Aza

AZA MANSONGI BIOGRAPHY
OF DIFFICULT STARTS AT SCHOOL
Aza Mansongi was born on June 13, 1980 in Kinshasa.  As a child, she uses her left hand more
than her right hand.  It is by trying to force her to write with her right hand that her problems of
school adaptation arise.
  “I had enormous difficulties,” she says.  "My parents were worried and didn't know what to do to
help me."  It was then that a teacher, having noticed that Aza was often distracted and that she
seemed rather inclined to make small drawings in her notebook, advised her parents to consult a
psychologist and enroll her in a specialized school. 
The latter revealed the cause of her problem and told the parents that, given her difficulties in
adapting, it would take a lot of time and willpower on the part of their daughter to overcome what
was then a great handicap to learning.  In her parents' entourage, it happened that some would
suggest, not without irony and with a fatalistic air, that she was made for a manual trade, meaning:
a socially devalued job.  Despite this mockery and denigration, Aza's parents, decided to push their
daughter towards a greater social and professional future, did not stop encouraging her, even if she
was barely making progress. 
AZA'S PARENTS DISCOVER HIS TALENT AND GUIDE HIM TOWARDS ARTISTIC STUDIES
Aza Mansiongi's father played a determining role in his vocation as an artist.  He bought her comic
strips of which she spent her time reproducing the drawings.  One day, his mother discovered a
whole pile of handmade reproductions under Aza's bed and showed it to his father.  The latter in
turn introduced them to an artist who assured him that his daughter had talent.  This is how Aza
agreed to integrate the artistic humanities and began to shine at school until she obtained her
secondary level artistic studies diploma. Having regained confidence in herself, she dropped out
for a few years. later his graduate degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa. 
A DECISIVE ENCOUNTER
After obtaining his higher education diploma at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa, Aza tries to
launch himself into professional life.  After a year of research, a friend suggested that he join the
Ateliers Botembe.  What interests him all the more since at the time was, according to his
memories, the best organized workshop.  It was there that she met two Cameroonian artists whom
he had just joined the studio.  All three share the same vision, after four years of work, they leave
the botembe workshop and create a group which has allowed them to undertake several
exhibitions in Kinshasa and Douala, until the dissolution of the collective in 2014. "  We had
decided that everyone could now evolve solo "