in various manual labor jobs until 1966, before dedicating himself to wood carving, on the advice of a healer in his village. Impressed with his first sculptures, the Ebrié community who populated the lagoon, offered to settle him in the village of Songbo Dagbé, on the road to Abidjan.
Emile Guebehi and Nicolas Damas made large multicolored scenes representing the characters, animals, objects related to daily life, the history of the population, the origin of the Ebriés and their initiation rites. Each village in the lagoon is the proud owner and caretaker of these works. They testify to the history of the Ebrié and their relationship to these artists who kept up an African tradition of artistic production devoted to the needs of the community.