Maurice Mbikayi (Democratic Republic Of Congo 1974-)
Billisme Ya Sika (New Billisme)

c-print on Hahnemühle photographic rag

Artwork date: 2018
Edition: number 1 from an edition of 7
Exchange Rates*: USD 1900.16 – 2443.06
EURO 1726.78 – 2220.14
GBP 1453.18 – 1868.38

(1)

image size: 115 x 70 cm; framed size: 118 x 73 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Cape Town.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Maurice Mbikayi’s multimedia practice delves into the complex interplay between digital dependency, post-colonial identity and the material remains of global technology. Working primarily with discarded electronic waste such as keyboards, cables and computer parts, Mbikayi transforms these residues of consumer culture into elaborate sculptural garments, wearable masks and photographic portraits. His work draws urgent attention to the ecological and ethical implications of tech-driven globalisation, especially as they manifest in African contexts, where the extractive industries that sustain technological progress leave the deepest scars. We are very pleased to be offering one sculptural work and two of Mbikayi's photographs in this sale, giving our collectors a well-rounded view of his practice.

In the sculptural work Web Jacket, Mbikayi explores the psychological toll of life lived online. Constructed from computer keys, cables, belts and discarded clothing, the piece takes the form of a digital straitjacket: a uniform for a body simultaneously trapped and hyperconnected. This wearable sculpture was animated by the artist in a nine-minute video piece, where he writhes, jumps and screams while wearing the constrictive garment, creating a chorus of sound. Set against a stark black background and offset by a floor strewn with white computer keys, the performance speaks to the compulsive pull of digital presence and the fractured identities it generates. Mbikayi refers to this figure as a kind of “schizophrenic personality,”[1] shaped by anxiety, addiction and the perceived need to stay perpetually plugged in. It is a portrait of virtual permanence – a body present online, yet constrained and disembodied.

In the dramatic and moody c-print Billisme Ya Sika (New Billism), Mbikayi draws a line between historical resistance and contemporary self-fashioning. The work pays homage to Le Billisme, a youth subculture that emerged in the late 1950s in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), inspired by Westerns and cowboys, and embodied through an aspirational, flamboyant style modelled on the figure of Buffalo Bill. In a racially segregated colonial city, these sartorial codes became subversive tools, where jeans, scarves and lassos became quiet acts of rebellion and self-expression. Mbikayi invokes this history as a way to explore how fashion, fantasy and imported aesthetics shape African urban identities. In this work, e-waste becomes a medium not just of critique, but of continuity – a way of linking past rebellions in dress to present-day negotiations with visibility, power and globalised image culture.

The Political Aesthete continues to address these themes. In this performative photographic work, Mbikayi presents a powerful hybrid figure – part dandy, part warrior – striding a liminal space between style and resistance. Referencing the redingotes of 19th-century European fashion and medieval armour – regalia inherently tied to colonial power and imperial dominance – this figure both performs and subverts aesthetic codes of authority. The ensemble is adorned with black computer keys, forming a kind of second skin. Separate elbow pieces fashioned from reworked knee guards allow movement, while the costume’s tailored silhouette is completed by a modified walking stick and a top hat also encrusted with keys. The effect is a striking photograph of the character Mbikayi coins his “Techno Dandy”[2], whose flamboyant exterior both conceals and transforms the discarded remnants of global consumption.

Mbikayi constructs layered identities that are not merely performative, but deeply political. His sculptural costumes and photographic avatars are bodies caught between systems: of fashion and function, memory and machine, past and present. As much as they critique, they also reimagine. Mbikayi’s works carve out space for African narratives within the material ruins of modernity, and they remind us that resistance can be tactile, and that even within the debris of a wired world, the body still insists on being seen.

^{[1] Mbikayi’s artist statement shared with Amy Carrington via email on 20 May 2025.}

^{[2] Ibid}

COLLECTOR'S NOTE:

Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

COLLECTIONS:

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; The Pérez Art Museum, Miami; the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town and the Spier Arts Trust, Stellenbosch.