Aimée Mandjila

Visual Artist

To create means to connect
The old with the new
Fantasy with reality
Horror with beauty
Pain with love

Contact

Portfolio

Selected Projects from 2020 - 2024

From Dust To Dust

This five-part series of paintings is dedicated to the fundamental question of the nature of being human and focuses on human aspiration. We strive to build higher, to become more independent, to understand more and to control more. For me, this search for meaning is closely linked to the desire to overcome our own limits and those of our environment. We long for more than we ourselves are or can give - for influence, control and the opportunity to (co-) create the world. But this aspiration, fascinating and inspiring as it is, also has a dark side. The images reveal the tension between human hubris and powerlessness. Hubris is the conviction that we can control and influence everything. The paintings show human actions as the supposed source of events that clearly exceed our influence. After all, what person alone can plant an entire forest? Who can carry the weight of the world alone? We humans can plant things and carry loads, but there are limits to our ability to do these things. On the one hand, the series emphasizes the contribution of human achievements in an appreciative way, while at the same time pointing out the limitations of our possibilities. This juxtaposition reveals the ambivalence of our nature: the beauty of an almost limitless ambition meets the weaknesses of our overestimation of ourselves.
The series asks with a mixture of recognition and a critical eye: Is it our hubris that makes us who we are? And who, if not us humans, could achieve what we so tirelessly strive for?

ShopWindow

This photographic work is about the entanglement of different worlds. Shop windows are interesting both visually and in terms of content, because they are urban images, a kind of terrariums, which reflect desires, views and trends of people. These are photos of Afro and Asian stores from all over Switzerland, printed on transparent, black, white and pink paper, and sewn together. Shop windows are bridges between the interior of the store and the outside world. New images emerge from an overlapping of different elements. A mixture of reflection and store interior. These stores exist because the darkest makeup shade in Migros is too light for my skin. I dedicate this work to all who live between Migros and Afroshops.

Until The End Of Time

"And surely I am with you always, until the end of times.” (Matthew 28 : 20)

Stories don't like to be lonely

This work is about the power of narratives, telling the “true” story of Afronauts in 10 images, 2 materials and 4 texts. A story is not just the words it contains, but rather its blanks. Variations of one and the same story in image and text form, because stories do not like to be lonely.

Mosquito Bites

A work about racism in everyday life. A collection of comments and remarks the artist has heard throughout her life, with room for what’s to come. Some obviously inappropriate, others subtle and perhaps even kindly intended. Regardless of the intention of the person speaking, such comments accumulate on one's skin like mosquito bites. They itch and sooner or later are scratched open.
*inspired from the essay by Zadie Smith “The I Who is not Me”.

Homeward Bound

"Homeward Bound" is a series of 7 paintings. Personal photographs taken during my time living in Guinea are used as a source of inspiration. This project is about moving forward towards a home. It addresses questions of belonging, ancestry and movement and how intertwined these are with nature surrounding us.

Mobility

Movement is an expression of freedom. “Mobility” is about longing. Longing that triggers movement. Movement that crosses borders. Crossed borders that lead to freedom. It tells about what it is like to leave home, to move across seas and to arrive anew. It tells the story of millions of people who are experiencing just that. It is not my story, it is my father’s story. But his story is so loud that it resonates in my life, and in the lives of my children it will as well. And with new freedoms come new constraints. Where does my longing take me? Where yours?

Figures

This series of 7 paintings is a tribute to Seydou Keïta, who photographed Bamako society for many years. While browsing in the library, I stumbled across a book of his photographs and was immediately fascinated by the skillful staging and the beauty of the people portrayed.
The pictures are black and white, but in my mind's eye, the colors hidden behind the different shades of gray were immediately clear. So
I painted the people in color.
But there was more to it than only superficial beauty.
The following is written on Keïta's website:
"Seydou Keïta's photographs eloquently portray Bamako society during its era of transition from a cosmopolitan French colony to an independent capital."
It was precisely the tension of this era of transition, the change, the striving for a future full of possibilities that a part of me could already sense on first viewing of his photographs. In my opinion, the mood of his works fits perfectly into the current canon of voices of decolonisation we hear today. He is a black man protraying black people this is for me a powerfull act of rebellion and a way of taking authorship of his own representation and future.

Real Royalty

“And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther, 4 :14)
“But then you go out and forget your divine origin.” (James 1 : 24)
This series explores the concept of royalty not as a political idea but as a spiritual and philosophical truth. It begins with the belief that royal positions for each and every one of us have been prepared. We are called to royalty by being invited to be the children of the Most High, the King of Kings, God. We are royalty because we were created by God.
The thought process behind the paintings explores new and broader meanings of what it means to be royal. It means, among other things, being elevated but also being trusted. Power comes with responsibility, and so often we as human beings, fail to deal responsibly and lovingly with the power we are given.
The concept of royalty is explored through visual elements such as bold colors, the recurring motif of the circle and the gaze of the portrayed subjects. The bold and striking color palette symbolizes that real royalty is not something that fades into the background, it cannot be ignored. It commands attention, captivates the eye, and draws the viewer into its essence. The recurring motif of the circle represents harmony, completeness, and eternity. The circle in its unbroken form also symbolizes unity and the cyclical nature of leadership: the continuous giving and receiving of care and responsibility. The direct gaze of the subjects breaks the barrier between the artwork and the beholder. True leaders see people. Under the gaze of a true leader individuals feel recognized and encouraged to evolve.
Real royalty is not meant for self-glorification; rather it is a platform to empower others to discover and embrace their own freedom. From our royal position we should not remain silent but we should be loud about the cruel injustice of this world. So often the reality of this broken earth clouds the vision of our true origin and makes it seem impossible to live accordingly. But sometimes you can see the royal shimmer through all the dust and the hurt of this world. I see shimmers of royalty every time someone speaks up for another person or every time kind and genuine words are spoken. Royalty is not always grand in its appearance. Royalty is broken down into many tiny, achievable pieces found and put together in the ordinary of everyday life. And when things are overwhelming, seem to be never ending, too big for me, this series was painted as a reminder that I was made for a time like this. We were made for a time like this

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Artist Statement

The world wants to be felt.

The Western tendency to overvalue intellectual knowledge

disregards the complexity and wholeness that makes us

human. My art is a complement to this rationalized environ-

ment. Art is a kind of knowledge. It is a way of praise and a spiritual practice.

My art is an expression of my feelings, the plurality of life, my inner contradictions, and multiplicities. It reflects the beauty I see in everyday life, in nature and in people. And at the same time, it is the lack of beauty and harmony in my life that drives me to my studio. As a black woman living in a predominantly white society, I paint what I long for: to be

(black) in peace and community. I process this lack of harmony, and in doing so, calm my troubled mind in hopes that this calming effect will spill over to others.

My art celebrates what already is, and at the same time represents what could be. Through my art I build bridges that connect what I perceive with what I long for.

About

Aimée Danielle Kavena Ma-Mbote-Ko Mandjila is a Swiss-Congolese Painter born in 1999 in Switzerland. Starting in her early youth, Aimée spends her time drawing, painting, writing and making music. During the one year preparatory course in Art and Design, she first begins

painting large-scale with oils and discovers how inexhaustible

art-making is as a full-time occupation. When she leaves Switzerland for her internship in Guinea she takes her creative urge with her and creates several works, which she later exhibits in Switzerland in her first group show in Langenthal, Switzerland. Art and

especially art creation is the starting point from which she per-

ceives, processes and influences the world. She currently works

independently, in addition to her social work studies and various side jobs in her secluded studio close to Bern.

Get in Touch

Have a question, a project idea, or just want to connect? I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to reach out via email or use the form below. Let's bring creativity to life together.

aimee20m@gmail.com