Maurice Mbikayi was born in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1974. He currently lives and works in Cape Town (South Africa). In 2000 he graduated with a BA in Graphic Design (Advertising and Visual Communication), from the Academies des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa. He completed his Master of Fine Art degree (with distinction) in 2015 at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town.
Mbikayi was selected as a core participant in the 'Between the Lines' symposium, an exchange between Michaelis and the Braunschweig University of Art in Germany. He also took part in the Spier Contemporary 2010 biennale presented by the Africa Centre in Cape Town and the Hollard Creative Exchange program of 2010-2011. In 2010 he was selected by the Alliance Française for a travelling solo exhibition in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. He was awarded a three-month residency at IAAB (Christoph Merian Foundation) in Basel, Switzerland by Pro Helvetia South Africa.
His works have been exhibited in numerous international museums such as the Kunsthaus Graz in Austria, the Kunsthalle Tübingen in Germany, Musée royal de l´Afrique centrale à Tervuren, the Urban Institute for the Contemporary Arts of Michigan, the South Africa National Gallery, the Centre Culturel des Mazades in Toulouse. His work was recently selected for the Dak'art 2018 OFF show in Dakar by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (Für Die Freiheit).
He was recently selected as participating artist of the Havana Biennale and was also among the finalists of the Luxembourg Art Prize 2016.
In my artistic approach I regard the body (my body) as a 'multi-dimensional medium', which has the ability of simultaneously being physical, abstract, virtual, individual and social in the environment in which I live. This individualized and social body is a medium of transformation, socially constructed and increasingly on show as a vehicle of consumption where social status is linked to the visible exterior of the physical self.
- Maurice Mbikayi