Sarah Ndele Matsuela

Sarah Ndele (DRC, Kinshasa) is a visual and performance artist. She expresses herself through a variety of media, from installation to performance and writing. Her work explores the memory, origins and present of education and initiation among the Bakongo (in the west of the DRC). The revolutionary and anti-colonial prophetess Kimpa Vita (1684-1706) is her main source of inspiration. Her own mask creations question the fracture inherited from colonisation, which has broken down intergenerational transmissions and created 'holes' in memory. In his work, plastic has replaced the wood and plant materials of the masks of the past, as this contemporary material forms a new environment in the city of Kinshasa. The fusion of these recycled plastics forms 'tears', which she associates with the desire to reassemble herself through her art.