Knowing what is important to Jean-Laïs Mundenga doesn’t take much guesswork. Because the man standing in front of the fountain at Ebersberg’s Marienplatz has everything with him: paints, brushes, pads, sketchbooks – and his guitar. The Congolese is a musician and painter. 30 of his powerful and expressive works can now be seen in the Villa Mohr in Freimann.
The 37-year-old owes the opportunity for this retrospective to a woman whom he repeatedly speaks of with great gratitude and affection: Serena Widmann. Immediately after his arrival in 2019, she taught him German as a volunteer. When he reported six months later from Garmisch-Partenkirchen where he had been sent, she took him under her wing. That remained the case after Mundenga had gained a foothold in Ebersberg. Without knowing that he has been painting since childhood – “on every tiny scrap of paper” – Widmann invited him to a monthly creative workshop for refugees in the Mohr villa. “When I saw the result, I realized that he’s a real artist,” says the woman, whose hands-on nature and big heart can even be heard on the phone. Not only did she draw the attention of the villa’s management to her protégé, of whom she says “we are now friends”, she also invited him to Freimann to paint there.
In the Ebersberger accommodation there is hardly any space for painting or making music
Because that is exactly one of Mundenga’s biggest problems: in his Ebersberg accommodation he shares a room with three other men. There’s not really room to spread out. Especially since the smell of the paint sometimes bothers the others. So he often uses the unoccupied kitchen at night. Or he puts his sketchbook, drawing pad or canvas on his lap. Because he has to paint, no matter how and where.
Engrossed in his work: the 37-year-old painting with friends in Freimann.
(Photo: organizer)
Antje Berberich, the second woman to play an important role in the African’s new life, remembers: “His first drawings, Escape from Despair, were only black and white.” The 81-year-old from Ebersberg has taken care of refugees again and again; she estimates that there have been around twenty so far. She describes this one as “my second artist son”, and with every sentence you can feel how much Mundenga is close to her heart. This is mutual – the strong man with the carefully trimmed beard and the boyish smile speaks of his “mama” with respect, but above all affection. Berberich made it possible for him to settle in with a job in the city archives and facilitated integration, and gave him support through her trust. She also gave him all kinds of household items, paints and a guitar.
In his home country, the Congolese made himself unpopular with political comics
Because alongside painting, music is Mundenga’s passion. Even as a small boy, surrounded by his six siblings, it gave him comfort and joy. “We had no telephone, no television, no computer, no Internet,” says the son of a primary school teacher, laughing softly, about his childhood in Bukavu. The place he had to leave because he had made himself unpopular with the government with political comics and his commitment to human and women’s rights. He first came into contact with western music through his father’s small radio cassette recorder – Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson were heard together.
Mundenga’s music still determines his life today – the worst for him is the winter, when it’s not possible to play the guitar outside. Why doesn’t he do that in his quarters? Well, there’s always someone who’s asleep, Mundenga explains. He doesn’t want to say much more about his living situation, which he calls “difficult”. Also because he and his 30 or so roommates often have nothing more in common than language. “We don’t have the same culture,” says the Congolese – and between the lines you can feel: This is not a happy, carefree shared flat where people cook and play music together. Rather, people thrown together by fate try to somehow get along with each other. You greet each other, but otherwise keep the distance that is perhaps even necessary for such a coexistence.
Many of Mundenga’s paintings are representational – but some are not.
(Photo: organizer)
Mundenga is also concerned about his current status. He has a residence permit as an asylum seeker and a work permit – works shifts in an online supermarket in Munich, where he as a “picker” puts the goods together for the drivers. Sometimes he even gets inspiration for further works there, or on the way, on the train. Then everything is jotted down quickly, and as soon as he gets home again, he sketches the first outlines on paper – “Sometimes I even forget to eat,” he explains with a smile. Mundenga has now been offered space to paint by the Kunstverein, which he has joined as a member, for which he is very grateful. But at the push of a button, that’s difficult with art.
Many pictures reflect the African reality of life
And yet Mundenga completed the 30 works in different techniques such as acrylic, watercolor and pencil that he will be showing in Freimann on time. Some in colour, many in black and white, some with a “shadow technique” where you have to go far to discover the details deep in the painting. Many of the paintings depict the reality of life in Africa: there is the girl who cannot go to school because it costs money and the parents give priority to their sons. The baby on the back of a woman, probably her older sister, as a symbol for the many orphans who have to eke out a living as street children. A delicate girl’s face that, on closer inspection, is based on the contours of the African continent. It is crying.
But there are also strong women who exude self-confidence from behind. A proud Maasai whose culture, Mundenga says, has inspired the whole world. And then there are portraits of personalities who have made a strong impression on the 37-year-old. Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Obama, Malcolm X. The picture of Nelson Mandela means the most to him. Mundenga admires him “because he fought for democracy and a culture of global peace.”
The 37-year-old likes to paint personalities who have made a great impression on him.
(Photo: organizer)
Jean-Laïs Mundenga also knows how hard you have to work to achieve your goals. That’s why his exhibition is called “Beyond the Mountain”. “When you reach the summit, it turns out that the next mountain is already waiting behind it. That’s life. You have to face it.” But you also have to enjoy the moment, he says on the sunny market square, with latte and eggnog cake. With the guitar at his side and already thinking about the next painting project: a series about musicians like Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong or BB King.
“Beyond the Mountain”: Exhibition by Jean-Laïs Mundenga; Vernissage this Thursday, March 17, 7 p.m., on view until May 1; Mohr Villa, Situlistrasse 75, Munich-Freimann.