JOHANNESBURG.- For his first solo show with Gallery MOMO in Johannesburg, Congolese photographer Maurice Mbikayi draws on futuristic ideas and concepts of the body in relation to physical and/or virtual space. The artist has used obsolete technological parts, specifically computer pieces as a source material, transforming and reshaping these computer parts into fashionable items reminiscent of a ‘cyber-citizen’.

With this exhibition entitled Mupia-Mupia, a Luba term that translates to “new and shiny”, Mbikayi focuses on the aesthetic values and meanings of digital identity in relation to fashion as an analogy and the impact it has on urban African, and more specifically, Congolese society. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) despite the chaos is seen as a location where people use fashion as a form of acceptance as well as a medium of defiance. This manifests itself most prominently in movements like Society of Artists and Persons of Elegance (SAPE) with its faithful adepts known as SAPEURS.

The photographs in the exhibition are linked to the series Techno Dandy 2015 (from Mbikayi’s Master’s Degree Exhibition). The Techno Dandy represents a warrior, inspired by Nineteenth-Century French and English suits (called redingotes) as well as medieval armour. Mbikayi aligns himself with the strutting SAPEURS (The Dandies) of the DRC, through which he observes and is observed. “I participate and, through sartorial performances and poses, emphasize my own self-determinacy”.

Individual photographs such as Looking through a veil and Bilele evoke the culture of the Skhothane (South African dandies of the townships) and the SAPEURS, whose garments contrast with the immediate environment within which they live; resonating with the works Suffering and Smiling 2 (2004) by Nigerian photographer Emeka Okereke, and the movie Pumzi (2009) by Wanuri Kahiu.

The work exhibited provides an understanding of the black African body as dignified and defiant, in relation to the politics of waste, suffering and rebirth; the use of bones, bandages and animals signifies mortality and fragility as well as the possibility of rebirth.

Maurice Mbikayi was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and today lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2000 he graduated with a BA in Graphic Design (Advertising and Visual Communication), from the Academies des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa. He completed his Master of Fine Art degree (with distinction) in 2015 at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town.He also took part in the Spier Contemporary 2010 biennale presented by the Africa Centre in Cape Town and the Hollard Creative Exchange program of 2010-2011. In 2010 he was selected by the Alliance Française for a travelling solo exhibition in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. He was awarded a three-month residency at IAAB in Basel, Switzerland by Pro Helvetia South Africa.