"My work explores beauty constructs through my lived experience as an African woman and those around me. I create moments within domestic spaces by using different mediums like acrylic with oil paint, charcoal, ink, collage from personal photographs and magazines. Female silhouettes represent the "perfect women " perceived by society through social media. The moments I create in domestic spaces are dialogues between perceived beauty standards and stereotypes which function to both challenge and embrace African women. The Barbie doll, a primary inspiration in my work, is used with other feminine objects or symbols with associations to African women, representing thoughts, misconceptions, perceptions, and emotions. These spaces allow me to create conversations and interrogate notions of beauty." - Cinthia Mulanga
Mulanga says “the focus of my art is on the representation of black female subjects. Through their depiction, I engage in different personas, emotions, or states of mind. I juxtapose several different women in my paintings, thereby highlighting the complexities of female identity, the stream of varying consciousnesses that occupy a single space, identity or moment in time.“
