Masked Figures: Ben Yumba

Ben Yumba

Ben Yumba
(Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Two paintings, May 2020

Overview:Two paintings present heads wearing masks. Both heads are heavily textured, in ways that may recall the surface of a planetary body. One head looks up in profile with a mask depicted through yellow lines; the other head faces us, wearing a red masks.

Framing Remarks.  Jean Katambayi, president of PICHA, the artist's association in Lubumbashi, has offered some reflections on the current global situation, under the tile,   Les lignes confinées ( "Confined Lines") with the framing remark that "the world still breathes." (Translation from French below).

Ben Yumba (Source: PICHA Newsletter)

Des mots et expressions méconnus, connus ou mal connus, définissent la vie incertaine que l'humanité traverse. Loin de savoir si des cartes se jouent dans les coulisses, la vitesse de communication symbolisée porte à interroger la perception et la diffusion des épidémies des siècles passés. Le confinement traduit par lockdown en anglais reste le maitre-mot. Il est suivi du déconfinement.

Mais au moins l'humanité a compris qu’il est possible de se passer de certaines inventions tant matérielles qu’immatérielles. La peur de l’inconnu fait remonter à la surface toutes sortes de spéculations — comme pour paraphraser les approches complémentaires des futuristes qui affirment à la fois que le connu est passé et que le connu reste à venir.

En dépit de tout, le présent qui se situe entre ces deux temps, réclame concrètement que l'être vivant humanoïde perde un peu ses repaires. D'autres termes du moment sont : vaccins, emploi, économie, distanciation sociale, masques, visière, récession, geste-barrières, Afrique, Chine, Europe et riposte. Heureusement que les artistes et les hommes d'églises ne tarissent pas d'inspiration pour tenter de survivre dans ce confinement qui aura peut-être vacciné des modifications de comportements au Nord et au Sud.


Translation:  The uncertain life that humanity is now  going through is defined by little known words and expressions, perhaps unknown or misunderstood  Far from knowing whether cards are played behind the scenes, the symbolized speed of communication raises questions about the perception and dissemination of the epidemics of past centuries. The Confinement, translated by “Lockdown” in English,  remains the key word. It is followed by De-confinement.

But at least humanity has understood that it is possible to do without certain inventions, both tangible and intangible. Fear of the unknown brings to the surface all kinds of speculation - as if to paraphrase the complementary approaches of futurists who claim that both the known is past and the known is yet to come.

In spite of everything, the present which is situated between these two times, concretely demands that human beings lose our our dwelling places to some extent.  Other terms of the moment are: vaccines, employment, economy, social distancing, masks, visor, recession, barrier gestures, Africa, China, Europe and response. Fortunately, artists and clegy are full of inspiration , helping us survive in this confinement which may vaccinate  behavioral changes in the North and in the South.

Pamela Allara;  Benjamin Yumba received his BFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa, and since 2007 has been working in painting, photography and video. In 2019, he was the Exhibition Production Coordinator for the 2019 Lubumbashi Biennale. His two paintings from May of this year are both poignant portraits, one male one female. Isolated against a plain ground, the portraits speak to confinement. The country has been under lockdown, but many in the informal sector still venture out to sell their wares in the streets, often without masks. The young woman looks upward as if appealing for help from the spreading pandemic, perhaps from authorities. The young man faces us, his red mask askew. The artist employs the strongest of value contrasts: red, black and white, which forces us to confront the fact that the boy’s race is not just mixed, but divided between the upper and lower half of his face. This effect may simply be due to face paint, but it extends to his neck and upper shoulders as well. In the Congo, the coronavirus has been dubbed the disease of the rich, the elite. And so, perhaps Yumba is referencing the fact that the whites can be protected while the blacks are exposed. This is pure speculation, but the portrait’s strong contrast compels this writer to propose an explanation of some sort!


Mark Auslander:  The textured heads of these two figures by Ben Yumba, especially the one wearing a yellow mask, put me in mind of a small planetary body, its surface marked by craters from impacts across the ages.  It is hard not to think of the Little Prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's beloved book,  Le Petit Prince, residing on a tiny planetoid, forever on guard for baobab trees that might swallow up his entire world.   During the Lockdown, humanity is undergoing enforced social distancing, yet we find ourselves strangely bound together, as we all undergo a shared crisis, although we inevitably understand that crisis through very different lenses.  The emerging global #Floyd movement against police violence and for a new covenant of racial justice is a particularly powerful illustration of all that now binds us together, on our shared small planet. 

The artist's theme of "confined lines" (Les lignes confinées) references, first and foremst, the words and phrases of written text, the new language which, in our newly compressed existence, we are groping towards developing.  In  Yumba's paintings, the confined lines are also the narrow ties that bind our life-saving masks, our new uniform of shared human compassion and protection.  around our heads or behind our ears.   The yellow mask on the upraised head, gazing towards the heavens in search of deliverance, is, appropriately, painted only as lines, with empty space between them.  These lines are confined, but they do not block individuals, or humanity, from breathing. We can still take a breath,  take a pause, and recalibrate ourselves, with the hope of breathing together in shared love and compassion for all of us, the Dead and the Living. 

The Little Prince, it is worth remembering, has come to earth in search of a sheep. to protect his fragile planet, without threatening his beloved single rose.  The narrator's solution turns out to be create a  drawing of an invisible sheep confined in a box that will keep it safe and prevent it from consuming the unique rose after the sheep  has grazed for baobabs.

The earthly body of the Prince must pass away for him to return to his distant tiny planet and his singular flower, but we sense that the essence of the drawing has endured, through the lasting bond of a creative gift.  Is that not a lesson for our time? As we lose so many souls, in this time of global confinement, as we live our lives anxiously  between and behind the lines, the power of art, and the confined lines created by artists, are more life-sustaining than ever.