A Congo Chronicle: Patrice Lumumba in Urban Art

• .' • • • • • '• •' " • • ongo Burozi, signed Tshibumba, detail Le Congo est en Trouble a Cause de cet homme de Lumumba, arretons le (Congo is in Trouble because of This Man Lumumba) Oil on cotton, 1 8 x 1 3 " PATRICE LUMUMBA IN URBAN ART Elizabeth Harney Jean-Paul Sartre labeled Patrice Lumumba a "revolutionary without revolution, not a hero, but a martyr of Pan-Africanism" (Van Lierde, 1963). His characterization underscores the mythic stature afforded the slain Congolese leader and nicely directs our attention to the central theme of the recent exhibition of urban paintings on view at the Museum for African Art on Broadway. To many in the West, Lumumba's story conjures up memories of the era of decolonization, the rise of cold war rhetoric and politics , and the fight for dignity and humanity which was to so dominate the socio-political landscape of the 1960s. To the Congolese, he is also a figure who represents complicated and often contradictory local experiences and understandings of history. The trials and tribulations of this political figure are retold and re-interpreted in a variety of public and private forums. Each telling, like those seen on the walls here, acts not only as an expression of collective memory but also as a vehicle for contemporary socio-political commentary, enabling the Congolese to envision the political independence and social eouality promised in an earlier era. Through repetition, the visual language of these artists becomes legible to a large and diverse public and these paintings serve as an archive for imagining and reconstructing unofficial versions of a shared and lived history. This small exhibition was curated by Dr. Bogumil lewsiewicki, a long time student of popular, urban arts in Central Africa. Fifty paintings by Tshimbumba Kanda Matula, a well-documented artist from the Shaba province in southeastern Congo made up the bulk of the images presented. These works will be familiar to many, as they have been widely featured in exhibitions of contemporary popular arts and published extensively by lewsiewicki, Johannes Fabian, V.Y Mudimbe, Benetta |ules-Rosette, and others in the field who have interpreted them as complicated communicative networks; as polyvalent visual languages of exchange. For Fabian specifically, working with this painter of Congolese socio-political history has led to telling reflections upon the nature of anthropological practice, collaborative research, and the thorny relationship between academic and market interests. Under Fabian's aegis, Matula pursued an ambitious project to produce a cycle of paintings, chronicling the key events of modern Congolese history, some of which were featured within the show. The repertoire of these works moved well beyond the array of stories sold to a local market. In this show, Tshimbumba's works were complemented by others made for the Katanga marketplaces, purchased for the homes of the petit bourgeoisie and by local bars and cafes. Perhaps one of the best known painting genres of this region is the Colonie beige which documents the extreme cruelties of 96 • Nka of Contemporary African Art Belgian rule, often featuring images of prison camps, slave marches, and rituals of punishment. It is little wonder this genre developed in the Shaba and Katanga provinces where Belgian rule was at its ugliest as greed for rich mineral resources led to atrocious acts of oppression. All of these paintings share a directness of presentation, relying on stark contrasts of color, heavy chiaroscuro, simple narratives frequently told through metonyms, and short written passages in either French or Lingala to underscore the visual language. Both their materials —recycled cloths, rice sacks, industrial paints, and their straightforward, aggressive presentation belie their urban, post-colonial milieu. These are images that act as mouthpieces for the silenced and disenfranchised masses who, in the face of despotic political realities, look to these paintings as a means of recognizing their own histories. The visual symbols found therein, such as pen in hand, rooster head, or globe, act as aide-memoires, telling of Lumumba's role in the signing of Independence, the excitement surrounding his populist political party, the mouvement national congolais (MNC, whose emblem was the rooster), and the global implications of his anti-colonial rhetoric, respectively. With these paintings Katanganese could construct the mental maps recjuired...