Hadassa Ngamba grew up between Boma, the prototype of Congolese industrialization, and Lubumbashi, a major mining city in the Haut-Katanga region, which hosted various kingdoms pre-colonization.
2025 Biennial Year Find out more
Ngamba’s work initially focused on maps, using them to expose signs of exploitation. Her work showcased for this purpose was highlighted in a New York Times article.
In January 2019, Ngamba moved to Belgium for a residency at WIELS in Brussels. She then pursued a postgraduate degree in visual and audio visual arts at HISK in Ghent (2020-2021). Her project CONFIGURATION was presented in a solo show at CC Strombeek in Brussels in 2021.
In 2024-2025, Ngamba is a guest artist at Tate Liverpool and the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, contributing to the ROUTES AND NAVIGATIONS project with her research project Trajet Ngamba. Her work is part of prestigious collections, including the S.M.A.K. in Ghent (BE), IKOB in Eupen (BE), the National Bank of Belgium, and Morgan Stanley Bank in New York (USA), alongside numerous international private collections.
Liverpool Biennial 2025
'Cerveau 2', 2019
This work from the artist’s ‘Cerveau’ series (2018-2023), which translates to ‘brain’, is exhibited here for the first time in the UK. The piece is based on historical maps of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and psychological mapping of the terrains that exist around and within us. The work provides a visual critique of colonial legacies and the impact of imposed borders and cartographies, while also suggesting a future where Congolese people can reclaim their agency.
Ngamba contrasts the rigid configuration of colonial space, characterised by arbitrary grids imposed by colonial powers, with textures and colours derived from raw minerals abundant in the DRC. The green spots are made of malachite – a copper-ore mineral which is
This work from the artist’s ‘Cerveau’ series (2018-2023), which translates to ‘brain’, is exhibited here for the first time in the UK. The piece is based on historical maps of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and psychological mapping of the terrains that exist around and within us. The work provides a visual critique of colonial legacies and the impact of imposed borders and cartographies, while also suggesting a future where Congolese people can reclaim their agency. Ngamba contrasts the rigid configuration of colonial space, characterised by arbitrary grids imposed by colonial powers, with textures and colours derived from raw minerals abundant in the DRC. The green spots are made of malachite – a copper-ore mineral which is often used for paint and decorative purposes. The open-pit and underground mining practices used to extract this material are cause for serious environmental concern, including habitat and biodiversity loss. Here, the dots represent people that the artist met during her journey across Kongo Central in 2019. Another key material chosen by the artist, Katanga cassiterite is a tin-ore often used in electronics and packaging. Its sale is used to fund conflict in the artist’s home country – widespread violence and displacement of people and homes are fuelled by the illegal trade of natural resources. Ahead of participating in Liverpool Biennial 2025, the artist undertook research with the city’s Congolese community, alongside Tate Liverpool and the International Slavery Museum. Courtesy of the artist and Hadassa Ngamba Studio Showing at Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
'Cerveau 2', 2019
Showing at Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
Monday to Sunday 10.00am-5:50pm-
Hadassa Ngamba, ‘Cerveau 2’, 2019. Liverpool Biennial 2025 at Tate Liverpool + RIBA North. Photography by Mark McNulty.
Venue
Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
21 Mann Island, Liverpool L3 1BPAccess facilities available
View venue
Liverpool Biennial 2025
'Pathway Ngamba', 2025
In Hadassa Ngamba’s walking performance, she interacted with people in the streets of Liverpool and explored how palm oil ties Liverpool to Congo.
Bringing together sandstone and palm oil – two foundational materials of Liverpool’s geological and colonial history – Ngamba covered her body with a mixture of both and offered people an embrace. This was a way to acknowledge the presence of Congo in the DNA of the city of Liverpool.
Coming from Boma, a port city that was crucial in the development of the transatlantic slave trade with Central Africa, and later in the extraction of natural resources from Congo, Ngamba’s practice explores the legacies of the slave and colonial trades on the country’s contemporary cartography and
In Hadassa Ngamba’s walking performance, she interacted with people in the streets of Liverpool and explored how palm oil ties Liverpool to Congo. Bringing together sandstone and palm oil – two foundational materials of Liverpool’s geological and colonial history – Ngamba covered her body with a mixture of both and offered people an embrace. This was a way to acknowledge the presence of Congo in the DNA of the city of Liverpool. Coming from Boma, a port city that was crucial in the development of the transatlantic slave trade with Central Africa, and later in the extraction of natural resources from Congo, Ngamba’s practice explores the legacies of the slave and colonial trades on the country’s contemporary cartography and social, political and economic configurations. In this performance she mapped a new trajectory in the city of Liverpool, in order to highlight the connections between Liverpool and Boma, ports that have had parallel importance in the industrial and colonial history of both Congo and the UK. Co-commissioned by Tate Liverpool and Liverpool Biennial 2025. Supported by the Defise Foundation.
'Pathway Ngamba', 2025
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Hadassa Ngamba, ‘Pathway Ngamba’, 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 'BEDROCK'. Photography by Mark McNulty.
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Hadassa Ngamba, ‘Pathway Ngamba’, 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 'BEDROCK'. Photography by Mark McNulty.
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Hadassa Ngamba, ‘Pathway Ngamba’, 2025. Liverpool Biennial 2025 'BEDROCK'. Photography by Mark McNulty.
