WHERE WE BECOME EXHIBITION CATALOGUE

TUSEVO LANDU

TUSEVO LANDU (b. 1997, Kinshasa, DRC) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans across acrylicpainting, printmaking, drawing, and mixed media. Initially trained at Artists Proof Studio, Landu hassince evolved into a self-taught painter, driven by an insatiable curiosity for the textures of humanexpression. His practice is rooted in the interplay of symbolism and materiality, were traditional motifs collide with contemporary experimentation.

Central to Landu’s work is the reimagining of cultural artefacts particularly Congolese ceremonialmasks as vessels of transformation. These motifs, stripped of their ritual context, become abstractedstudies of identity, memory, and the subconscious. Through layered brushwork, tactile printmaking,and fragmented compositions, he explores how visual language can distort or reveal the narrativeswe inherit. The mask, in his paintings, is neither relic nor ornament but a dynamic interlocutor between the past and present.

His paintings acrylic and oil on repurposed shade cloth are acts of artistic refuge. The material itselfis charged with meaning: in Kinshasa and Johannesburg, these woven grids are the makeshiftceilings of street vendors, shielding them from sun and rain as they labor. Landu hijacks thiseveryday armour, transforming it into a canvas.

For him, the shade cloth is both muse and antagonist. Its rough, gridded texture resists fluidbrushwork, forcing improvisation. This tension mirrors his broader artistic ethos. The shade cloth, asymbol of transient survival in public spaces, becomes his studio battleground. Where others mightsee a utilitarian object. Theshade cloth, a symbol of temporary refuge in urban life, transforms into ametaphor for artistic resilience.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026: Where We Become, WORLDART, Cape Town, RSA

2026: Ain’t Shit Funny But a Joke N…, Association for Visual Arts (AVA), Cape Town, RSA

2024: Chill Bro, It’s Not Too Deep, Cubicle Solo Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, RSA

2022: Now or Never, Simchowitz, Pasadena, California, USA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026: Cut Feeling, Everard Read, Franschhoek, Cape Town, RSA

2025: As Tides Change, Under the Aegis, Cape Town, RSA

2025: You’re So Vain You Probably Think This Group Show Is About You, Girls, Girls, Girls, Cape Town, RSA

2025: Layers of Being: Art as a Portal to Identity, Under the Aegis, Cape Town, RSA

2024: Summer Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, RSA

2024: Ilizwi Liyamisa: The Power of the Voice, 16 on Lerotholi and Everard Read, Cape Town, RSA

2024: Winter Group Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, RSA

2024: Winter Show, Everard Read, Franschhoek, Cape Town, RSA

2024: Blurring the Lines, The Fourth, Cape Town, RSA

2023: Winter Group Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, RSA

2020: (un)Masked, Artists Proof Studio, Johannesburg, RSA

2020: The Lockdown Collection, Artists Proof Studio and the University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, RSA

2019: Louis Khela Maghubela and Douglas Portway, Artists Proof Studio and Strauss & Co, Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, RSA

2019: Fundamentalist Rationalism, Eclectica Print Gallery, Cape Town, RSA

ARTIST RESIDENCIES

2022: Cape Town Art Residency, Cape Town, RSA

WORKSHOP

2024: Africa South Art Initiative Lithograph Workshop, in collaboration with Michaelis School of Fine Art, RSA