Feyman Diagram Lithographs

The Feynman Lithographs2024Edition of 10 each in 'Hadassa Bleu'.

Created at the Frans Masereel Centrum following her residency at CERN in Geneva, this series of lithographs by Hadassa Ngamba intertwines diagrams from elementary particle physics with the ancient, symbolic language of the royal Mphoo headdresses from the historic Kongo Kingdom.

Through this juxtaposition, Ngamba reflects on how human civilization uses symbols to construct truth and authority across time. On one hand, she deploys the precise graphical shorthand of modern physics—diagrams named after Richard Feyman. They are used at CERN to calculate experimental outcomes but double as visual representations of physical reality itself, such as the collision and creation of subatomic particles. On the other hand, she invokes symbols of a past sovereignty that once structured and embodied absolute societal authority. While the centralized power of the historic Kongo Kingdom has evolved, these headdresses remain potent; even today, local leaders rely on them to legitimize and affirm their status. By placing the most advanced equations of quantum reality alongside ancient instruments of political order, Ngamba exposes a profound tension: symbols that mirror reality with unprecedented precision versus symbols that actively manufacture the reality of power relations.

This conceptual duality is physically anchored in the print medium itself. Ngamba developed a proprietary ink formulation, "Hadassa bleu"—a unique blend of cobalt and palm oil. This pigment serves as a material bridge across temporalities: it links cobalt, the strategic mineral driving the contemporary digital and information age, with palm oil, the historical commodity that brutally bound the Congo to colonial trade networks.

Photography by Ralph Dum