About —
Moridja Kitenge Banza’s exhibition, presented this fall at the Musée d’art de Joliette, concretizes a turning point in his practice. In previous exhibitions, he explored the lack of museum objects in Africa as a way to make us reflect on the underside of colonization in plundered countries that have been emptied of their culture. For the first time, the artist has integrated real museum artworks into his practice, a powerful gesture that introduces a new dynamic in his work.
Inspired by the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy, famous for being the site of Giotto’s frescos from the early fourteenth century, Kitenge Banza’s exhibition at the MAJ presents a new chapel in honour of Christ Pantocrator. This space, which should inspire contemplation, also takes the form of a dissonant, multi-referential site, where he seizes the right to reinterpret the vast repertoire of Christianity.
Kitenge Banza appropriates the codes that were developed by the Church as tools of conversion—ones that forcefully proliferated in his native Congo and elsewhere in the world. Colours, architecture components, iconography, and replicas are just a few examples of the elements and strategies the artist uses to reflect on his hybrid identity, on the intersection of local and globalized histories, and on the mechanisms of population persuasion. Objects in the MAJ’s sacred art collection are woven into his universe, and are now part of the artist’s vast and rich re-writing of History.
Biography —
Congolese-born Canadian artist Moridja Kitenge Banza received the first prize at the Dak’Art Biennial of Contemporary African Art in 2010, and the Sobey Art Award in 2020. His work has been presented across Europe (France, Denmark, Germany), in Africa (Morocco, Senegal), and in Canada. More recently, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and the PHI Foundation have presented solo exhibitions of his work. His art is included in museum collections (MMFA, MACM, MNBAQ, NGC, AGO), as well as private and corporate collections (BMO, Caisse de dépôt et placement Québec, Canadian Shield Capital, Hydro-Québec, Mouvement Desjardins, RBC, and TD Bank Corporate Art Collection).
Image in the banner:
© Moridja Kitenge Banza, Christ Pantocrator n°47 (detail), 2024. Acrylic on wood panel, gold leaf, 30.5 x 40.6 cm.