Born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zemba witnessed politics playing out on official platforms and in the daily lives of ordinary people which no doubt influenced his art making practice. His paintings use vivid colour, simple gradation and flattened pictorial space, and feature African figures engaged in various activities, from political ritual, or dapper men engaged in chess or snooker, smoking, dozing or waiting. His process involves weeks of working and re-working, layering with oil as he revisits and tweaks.
Luzamba explains: “When it comes to politics in my work I play around, I don’t really go straight to the point. I don’t speak too loud, but quietly in my way.” Rather than immediately angering or alienating an audience, Luzamba uses his work to disrupt in a slow and agreeable way, only over time revealing it’s meaning to an actively engaged viewer.
