Diamas
Diamas - whose real name is Serge Diakota Mabilama - was a bright student, and headed towards a career in medicine which would have made his parents proud, when his art teacher at the Cardinal Etsou High School, in Kinshasa, persuaded him to opt for an artistic path instead. In 2010, Serge graduated from the Institut des Beaux Arts of Kinshasa with a major in Sculpture.
While on a scholarship at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ESAD) in Strasbourg, France, he had an epiphany after reading a book mentioning famous visual artist Marcel Duchamp, who favored more intellectual, concept-driven approaches to art-making and viewing, and who coined the expression "readymades" to designate mass-produced everyday objects taken out of their usual context and promoted to the status of artworks by the artist. As a child, Diamas loved to give objects a different use than the one they had been created for, so it is no surprise that the idea of extracting an object from its daily context to give it another purpose and place it in an exhibit space appealed to him.
Diamas started his artistic career within the visual art structure Kin ArtStudio (in Kinshasa), with founder, visual artist and curator Vitshois Mwilambwe Bondo as his mentor. He has since participated in various artist residencies and workshops that have strengthened his approach and practice. In 2015, he was the recipient of a scholarship at AKDT - the Royale Académie Internationale d'Été de Wallonie - in Libramont, Belgium.
Diamas draws from a wide range of techniques and forms of expression to create his own. He combines painting, engraving with a razor blade, photography (his own photographs or pages from magazines), and sculpture in his compositions, which are often made with repurposed everyday objects. These objects embody for him a story, a life, a society. When creating on paper or canvas, he uses oil paint, ink, collage, and thinner.
Diamas tries to denounce injustice, inequalities, exploitation and oppression with the aim of triggering a positive social change – represented in his work by a tiny character waving a flag. He also advocates for a "universal identity". Indeed, when people move from one region or country to another, whether by force, need or will, their identities are transformed through their encounters with other realities and other cultures. The universal identity he envisions would transcend borders and differences and thrive on complementarity "because differences can complement each other and lead to unicity". Nature is a common denominator, so leaves and roots find their way in Diamas portraits and compositions to remind us that we all share it.
In the drawings of the series “Unusual”, the characters are trying to figure out who they have become through this process of creolization – it leaves them speechless – while sharing features which refer to nature. In other artworks, the masks worn by the individuals portrayed are meant to hide differences and create a sense of universal identity.
Diamas has developed and presented projects in several countries - Belgium (with the European Union), Germany (Grassi Museum in Leipzig), Morocco (the Montresso Foundation), Switzerland (Pro Helvetia), Tanzania (Nafasi Art Space), and the United States (Art Omi). He has also exhibited in France, Italy, The Netherlands, and South Africa.
Education
2010 : Diploma ("graduat"), with a concentration in Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Kinshasa, DRC
2006: Baccalaureate, Institute of Fine Arts, Kinshasa, DRC
Exhibitions
2024
(Un)fair Milan 2024, OpenArtExchange Gallery, Milan, Italy
2023
StART Art Fair, OpenArtExchange Gallery, Strasbourg, France
2022
Africa Now, OpenArtExchange Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Salon Africa at District Six Museum, Madlozi Art Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Unusual, Madlozi Art gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2021
11:11 group show, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa
2020
Indiscipline, Montresso Foundation, Marrakesh, Morocco
2019
Congo Biennale, Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, DRC
2018
Group Exhibit at Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany
Metamorphosis, Nafasi Art Space, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
Megalopolis - Stimmen aus Kinshasa, Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany
2017
Young Congo, Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, DRC
Performance and Exhibition, European Union, Brussels, Belgium
Digital at Art Fair Africa with Calabar Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2015
D'une Rive à l'Autre, French Institute, Kinshasa, DRC
2014
Group exhibition with Kapow Artists' Collective and Topo Copy, Gent, Belgium
Master Art2 Group exhibition , Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, DRC
2013
MasterArt2, Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, DRC
Kapow Artists' Collective, Oostende, Belgium
2010
50-60, Academy of Fine Arts, Kinshasa, DRC
Residencies & Workshops
2020
Home Not Alone - a three-month residency at Kin ArtStudio with Pro Helvetia (Switzerland), Kinshasa, DRC
2019
Indiscipline - a two-month residency at Jardin Rouge, the Montresso Foundation, Marrakech, Morocco
A one-month residency at Kin ArtStudio for the Congo Biennale, Kinshasa, DRC
Young Congo - a one-month residency at Art Omi, New York, USA
2018
Indiscipline - a two-month residency at Jardin Rouge, the Montresso Foundation, Marrakech, Morocco
Young Congo - a one-month residency at Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, DRC
2016
Young Congo - a nine-month residency at Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, DRC
2015
A one-month residency at AKDT, Libramont, Belgium
2014
Master Art 2 workshop at Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, DRC
Photography workshop, with Bruno Boudjelal, Kinshasa, DRC
2013
Master Art 2 workshop, Kinshasa, DRC
Photography workshop with Nicolas Clément, Kinshasa, DRC
2010
A one-month scenography workshop, Strasbourg, France
Grants
2015
Wallonia-Brussels International Grant for a Residency at AKDT (Royale Academy Internationale d'Été de Wallonie), Libramont, Belgium
2010
Egide Grant, Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ESAD), Strasbourg, France
Collections
Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany
Gervanne + Matthias Leridon Collection
Katie and Felix Robyns Collection
Francis Greenburger Collection
Dale Moses, Miami
Numerous private collections