COLLECTIVE AMNESIA | BOUVY ENKOBO + EPHEAS MAPOSA

1 April - 22 May 2021

Montague Contemporary is delighted to announce our next group show “Collective Amnesia,” featuring new works from Bouvy Enkobo (DRC/France) and Epheas Maposa (Zimbabwe).

History is said to repeat itself - our human condition, in other words, demands we are quick to forgive and forget. Our collective amnesia is the most reliable by product of our existence - when certain historical events are erased from the history books due to the political manipulation of memory, when increased globalization entices us into a new realm of desire and commercialized demand, when our old stories and folklore become less relevant and discarded, or when our memories are often too painful to live with everyday.
“Collective Amnesia” asks the viewer to pause and consider this ever present rehearsal in our lives. To take stock of our own histories, of our familial, societal, cultural norms and our folklore - to bring to bear these individual stories in the face of a sweeping tide that aims to wash away our collective experience and repackage it down the road as something totally foreign yet oddly familiar.
Epheas Maposa’s works confront our forced amnesia through globalization and the homogenization of our cultural norms. His canvases manifest this tustle between the West and Zimbabwean artistic sensibilities, imbued with folklore, resistance, and a discovery of the self. His works use the human form as the theater where this drama plays out - his dreamlike bodies blend different worlds and draw attention to how our collective amnesia erases, distorts, compels the individual. The cycle of regeneration and rebirth is both restorative and destructive for Epheas. For instance, we see in his self portrait his green skin - calling attention to the primordial life lines we all rely on for our existence (e.g. our environment) in these dark times where we are being forced to rethink our survival.
Bouvy Enkobo’s works call attention to a similar conflict, juxtaposing the role of traditional African folklore with the impact of Western idealism. His unique brand of collage highlights the ephemeral nature of behavori change campaigns driven by NGO’s, multi-national corporations, and global marketing firms on the psyche of Congolese society.

In his works, he portrays the remnants of these campaigns as a backdrop (in the same way these ad campaigns are plastered all over cityscapes) to the hierarchical “rule of law,” the traditional, the local. For instance, we see in “Maternite Luba” a pregnant woman in situ with Luba traditional fertility dolls in the foreground, against the decaying signs from Western aid organizations profering advice on neo-natal vitamins, modern methods of child care, and how to optimize nutrition. We are left to wonder which influence will persevere - the traditional folklore, the Western viewpoint, or some combination of the two?
About Bouvy Enkobo

Bouvy Enkobo (b.1981, Kinshasa, Congo)

Much like the German expressionist Ernst Kirchner's dystopian street scenes, Enkobo's paintings are a thoughtful exploration into the anxieties of urban life. Enkobo's vivid brushstrokes and melee of colors, shapes, and collages all come together in a cohesive explosion of energy that represents his glimpses into urban living in Kinshasa - but which are seemingly representative of all urban dweller's lives.

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Eschewing the figurative style of some of his famous Congolese predecessors, such as Cheri Samba or Camille-Pierre Pambu Bodo, Enkobo adopts a style that is decidedly abstract and distinctive in the Congo - forging a new path for abstraction in Kinshasa. Instead of featuring key figures in his works, the subject or subjects are often swept up into the landscape of each city scene - with only suggestive tokens of their existence - further expressing the power of the city and the environment to shape and overpower our independence, making us simply patches in the tapestry as opposed to central heroes.

Enkobo has exhibited widely, with shows in the US, France, DRC, and Belgium, taking part Maendelo exhibition in at the Walloon Parliament and Walloon Contemporary Art Centre in 2013 in Brussels and becoming the winner of the European Union special prize at Yango Biennale in Kinshasa in 2014. His work is found in numerous international private collections, as well as part of the collection of the Delegation of the European Union in DRC and Fondation Hirondelle.
About Epheas Maposa

Epheas Maposa (b. 1994, Harare, Zimbabwe)

Epheas Maposa is an artist focused on notions of hybridity and the liminality between juxtaposed worlds, cultures, and allegiances. This narrative is expressed visually through his interpretation of our bodies, where our social and political drama’s manifest in both primordial or otherworldly figures.

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His poetic use of color establishes a call to action, reminding us of our primordial and most essential life lines - while they may support all of our cruel and chaotic machinations, they also provide sustenance for all life to exist. His dreamlike canvases weave a tale that is self-reflective and beg for the audience to take pause on how our conflicts impact humanity at large.

A self-taught painter since the age of five, Maposa joined Village Unhu in 2013 where he has worked closely with and developed under Georgina Maxim and Misheck Masamvu. Since joining Village Unhu, Maposa has exhibited widely, including shows at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Gallery Delta, FNB Art Fair, Cape Town Art Fair, 31 Project, Art Paris, and 1-54 Contemporary Art Fair among others. In 2019, he won second place at the Emerging Painting Invitations Pan-African art prize.

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COLLECTIVE AMNESIA | BOUVY ENKOBO + EPHEAS MAPOSA

About Bouvy Enkobo

About Epheas Maposa

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