Kayembe was part of the Hangar workshop in the 1950s.
His work focuses on the narration of human activity, captured in richly detailed compositions.
In the small formats presented here, lush vegetation, birds, and snakes with unrealistic proportions seem to be affixed to the canvas, defying all logic of perspective. Fish with bulging eyes fly over the water, as if magnetically attracted to the fisherman's boat.
Kayembe's larger formats, on the other hand, are characterised by their narrative dimension. The composition is structurally divided into layers: at the bottom, the ground covered with tall grass shelters men and game animals in a subtle game of hide-and-seek; at the top, a sky teeming with geometric patterns evokes traditional fabrics.
These scenes depict a transmission: that of the elders to the younger generation, teaching them hunting techniques, ceremonial rituals, the art of hunting, how to use spears and machetes, and strategies for camouflaging themselves among tall grasses and foliage.
