Zemba Luzamba

After studying art at school in his native Lubumbashi, Luzamba (then Lutanda) enrolled for further studies at Evelyn Hone College of applied art and commerce in Lusaka, Zambia. Deciding not to return to the uncertain political environment of the DRC, the twenty-seven-year-old artist headed to South Africa, where he has lived since 2000.

Over the last decade Zemba has become a chronicler of his experiences as a migrant African in a country with an ambivalent and often violent relationship with its continent.

Zemba’s technical proficiency, coupled with his intimate account of the lives of transnational migrants, gives his largely narrative paintings a unique insight to the vivid scenes of everyday life. Photographs and sketches made over the years inspire many of Zemba’s images, but often do not refer to actual people. Zemba intrigues with his composition; he places his subjects, partially and temporarily. Are we dealing with memory, observation or imagination? Are these scenes witnessed in the new South Arica, or the old Congo?

While he is evidently familiar with his subjects, their lack of specificity introduces a degree of otherness to his images. With characteristic understatement, Zemba is a contemporary realist providing life like accounts of ordinary subjects whilst stopping short at overt commentary. At times, he hovers on the borders of satire, leaving the viewer wondering what to make of his shadows. These appear as innocent formal devices to suggest pictorial depth or provocative illusion to mimic the colonial lifestyles of the postcolonial elites. Similarly, there is the sartorial choices of his subjects who are almost always dressed in formal Western attire. Is this pure observation, aspiration or critique?

Intrigued by what people show on the surface, Zemba Luzamba plays with images and ideas, what he sees and what’s really going on, pulling all that together with oil paint on his canvas surfaces.

As the artist says « There is a bit of politics in my work, but I play with that, so it’s not too serious. If you look at my paintings, you’ll see I’ve been playing with elegance and lifestyle, with some reference to politics and social commentary. In the Congo there’s a trend for some of the guys, known as Sapeurs, to pretend they’re more affluent than they are by following a culture of elegance in the way they dress. It’s surface-level personal image management, and also an aspirational expression. In Congolese society there are certain things that we never actually talk about – big issues kept beneath a surface façade. So I went with that flow, and a sense of only what can be seen on the surface has influenced some of the works that I’ve been doing lately. My imagery also includes stuff that is happening in politics in South Africa. I don’t speak too loud, but quietly in my way. Not all my works are about showing political movements, though; some are just trying to point out the politics of the lives that we live in.

Zemba’s work is bolstered by his sensuous use of paint. His skillful observation of body language is combined with a formalist prediction for a structured, shallow, pictorial space. This emphasizes the immediacy and proximity occupied by the viewer to his work.

Zemba has exhibited internationally, most recently at Another Antipodes in Australia, and his work is featured in several public collections.

Zemba Luzamba remains in South Africa where he continues his quest as an artist.