Nataal is a media partner for Now Look Here - The African Art of Appearance, a new exhibition in Amsterdam that follows on from last year’s N’Golà Biennial, both curated by Dutch design legend Renny Ramakers. With the addition of artists Raquel van Haver and Buhlebezwe Siwani, the European leg of the São Tomé and Príncipe arts festival will feature a host of Nataal favourites from Senegalese multimedia artist Omar Victor Diop and Lagosian photographer Stephen Tayo to South African artist Mary Sibande and the legendary Samuel Fosso.

Ramakers’ approach to both exhibits has stemmed from the idea that across Africa, style, fashion and beauty often go beyond the superficial to become manifestations of dignity and identity. And nowhere is this truer than in the celebrated photography of Yves Sambu. Nataal first met this thoughtful talent in Sao Tome where the warmth that he and the group of sapeurs he had travelled with exuded, was matched only by the skill of his photography.

A visual arts graduate of the Fine Art Academy of Kinshasa, Sambu’s work is often drawn to this sartorial subculture found on both sides of the Congo river in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Sapeurs don’t love fashion for its own sake, and likewise, Sambu isn’t drawn to them merely because they look so good. It might look a lot like fashion photography, and there’s certainly a lot of fashion on show, but what he is capturing is the art of Kitendi – respect for oneself, the body, the importance of purity, beauty and harmony. It’s a non-violent and very striking resistance against poverty in the name of human dignity.

The art of La Sape is unique to the DRC, a country hugely wealthy in minerals but whose people are victim to some of Africa’s most extreme poverty and civil war, due in part to the international community’s continued exploitation of the land. The subculture can be traced back to Belgium’s brutal colonisation of the country, with young Congolese men mimicking and vastly improving on their masters’ style to make it their own. It’s this beautiful rebellion that Sambu documents. “If elegance is considered the art of well-being, it aspires us to a form of resistance against any oppression,” he says. “In short, I denounce, in a certain way, social injustices.”

Sambu lived 800 metres from Kitambo cemetery, home not only to graves but Kinshasa’s poorest people, too. And it was there that his celebrated project ‘Vanitas’ was shot, which depicted sapeurs among the headstones. “The cemetery is a memorial full of enigmas and humanity. For this project, we have juxtaposed two elements of distinct perception: the place of death and elegance or, fear of the ghost and good manners,” Sambu reveals. “This pushes us to reflect on the meaning of life, between the fear of dying and the desire to live. This project tries to challenge us on the broad sense of elegance, which is not only dress; this in the face of social injustices suffered by the Congo.”

Sambu is part of Sadi, a collective of artists based in Kinshasa for which, until 2018, he served as its executive director. “Sadi is a space where many young Congolese artists have been discovered and encouraged and which contributes to Congolese artistic scene,” he explains. Right now, Sadi has ambitious plans to hold a festival dedicated to, and held simultaneously in, both Kinshasa and Brazzaville. “Both cities share almost the same story and the same languages. They are separated naturally by the Congo river and were historically divided through colonisation. This established them as the political capitals of two Congos. The geopolitical situations of their collective memories, their histories, their societies, their current cultures, are abundantly filled with rich and living images resulting from the dynamism of their populations. Unfortunately, some media only present their obscure and scandalous sides.”

The festival will change this worn out narrative by bringing out the abundant magnificence and beauty of both capitals. “Kinshasa and Brazzaville will be transformed into open-air artistic creation laboratories and research workshops on contemporary sociology,” Sambu promises. “We will welcome national and international artists to reveal the hospitality and the pictorial beauty of these poetic cities. And we dare to believe that Nataal will accompany us!”

Now Look Here – The African Art of Appearance is on view at Amsterdam North from 24 January to 23 February 2020

Visit Yves Sambu
Visit Now Look Here
Visit N’Golà Biennial

Published on 24/01/2020