Cinthia Sifa Mulanga: Intimate Spaces

This exhibition presents for the first time in Morocco the recent works of Cinthia Sifa Mulanga. Following the cancellation of The Solo Project, which was to be held in Brussels from 21 to 24. April 2021, African Arty is exhibiting the works that were to be presented during the fair.

Staged within an Art Deco building, Cinthia Sifa Mulanga’s works will dialogue with the walls and architecture of this particular style of Casablanca, which refers us directly to this notion of intimacy in space.

The exhibition Intimate Spaces is rooted in the artist’s questioning of the constructions of beauty through her lived experience as an African woman and her surroundings. Cinthia creates moments in domestic spaces using different mediums such as acrylic with oil paint, charcoal, ink, collages from personal photographs and magazines.

The female silhouettes represent the “perfect women” perceived by society through social media. The moments the artist creates in domestic spaces are dialogues between perceived standards of beauty and stereotypes that function to both challenge and embrace African women.

The Barbie doll, the main source of inspiration in her work, is used with other female objects or symbols associated with African women, representing thoughts, misconceptions, perceptions and emotions. These spaces allow her to create conversations and question notions of beauty.

Cinthia Binene Sifa was born in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. Sifa is currently working towards finishing her 3rd year at Artist Proof Studio, combining techniques such as intaglio and silkscreening. Her third year body of work explores the politics surrounding the domestic space and notions of beauty within an Afropolitan context. Sifa’s works in many mediums including painting, collage, drawing, photography and sculpture. In 2019, she was awarded first place for a work created for a tribute exhibition to Louis Khela Maqhubela & Douglas Portway presented by Artist Proof Studio and Strauss & Co at the Turbine Art Fair. Sifa also forms part of the Special Projects Unit at the Artist Proof Studio and has received commissions from Bidvest Bank and Hogan Lovell. In 2020 Sifa participated in The TLC Student Lockdown Collection, and exhibited her works on Latitudes Online. She currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.

africarty.com