MoridjaKitenge Banza

Practice

My practice moves between painting, sculpture, installation, video, and photography. It examines the history, memory, and identity of the places I have inhabited, in relation to the place I hold within them.

I deliberately blur the line between fiction and reality to unsettle dominant narratives and open space for marginal discourse. My series draw in turn on religious iconography, colonial history, political and economic institutions, maps, and museum collections — systems that produce narratives and set them up as truths. I subvert them to reveal their blind spots: what they show, what they erase, and the logics they pass off as natural.

Biography

Portrait of the artist
Photo: Orphée Okito
Born
1980, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo). Lives and works in Montreal.
Education
Académie des beaux-arts de Kinshasa (1999) · École supérieure des beaux-arts de Nantes Métropole, Diplôme national supérieur d'expression plastique (2008) · Université de La Rochelle, Humanities and Social Sciences
Distinctions
1st Prize, Dakar Biennial (DAK'ART), 2010
For the video "Hymne à nous" and the installation "De 1848 à nos jours."
Sobey Art Award, 2020
Canada's most prestigious contemporary art award.
Charles Biddle Award, 2025
A Quebec award presented annually to recognize the exceptional contribution of immigrants whose personal or professional commitment contributes to Quebec’s cultural and artistic development.
Collections
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
Arndt Gallery, Berlin
Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
CV (EN)