MEET
Bolondo
Papino Simão Mbongo (b. May 9, 1990, Maquela do Zombo, Angola), professionally known as Bolondo, is a contemporary Angolan visual artist whose work reflects a deep engagement with memory, displacement, and cultural resilience. Known for his powerful visual storytelling and technical mastery, Bolondo’s practice spans painting, drawing, and narrative-based work rooted in his early passion for comic art.
His artistic journey began in early adolescence, when he taught himself to draw and paint comics, developing a unique visual vocabulary by the age of 12. These early works were deeply personal, yet resonant — shaped by his lived experience during the Angolan civil war and his family’s displacement to the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was in exile that his creative voice matured, blending observation, imagination, and historical reflection.
In 2005, Bolondo graduated with a degree in painting from the prestigious Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa, one of Central Africa’s most respected art institutions. His formative years in a Kinshasa painting workshop provided an important foundation — allowing him to cultivate his technique, refine his expressive language, and build connections with an international community of collectors and viewers.
Bolondo’s work is characterised by rich textures, layered symbolism, and a keen sense of narrative. He explores themes of migration, identity, memory, and cultural survival, often through the lens of African spiritual systems, traditional forms, and post-colonial critique.
His artworks have been showcased in numerous solo and group exhibitions, both in Angola and abroad, earning him recognition as a rising voice in contemporary African art. Today, Bolondo continues to transform his personal history into universal expressions of hope, resistance, and transformation — inviting audiences into a world where imagination becomes a form of healing.
