Autobiographical comic
Papa Mfumu'eto 1er
Kanzenzenze Kalengila (2025)
Acrylic painting on canvas
This work is based on the children’s song “Kanzenzenze Kalengila”, a Congolese tale in Kimbundu, a Bantu language. The lullaby is very well-known and widespread in Kinshasa, but very few people know the meaning of the words, as the Kimbundu language is mainly spoken in Angola. Papa Mfumu’eto 1er questions the way people sing a song without questioning the meaning of the words. A travelling song that has been and is sung to children for generations. A melody so ingrained in the collective memory that the content of the words is secondary.
Autobiographical comic (2023/2024)
(Work in progress)
Acrylic, pen on paper, collage, watercolor Jasper Saphire
Mfumu’Eto is known by the pseudonym “Sa Majesté, l’empereur Papa Mfumu’eto 1er”. He makes a clear distinction between this fictional character and his own person, whom he calls Fa-Aaaa. His autobiographical comic strip tells the story of Papa Mfumu’eto 1er. The story begins even before Papa Mfumu’eto’s birth, with the creation of the universe, tells of him as an unborn child, then of his birth, growth and experiences into adulthood. In excerpts, Fa-Aaaa and Papa Mfumu’eto meet, Papa Mfumu’eto as a supernatural apparition who gives Fa-Aaaa the mission of drawing an autobiographical comic strip in which he reveals all the secrets he’s never been able to write about. There are currently 12 pages of this comic, and the sequel is currently in production.
Jaspe Saphire Mfumu’Eto, best known as “Sa Majesté, l’empereur Papa Mfumu’eto 1er”, is one of the founders of “bande dessinée populaire”, a style based on popular painting from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He lives and works in Kinshasa but is well known on the international comics and contemporary art scene. After studying interior architecture and painting at the Kinshasa Academy of Fine Arts, he published his first self-produced comic strip in 1990, entitled “Le Boa avale une femme à Kinshasa” (“The Boa swallows a woman in Kinshasa”). Between 1990 and 2000, Mfumu’eto published over 200 self-produced comics, which were distributed in large numbers on local Kinshasa markets. Papa Mfumu’eto 1er has been combining painting and comics since 2000, blurring the boundaries between art and illustration. He uses the third person singular when speaking of himself as an artist. In this way, he creates an artist’s persona that creates distance between the author and the work. As a representative of popular comics and popular painting, he sees his work as a direct collaboration with his audience. His social environment concretely influences and inspires his artistic work in the choice of themes, dialogues and characters.
Papa Mfumu’eto 1er was represented in the “Beauté Congo” exhibition in 2015 at the Centre Cartier Paris, and in 2018, the University of Florida included some of his comics in its archive. Mufumu’eto was part of the “Kinshasa chronique” exhibition in 2019 at the Musée de l’Art Modeste in Sète. In 2022, his work was featured in the “Images Populaires” exhibition at the Erlangen International Comics Fair.