Fungi Miniature Series

Nkudu2023Porcelain,glaze, Bohemian glass

In this series of ten porcelain sculptures, Hadassa Ngamba reconfigures the architectural blueprints of extraction to propose a paradigm of ecological and social reciprocity.

The structural foundation of these works is derived from a 1946 urban master plan published by the Belgian Ministry of Colonies. Conceived as an ideal layout for colonial cities, this blueprint dictated the development of major Congolese urban centers, including Kinshasa. By organizing the cityscape along a rigid horizontal railway axis and embedding industry at its core, the layout explicitly institutionalized segregation and efficient resource exploitation.

Ngamba physically transposes these historical plans onto organic, fluid vessels that evoke both delicate glassware and emerging fungal forms. Crafted in porcelain, the sculptures undergo a literal and symbolic transformation in the kiln—mirroring the artist's ambition to dissolve rigid, inherited colonial structures and remold them into new perspectives.

The resemblance to fungi is intentional and deeply conceptual. For Ngamba, fungi serve as the ultimate emblem of reciprocity. By drawing on the metaphor of symbiotic fungal networks (mycelium) and their interdependent relationships with plant life, her work locates a "conceptual glue" for collective healing and mutual survival. This series marks a pivotal moment in Ngamba’s practice, anchoring fungi as a central element in her sculptural language to explore themes of profound interconnectedness, relationality, and entangled identity..