Freddy Tsimba was born in 1967 in Kinshasa (DR Congo), where he lives and works.

Having studied large-scale sculpture at the city’s Académie des Beaux-arts (1989), Tsimba spent five years alongside master blacksmiths and master casters to learn their trade.

His most symbolic works are busts of women made from cartridge cases that the artist collects and painstakingly welds together. This is Freddy’s way of paying tribute to the victims of war, starting with those affected by the relentless conflicts in Eastern DRC.

Freddy also works with other collected metal items, which for some symbolize death, for others oppression, and even addiction. The symbolism of the works is very often two-fold. For instance, keys express imprisonment but also the idea of opening the door to freedom. The message behind the works is never hopeless. Often depicted as pregnant, for him women embody hope because they carry life.

Despite the horrors and injustices, “the earth is brighter than paradise” he tells us, echoing his major solo exhibition of 2021 at the Africa Museum in Brussels. Internationally recognised, Freddy Tsimba is regularly exhibited in Europe and Africa, and is celebrated for his work that bears witness and is a call for hope and peace.

Au-delà de la matière seeks to showcase the diversity of the artist’s output over the past 15 years. The flagship work is a life-size Christ on the Cross, made from cartridge cases. Freddy Tsimba reinterprets the traditional and universal depiction of sacrifice to evoke the suffering endured by victims of armed conflict around the world.

> Go to the artist’s biography