Yvanovitch Mbaya was born in the Republic of the Congo and now lives and practices in Casablanca, Morocco. His work is enriched by the places he travels, near and far. Through a multidisciplinary practice of drawing, video, installation, and performance, Mbaya works in the manner of a sociologist, studying the social and cultural behaviors of his environment.
Mbaya is particularly interested in the younger generations and their relationship with new tools of communication, which sometimes lead, paradoxically, to the further entrenchment of the individual as a daily actor in an expansive world.
While depicting specific scenes from the artist's memory, the anonymous figures in Mbaya’s drawings are unified within a universal human experience. His earthy materials – coffee, charcoal, indigo – ground them with a common essence. These materials are also a link to place, culture, and history. Influenced by his extensive travels across Africa and his own experience of immigration, Mbaya celebrates difference as well as what connects us.
Mbaya was born in 1994 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. He graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in Brazzaville, where he was a student of the acclaimed Congolese artist, writer, and set designer Bill Kouélany. Mbaya‘s works have been exhibited widely in Africa, including his recent solo show at CDA Gallery in Casablanca, as well as in France, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.