Doudou MBEMBA is an exceptionally talented painter from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Through his pictorial canvases, he has succeeded in narrating and describing contemporary history or the present time. The artist Doudou establishes a philosophy, an artistic approach, and a perspective on social sciences regarding the questions of daily life, often without the actors on the scene realizing this reality.
Master Mbemba evokes societal facts as a mirror reflection, taking into account the circumstantial events of the environment and providing a descriptive analysis through his pictorial canvases. Through the graphical scenes he paints, he depicts the bleeding wounds of humanity. He describes the struggle for daily bread or Article 15 as an important aspect of large families, where everyone waits for the return of the provider (father, mother, aunt, or uncle) amidst traffic jams. It is only through incessant effort and renewed resources of ingenuity and courage that humans adapt and integrate with the reality around them.
The artist travels through the bustling horizons of vehicles and humans that congest and obstruct communication routes, exacerbated by the overwhelming influx of people. In modern African cities like Kinshasa, Libreville, Brazzaville, and Ouagadougou, there is a wide openness to the free flow of people and goods, facilitated by terrestrial, rail, and naval communication routes. Cross-border communication routes teem with dynamic and youthful populations, justifying the enthusiasm for pendulum movements to and from crossroads, roundabouts, markets, parking lots, and airports. In these bustling urban environments, inhabitants intersect and intertwine amidst motorcycles and second-hand buses imported from Europe.
The poignant atmosphere of traffic jams, locally known as “Mbutu-mbutu,” is a daily way of life in Kinshasa, accompanied by the sounds of engines and the smoky Mercedes 207, 208 or “spirit of death.” Amidst this, there is an effort to disseminate information on the state of the country and the diaspora, and to spread the Gospel of Christ in buses to soothe stressed spirits and souls, making red lights seem non-existent under the phenomenon initiated by traffic agents, known as “Madesu ya Bana.”
Despite these challenges, there remains hope for a better future. Traffic jams in African cities remain significant from sociological and environmental perspectives due to insufficient road infrastructure, sporadic population migrations, non-compliance with traffic rules, and neglect of secondary roads, resulting in delays, increased fuel consumption, pollution, breakdowns, accidents, and various traumas.
Through the artistic genius of Doudou MBEMBA, we analyze the benefits and drawbacks of our existence as carriers of ethical values. Furthermore, traffic jams persist day and night; the energy and synergy generated by traffic jams could potentially generate electricity like the Inga Dam, creating a magnetic field based on heat and friction between human bodies and objects. Resolution of these constraints could come through increasing safety distances between vehicles, reducing overall traffic speed, expanding road axes, and reducing the number of vehicles in circulation.
