Moridja Kitenge Banza looks beyond the beauty of landscape to expose histories of extraction, surveillance and power.
21 September 2026
At London’s Almas Art Foundation, Congolese-Canadian artist Moridja Kitenge Banza presents ‘From Above, Everything Looks Beautiful’, his first solo exhibition in London. Curated by N’Goné Fall, the exhibition introduces a new body of work from Banza’s ongoing Chiromancy series, examining the enduring legacies of colonialism and the systems through which land is mapped, controlled and consumed.
Rooted in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the exhibition considers landscape as both image and archive. Against the backdrop of the global demand for critical minerals, Banza turns attention towards the structures of extraction that often remain invisible within seemingly distant or beautiful views. Fall describes this approach as a “geo-poetic reappropriation of space,” bringing questions of territory, surveillance and power into the material language of painting.
Moving between colonial memory, environmental justice, restitution and technology, ‘From Above, Everything Looks Beautiful’ asks audiences to reconsider how landscapes are seen, and what histories remain embedded within them. Rather than simply documenting these realities, Banza shifts perspective, revealing the political and historical forces that shape how people understand places.
This exhibition is on view at Almas Art Foundation, London, until 31 October 2026.
