KARIBU – Arts-Cultures Collective
- Yinka Parm
- Jul 20
- 2 min read
Karibu Network, Masekabay Zanga and Gregoire Kalala, showcased their fantastic collection at Blanchardstown Library, and I can proudly say the creativity and inspiration on display blew me away.
Masekabay Zanga
Masekabay is a self-taught Visual Art practitioner based in Kilkenny. She has been professionally active since 2009. She showcases her paintings at various community events, as well as in solo exhibitions in Kilkenny. She is a member of the Congolese Women in Ireland network and an active member of the Karibu network. Her Congolese-French upbringing serves as the reference point for her overall vision of Society. Later, as a young adult living in Paris, she made a pivotal move, encountering contemporary pan-African activists who introduced her to the historic and political concepts and their social impact on the world.
Her artworks to date have been inspired and produced primarily around female status and imaginary landscapes. The Abstractive-Figurative style enables her to remain in this chaotic zone, where anything can bring about change. She produces paintings with mixed media. Acrylic medium is often privileged for its versatile effects on different materials. Her palette is a vibrant tonality of colours, to stimulate the senses. Her visual arts are made for those who are intuitively attracted to them. In listening to different audiences discuss her paintings, this reinforces her belief in the commonality of spaces of emotions, memories, and senses that are expressed or conveyed by the observer through the medium of her paintings. Masekabay’s artworks stimulate this intuitive connection.
Masekabay Zanga
353-862715571
Gregoire Kalala
Gregory is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is a talented artist who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa in 1991. Gregory made Ireland his new home in 1996, and has engaged on many levels with the Irish community, which gave him a great interest in expressing the intercultural experience. He is the chairperson of Karibu, a Congolese artist network. Karibu means ‘Welcome’ in Swahili, one of the national language in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Karibu won the Best Artist Group award at Africa Day 2015. Mr Kalala has exhibited in many galleries around Ireland, including Butler Gallery/Kilkenny 2016, Galway Arts Centre 2000, and Icon Factory 2017. In 2023, Gregoire was awarded best artist at the 32nd Dockland Festival.
He is a keen traveler, and he has visited many countries, including Senegal, Nigeria, Congo, Brazzaville, Mozambique, South Africa, France (Paris), Spain, and Belgium.
Gregoire Kalala
353899854856
The two artists can be contacted privately through the contact details.
Comments