Bouddha Mabudi


African, Self-Taught, artist, Bouddha Mabudi, was born into the Kuba tribe, on March 3, 1963, in Mweka, Democratic Republic of Congo. He lives in Kinshasa. His autobiography - L’INVENTION SUR LA CONSTRUCTION ALPHABETIQUE - chronicles his transition from hotel and food store manager to artist-inventor.

“Although I left the houses seen in dreams with my name MABUDI, I became a literacy artist. I transform letters into houses, monuments, acrostic poems, dictionary endings, artistic writing, houses in the shape of numbers... Indeed, building a house is an instinct that we see in nature, among birds (animals, tamping holes, earth pits, tree fronds, etc.) Quaternary man, to shelter himself from bad weather, would have to build a hut made of straw, thatch, branches, etc. Over time the hut became a house, a building, a building.

To make the difference from birds and animals who have remained at the same standard of instinct. Man invented the flying house (airplane), the sailing house (ship, boats), the rolling house (vehicle) and the static house. There are several styles of houses. Today we are talking about the alphabetical construction designed to the styles of the houses that are added to the Luca plan. Alphabetical construction is considered the second invention of Africa after the Egyptian pyramid.”

- Buddha Mabudi 2023


Please click on image thumbnails to see the entire artworks and hover over each for sizes, prices, etc. On mobile devices, a white dot appears in the bottom right of the “lightbox”. Tap the dot to show the caption.

Mabudi Book Cover: L'invention Sur La Construction Alphabetique

“The Invention of the Alphabetical Construction,” Bouddha Mabudi’s autobiography. Click image to read English translation.