Zemba Luzamba's Daily Lives

DRC-born artist, Zemba Luzamba, uses oil paint on canvas to depict the lives of everyday people. He has been known to celebrate the daily lives of migrants - himself being one having moved from his native DRC to South Africa, and also schooled in Zambia. He showcases the experience - from the hardships of travel and settlement, to exhaustion from work and studying, and then to a much earned leisure. His work also shows how migrants help each other through these hardships, and ultimately foster a sense of community.

You would also notice how dandy most of the men he depicts are. This is nod to the DRC culture of La Sape where men look dandy as a way of empowerment - their dressing a visually stunning proclamation of their hope to rise above an oppressive and poverty-stricken environment.

But even as Luzamba takes a casual tone in his daily life paintings, you can also sense a hint of politics e.g. in a piece where a dandy fellow sits comfortably in his cushioned chair, looking powerful…while reading a book - subtly depicting that knowledge is power.