Congolese artist uses his art to amplify stories of street children in Africa

“The exhibition at Lizamore Gallery is a kind of introduction of my work to the Johannesburg art scene” says Thonton Kabeya about his work in the third annual edition of New Voices at Lizamore Gallery in Jan Smuts Avenue. Kabeya’s work opens a window and gives a sight into the socio-political and socio-economic struggles facing many children in Africa. His work does not only explore political incorrectness and the negligence of children by the leadership and society at large but it also jolts one to see the beauty of life through the innocent eyes of the children.

                                                   Life Made In China, Painting, 2014

 

The exploration of children’s innocence and fragility through a use of portrait, using his daughter as a model of portrayal, reminds us of his childhood memories of regular tribal conflicts, genocides and human made homelessness culture of children. He is a Kasayian tribe – a tribe which was heavily affected by genocide incidents in September 1996. History has it that the then Zaire, which is now Democratic Republic of Congo had an ethnic revolt of  human rights abuse which erupted in the eastern Zaire, an area where Kabeya was born. The effects of this genocide were catastrophic and have killed 5.4 million people. The country’s per capita dropped almost two-third since independence in 1960. It also resulted in DRC being listed as the lowest of all 174 countries in the UNDP’s 1996 Human Development.

‘I have lot of memories. I come from a very troubled and unstable country. I remember I was nine years old when we knew the first genocide in eastern (Zaire) Congo where my mom comes from. We had to spend a week inside our parent’s bedroom without food. We always lived with a fear that one day a man with an AK 47 would knock at the door to kill us because I am a Kasayian,” remembers Kabeya. The extensive corruption crippled public services from repairing schools and hospitals in many African countries including Kabeya’s.

Life Made In China, Mixed Media 2014

His childhood is a plethora resplendent of misfortunes where he viewed himself as a foreigner even in his country of birth. The geographical separation of Congo into North and South made him even smaller and outsider. His parents are from the other part of Congo and he was born in another. “I am always a foreigner wherever I go – whether it is in my country, France or here in South Africa because I do not know my mother’s land.”

On the economic front, he uses ‘Made in China’ concept to illustrate how China is taking Africa for a ride in terms of economic development. A colonized Africa stands for the disciplined element whose interests lie in maintaining the social structure. Franz Fanon’s analogy has deep resonance when he says, ‘It is true that this unchanging way of life, which hangs on like grim death to rigid social structures, may occasionally give birth to movements which are based on religious fanaticism or tribal wars.’

“The work called Life Made in China is a question I am asking to Africa of where Africa is going with products made in China being fragile. At the same time Africa needs to develop but it keeps pretending to be the future. How can you build a future when your base is fragile? We need to know that there are two different made in China products. There is made in China for Africa and made in China for Europe. The ones for Europe have very good quality and the one for Africa are rejects” says Kabeya.

He compares ‘Life made in China’ to the life of children in some parts of Africa which is a short life. In countries like Congo and Central Africa Republic you find lots of children in the street and they have parents who also find it hard to put them into schools. The government is working but the future of Africa is in the streets because children do not go to school.

Kabeya is concerned with the ‘Underdevelopment of African states’ where African leaders are swallowed by the colonialism and greed. His works, in relation to China, shows the resentment which exists between the Africans who are excluded from the advantages of colonialism and their counterparts who manage to turn colonial exploitation to their account.

He is worried that everything we touch is made in China. Children of Africa endures the brunt of this colonization as remarked by world’s most respected scholar and philosopher, Walter Rodney when he said: “Any diagnosis of underdevelopment in Africa will reveal not just low per capita income and protein deficiencies, but also the gentlemen who dance in Abidjan, Accra and Kinshasa when music is played in Paris, London and New York.”

 

 

The medium used in Kabeya’s paintings is unique and special. It makes his art to be the talk of the gallery. His half-faced and life-sized figures always invite an audience for a conversation. There is a pigment that he uses in all his paintings and it is made from whole nut found in France. This dark brown pigment is then crushed and mixed with water to be used as a medium.  “I enjoy painting and I feel comfortable doing a lot of painting and sculpture. Today as an artist you do not have to focus on one medium of art.”

 

Kabeya creates images of serenity and allows audiences to feel sometimes uncomfortable when looking at his work. However there is subtlety and sensitivity in his subject choice. His exotic paintings allow viewers to admire the beauty of his subject at a distance with some emotional involvement of concern when they are closer. His work asserts a meditated, sanitised and glamourized Africanism.  Above all his expedition there is a way of questioning the inequality and the Africa’s status quo.

 

Review by Khehla Chepape Makgato, Kensington – Johannesburg, South Africa, January 2015