MZUNGU
Mzungu originally referred to people of Europe — literally “one who wanders”. Among the Bantu peoples of Kenya and Tanzania it now means a person with white skin: a stranger among their own.
The series reflects the moment of cultural fusion: the African flavour through the prism of a European attitude. The ethnic principle shows in the abstract solution of the figures, in the fragmentation and structurelessness of composition inherent in primitive African painting, and in volumes reminiscent of African statuettes and masks — while the colour combinations are inspired by the European Fauvists.
7 works · 135 × 120 cm each · 2021
01 “Dancing queen” mix media · 135 × 120 cm (h × w) · 2021
The beginning of the day and of the traveller’s journey: first impressions of immersion. Rhythm and melody follow these peoples every day of their lives — Africa is endless movement, dance, energy, lust for life. 
02 “Let’s play football!” mix media · 135 × 120 cm (h × w) · 2021
A bundle of energy, something transforming and changing. Echoes of real life: simple activities for children on a sunny day, and passages where forms and spaces mix. 
03 “Children in gold”135 × 120 cm
Made after meeting a large Maasai family — one “Dad”, three “Moms” and twelve children. People alien to civilisation: not Instagram, but milking the cow at four in the morning and walking the herd. 
04 “Near the sea”135 × 120 cm
The central piece of the series — the middle of the road, where reality turns into something illusory. Figures become signs, symbols of Black Africa; even the birds recall ancient petroglyphs. 
05 “Meeting of two worlds”135 × 120 cm
The meeting of the white world with the black — about friendliness and sincerity. The people here resemble ebony figurines, so popular in Africa. 
06 “Queen’s gambit”135 × 120 cm
The only piece set indoors, which underlines how bound these people are to pristine nature and the earth. Here fantasy, the game, moves into the real world. 
07 “Goodbye in blue” mix media · 135 × 120 cm (h × w) · 2021
The closing piece — the end of the wanderer’s journey, the moment of farewell. He never became one of them, and never could have. But he fully felt the foreign local flavour, and the world in his head will never be the same. ASK ABOUT
THIS SERIES
The seven canvases can travel as a full series or in pairs; each one also stands alone. WRITE TO ME → Margarita@suliaeva.art · (+381) 64 351 3136 ← back to all paintings