About

Since 2011, Paul Ndema has explored traditional mats from East Africa—Tanzania, Kenya, and South Sudan—as mirrors of collective identity and memory. Through them, he composes a triple portrait: that of the object, its maker, and their shared imprint. His process begins with an exchange with the weavers, from whom he gathers stories before imprinting the mat’s texture onto the canvas. Using a distinctive technique between monotype and screen printing, Ndema reveals the living materiality of these objects. His gestures—splashes, stains, and strokes—along with a palette freely inspired by the mats’ original colors, transform each work into a pictorial karyotype, where the weave becomes a metaphor for the connection between identity, memory, and transmission.