Ley Mboramwe

Ley Mboramwe was born and grew up in Kinshasa. He later went on to study at the Academie des Beaux Arts, known for its rich legacy of artists and cultural workers. Since moving to Cape Town, his work has evolved and he has focused on painting. Having previously trained in stone carving, calligraphy and performance art – his current work is imbued with these varied art practices and the traditions he immerses himself in.

Mboramwe’s vigorous burst of lines and colours on canvas activate a kind of energy within the room that calls for attention. As he has both celebrated and grappled with his memories and experiences of the Congo, and the journeys he has taken since, his paintings become a site of processing and reflection on his childhood in the country and the landscape he has had to leave behind. Mboramwe creates a conversation about the journeys he has embarked on, expressed through his work and the dynamics illustrated through the play of abstraction in figurative images. His participation in group exhibitions, art fairs and solo exhibitions over the past four years has traced his creative trajectory from primary colours and monotones, to vast spectrums of colours and vibrancy. Viewing his art encompasses an experience of witnessing the passion of the artist, seeing how the drive to create is so strong that his own excitement takes over his mark making and, as such, the experience of painting becomes mirrored in the viewing too.

Tied into the loose mark making across his pieces is an engaged and subliminal messaging that calls into question the understandings we have about the countries and their languages that neighbour us on this continent. Using what happens around him as stimuli, Mboramwe creates a sense of emotional drive and connection both personally and conceptually through his paintings. He demonstrates an eagerness to share and command his own narrative through his work.

Present in the forms depicted and in his titling, Mboramwe locates his paintings in a conversation around nationhood, belonging and experience. The vibrancy of his colour palette and the bold movement expression on his canvases offer a tool for engagement through abstraction and emotion. His understanding of the role of artists in society is “to solely create awareness to the public through the use of different media”. Specifically, he explains that “this is important, as it serves as a permanent tool for future generations to learn and make use of the message depicted”.

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