A few words about your artistic journey

After training in Graphic Arts and Plastic Arts at the Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa, I had the opportunity to participate in personal and collective exhibitions in the DRC but also in France, Burkina Faso or even in Belgium. Since 2016, I have participated in numerous workshops and carried out several residences. In 2019, I won the Solidarity Secular Prize at the international sculpture biennial in Ouagadougou.

How long have you been an artist?

Born in 1992 in Kisangani (DRC), I started my secondary studies in 2005 with a training focused on the visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa. Afterwards, I did graduate studies in the interior architecture department. In 2014, I had my Bachelor in Graphic Arts and it was there, after my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts that I decided to engage in performance, as a tool to develop my practice. In 2016, I decided to go to Goma to deepen my professional work for a few years.

Why did you apply for this grant? How will the grant support you?

Although the filmmakers, actors and I are determined to carry out this project, it will require some financial investment. This grant will encourage us a lot but will also allow us to make a creative residency with disadvantaged children who will be able to build their robots and learn about cinema.

What are your concrete artistic objectives after this residency?

The objective is to perform an ambulatory performance in disadvantaged neighborhoods and to make a documentary fiction film on the project.

The Covid-19 crisis is for me a last warning that nature and the planet are addressing to us. My artistic journey already denounced the deregulation of our materialist societies. I consider it my duty to raise awareness and influence decision makers so that the world changes.

What did you achieve during this creative residency? What is the result (created work)? Who was involved in the creation process?

We did an artistic residency over a week with the shooting of a film included. There were street children for the cardboard robots, a visual artist, a dancer/actress, a production company called Est Ouest Production.
We made a 7-minute experimental film.

How do you think these activities contribute to a reflection on today’s world, in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, and/or on the shaping of the future?

In this film, we talk about environmental degradation and its repercussions: covid-19 is a consequence of our actions as well as the abandonment of children. The message is that we must review our way of life and think about future generations.

How did you feel during the residency? And at the end of it?

The residency was difficult and had an impact on the film. The children and the artists have been in crisis for months and this project was a bubble of air for them. Unfortunately, they were already worn out by the situation so it was difficult to reach our goals.
We adapted to the people involved by lightening the work and limiting travel. The result is a film that is even more experimental than expected with improvisations. It’s a film that respects both the script and the original idea and is also a witness to the atmosphere of the residence.