Michèle Magema is an interdisciplinary artist working mainly with video, performance, photography and drawing. Her work focuses on articulating a permanent exchange between individual stories, collective memory and History. Walking the line between personal experience and shared collective anxieties, she draws on her own stories and souvenirs to approach themes such as feminism, sociology, politics, and mythology. The exploration of her feminine identity, displaced through time and memory, reflects the image of a woman completely detached from any historically imposed exoticism. She often uses historical facts, which she reinterprets through frontal staging and various metamorphoses.
Born in Democratic Republic of Congo in 1977, the artist left Kinshasa for Paris with her family when she was six years old, to be with her father who was then a political refugee. She situates herself within an intermediate zone between North and South and questions the world through a perception hybridized by her culture of origin and her country of adoption. She often presents a critical view of the multi-layered forms of exploitation and oppression in Africa and underlines the relations between continuous violence, natural resources and corruption.
Michèle Magema’s work is shown in international institutions and included in the collections of the AfricaMuseum in Brussels (BE), Museum Rietberg in Zürich (CH), Artothèque de Villeurbanne (FR), Sindika Dokolo Foundation (AO) and Attijariwafa bank Foundation (MA). She received the first prize of the Dakar Biennale (SN) in 2004 and the Yango Biennale IFAA Prize (CD) in 2014. She has been cited in numerous articles and publications on contemporary African art such as African Artists from 1882 until now published by Phaidon in 2021, Congo as Fiction published by Museum Rietberg in 2020, or Exploring a Century of Art in Congo, written by Rachel Donadio for The New York Times in 2015.
[SELECTED PRESS]
Africa museum, Brussels (BE)
Museum Rietberg, Zürich (CH)
FRAC Réunion, Saint-Leu (FR)
Artothèque Villeurbanne, Villeurbanne (FR)
Sindika Dokolo Foundation (AO)
Attijariwafa Banque Foundation, (MAR)
Garden Paths, cur. Julie Crenn, Irène Laub Gallery, Brussels (BE)
Interlignes-a l’ombre des manguiers sauvages, Galeria Saro León, Las Palmas (ES)
Watermarks Silent Traces, Kunsthale Extra City, Antwerp, (BE)
L’arrosoir, On Colors/ Michèle Magema, Nevers (FR)
Entre deux / Michèle Magema « dessins et installations, Galerie des Chapelains, Nevers (FR)
Michèle Magema CCF – 4 th Lubumbashi Biennal, Lubumbashi (CD)
Interstices, Galerie Saro Léon, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES)
Michèle Magema the triptych, Jean-Marc Patras Gallery, Paris (FR)
Overseas stories, Doual’art Art Space, Douala (CM)
Der soziographishe blick 1.1 – Michèle Magema, Kustraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck (AT)
Singularité / Plurielles – Michèle Magema & Laurence Nicola, Kaywon Gallery, Kaywon (KR)
Observatorio # 6 – Michèle Magema & Tiago Borges da Silva, Camouflage Space, Brussels (BE)
The Act of Breathing, KANAL-Centre Pompidou and Horst Arts & Music, Vilvoorde (BE)
ANGLES, KADOC Leuven (BE)
Flower Power, Le 109, Nice (FR)
Alger archipel des libertés, FRAC Centre Val de Loire, Orléans (FR)
BORDELESS Digital Practices in changing time, Musée d’art de Noyes, Université de Stockon, New Jersey (USA)
Les statues meurent aussi, Collection Daniel Cordier : Les Abattoirs, Toulouse (FR)
YANGO II, Biennale d’art contemporain de Kinshasa, MAC VAL, Vitry sur Seine (FR)
Resilience, an Aptitude, Irène Laub gallery, Brussels (BE)
Congo as fiction, Museum Rietberg, Zurich (CH)
News Saints, Tim Wouters gallery, Brussels (BE)
The garden of forking paths, Galerie OVO & GaleriaSaroLeon, Tapei (TW)
Young Congo Biennale, Transition, Kinshasa (CD)
Dr. Fox Medecin.e non conventionné, L’atelier des Vertus, Paris (FR)
Tramway Film Festival, Glasglow, Slotland (GB)
Congo Stars, Kunsthalle Tübingen (DE)
Kokela, PhillipsGalery, Antwerp (BE)
Congo Stars, cur. Barbara Steiner, Opening Africa Museum, Permenent Collection, Brussels (BE)
I’m What I’m, cur. Julie Creen, IciGallery, Paris (FR)
SUD (Salon Urbain de Douala), cur. Cécile Bourne-Farell, Doual’art Art Space, Douala (CM)
Young Congo – Nouvelle Génération d’Artistes Congolais, Institut Français, Kinshasa (CD)
AFIAC Des Artistes chez l’habitant – Frontières effrangees, FIAC, Paris (FR)
Selling the shodows to support the subsistance, cur. Ingrid La Fleur & Anaya V Jackson , CGallery, Milan (IT)
Afriques capitales, cur. Simon Njami, Gare Saint-Sauveur, Lille (FR)
Lucy’s eye, cur. Orlando Britto, CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES)
Afriques capitales, cur. Simon Njami, Gare Saint-Sauveur, Lille (FR)
Selling the shodows to support the subsistance, cur. Ingrid La Fleur & Anaya V Jackson , Cape Town (ZA)
SUD (Salon Urbain de Douala), cur. Cécile Bourne-Farell, Doual’art Art Space, Douala (CM)
L’iris de Lucy, cur. Orlando Britto, Musée départemental de Rochechouart, Rochechouart (FR)
An age for your own making, cur. Bonaventure Soh Ndikung, Roskilde, Copenhagen (DK)
Dakar Biennal « La cité dans le jour bleu », cur. Simon Njami, Dakar (SN)
4th Lumbumbashi Biennal « Réalités Filantes », cur. Toma Muteba, Museum of Lumbashi, Lumbashi (CD)
L’Afrique a du genie, cur. Ghitha Triki, Espace Actua, Attijarawafa Bank Foundation, Casablanca (MA)
Where we’re at : Other voices and gender, Summer of Photography, cur. Christine Eyene, BOZAR, Brussels (BE)
Sentimental Final Act, cur. Elise Atangana, Revue Noire Gallery, Paris (FR)
Time is Love.7, cur. Kisito Assangni, Talmart Gallery, Paris (FR)
Afrikadda Women Film Festival, Lavoir Moderne Parisien, Paris (FR)
Traces de femmes, ici et demain, cur. Mustapha Romi & Michèle Desmottes, Villa des Arts, Casablanca (MA)
Toiles de lumières, collection Saro Leon, cur. Orlando britto, Casa Africa Las Palmas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES)
Still fighting ignorance & intellectual perfidy vidéo art from Africa, cur. Kisito Assangni, Pori Museum (FI)
1st Casablanca Biennal, Casablanca (MA)
Africa Africa, Contemporary Art Center, Mymac (FR)
Sureel Congo Kinshasa la ville des images, Art museum of History and Culture, Dortmund (DE)
Still fighting Ignorance & intellectual Perfidy Vidéo art from Africa, cur. Kisito Assangni, Contemporary Art Center, Moscow (RU) ; Art Museum Torrance, California (US) ; Lucca Museum, Lucca (IT) & Gallery Arena &, Los Angeles (US)
Cologne OFF, Cologne International Video Art Festival, Köln (DE)
Un certain cercle de regard, Cité Internationale des Arts Gallery, Paris (FR)
Month of photography of Vienne, Repicturing History, Espace Denise, Vienna (AT)
Dakar Biennale, Perspectives / Rétrospective, Dakar (SN)
A collective diary an african contemporary journey, Contemporary Art Muséum of Herzliya, Herzliya (IL)
Panafrican festival, cur. Nadira Laggoune, Alger (DZ)
Parade & procession here comes everybody, Parasol Unit, London (GB)
16th Internation Art Video Festival, Casablanca (MA)
Notes from the empire, Kunsthaus Dresden, Dresde (DE)
Flow, Studio Art Museum in Harlem, New York (US)
Le jour se lève, cur. Myriam Odile Blin, ESC Rennes School of Business, Rennes (FR)
The messenger, Cultur Center BRGGE, Bruge (BE)
The cinema effect, Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington (US)
Distrito la regenta, cur. Orlando Britto, La Regenta, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES)
On procession, IMA, Indiannapolis (US)
Africa remix, National Art Gallery, Johannesburg (ZA)
Global Feminisms, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn (US)
SUD (Urban Salon of Douala), Doual’art Art Space, Douala (CM)
7th Bamako African Photography Biennale, cur. Simon Njami, Bamako (ML)
Lelo lobi, Centre Wallonie de Bruxelles, Paris (FR)
Black Paris, Iwalewa-Haus, Bayreuth (DE)
Biennale de la Havane, Havane (CU)
Dakar Biennale (OFF), Unesco, Dniel Langlois Foundation & Dak’Lab, Dakar (SN)
Des hommes sans histoires?, Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris (FR)
Africattitudes, Michèle Magema & Cheikh Niass, Maison du Livre, de l’Image et du Son, Villeurbanne (FR)
5th Bamako African Photography Biennale, diffusion project, Cultural Center of Teheran, Teheran (IR)
Biennale de Dakar, Dakar (SN)
Beautés Afriques@Nantes, Le lieu unique, Nantes (FR)
Les Afriques, Tri Postale & Espace 251 Nord, Lille (FR)
Biennale Photographique de Bamako, Bamako (ML)
Rencontres A3, Place Saint-Sulpice, Paris (FR)
Yango Biennale IFAA Prize, Kinshasa (CD)
Dak’Art Award, Dakar (SN)
Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (FR)
Kaywon University, Seoul (KR)
