On view in the art cabinets in the main building of VU Amsterdam is the work of artist Fransix Tenda Lomba.
Fransix Tenda Lomba (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 1984) makes drawings, paintings, sculptures, and animated videos. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa and he’s a Rijksakademie alumnus.
His research project Le choc est là, has been inspired on the production of chocolate in Congo. The title refers to the cultural, economic, political, social, and geopolitical shocks that ground the cocoa chain, from the origin of cocoa to the world of consumers. In his art Tenda Lomba is juxtaposing his own images with elements from his parents’ personal archives reflecting on daily life in Congo, and material from archives of the world’s major chocolate companies. The drawings and paintings reveal deeply intertwined stories about the interhuman connection in post-colonial societies and the bittersweet reality that the pleasure of chocolate is fraught with suffering.
The presentation in the main building is connected to the exhibition Foreign Land which is currently on view in the VU ART SCIENCE gallery in the NU building. This exhibition and public program explores the topic of migration through the work of artists and scientists.
Fransix Tenda Lomba is being represented by Galerie Fleur & Wouter.
