Paintings

Hendrick Josephine Lilanga was born in 1974 to the Makonde tribe of Tanzania. The Makonde are traditionally the wood carvers of East Africa. Their carvings, and the training involved, were use as a form of education as well as a practice of spirituality and tribal religion.

At 19 years old Lilanga moved to Dar es Salaam to study art with his grandfather. His grandfather was the great Tanzanian artist George Lilanga, who pioneered his style of painting, inspired artists like Keith Harring and collectors like Jean Pigozzi who dubbed him “the leading contemporary African artist of his time”.

Lilanga studied with his grandfather for nearly a decade. He also studied art at the University of Dar es Salaam and the Academy of Fine Art in Salzburg Austria where he had his first international show.

Since then Lilanga has shown his work in Tanzania, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, Korea, Belgium, Finland, Japan, Côte d’Ivoire as well as Miami and Los Angeles in the United States.

The Indelible Fine Art exhibition FULL CiRCLE at the Jackie Robinson Museum was Lilanga’s New York City debut.

Lilanga says that he learned to be an artist of Spirit’s figures from his grandfather. In traditional Makonde beliefs, Spirit is always working for our prosperity. So long as we too work towards the prosperity of ourselves and others, all is in harmony. Each of the works in this series, Happy Family, is a touchstone to that truth. Lilanga’s paintings remind us to be in harmony with community and live with the resulting joy and freedom that is our birthright.