Zemba Luzamba ’s oil paintings depict African figures engaged in contemplative activities or political ritual. Luzamba portrays an attractive facade of leisure and tedium, revealing little of the seriousness of political and historical context, or of the artist’s conviction and creative process behind the scenes. Born and raised in the conflict-ridden DRC, Luzamba witnessed politics playing out in the daily lives of ordinary people. He attributes the DRC’s 1990s unbanning of the suit and tie, a gesture towards a new ‘democracy’ and permitting Western cultural influence, as the moment the artist in him awoke.
