Mustafa Maluka cites various art historical and cultural sources in his work. His interests range from design and fashion to art history, cultural analysis, philosophy and psychology. Through selecting and assembling portraits, Maluka collects images of faces that have a particular look, that project a particular energy and pride. He liberates the images from their original context and recreates them in a new form on canvas with many layers of paint.

Mustafa Maluka studied at the De Ateliers Art Institute in Amsterdam. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Tilton Gallery in New York City, USA (2009); The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York City, USA (2008); Galerie Sébastien Bertrand in Geneva, Switzerland (2007); and Michael Stevenson in Cape Town, South Africa (2007).