Democratic Republic of Congo: The Giant is Awake

Raoul Monsengo - Congo graveyard of plastic arts creators (2014)

It is the third African country by population (after Nigeria and Ethiopia) and by size (after Sudan and Algeria), rich in natural, forestal and mineral resources. It is home to the second largest rainforest in the world and has ample fertile land and water resources. Historically, mining and oil extraction have been of fundamental importance for export earnings and contribution to GDP. The Congo is the third largest producer of diamonds by volume (not by value, because the majority of its production is destined for industrial use rather than the jewellery trade). And it has the richest reserves of coltan: grey gold, a combination of columbite and tantalite, an essential component of electronics that optimizes the use of electricity in mobile phones and computer chips, in applications in the aerospace industry and in fibre optics.

Deborah Ngiesi -Violence against women in Eastern DRC (2014)

Yet this wealth, so important for the hi-tech future of the world, is struggling to be converted into wellbeing and opportunity for the Congolese people. The contrasts are particularly visible in Kinshasa itself, the capital founded in 1881 as Leopoldville, in honour of Leopold II of Belgium, by the British explorer HM Stanley, famous for the phrase - Dr. Livingstone, I presume? - with which he greeted the British missionary upon finding him in the heart of Africa.

Olivier Akunzi Nalumbo - Tango Ya Ko Seka (The time to smile) (2014)

Today Kinshasa, an African megalopolis of almost 12 million inhabitants, is a planet that reflects the conflicting realities of the country. From the four-lane roads, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs of the city centre to the slums home to the hundreds of thousands of people who arrive from every corner hoping to find their fortune. From the mud streets of the suburbs to the signals of the future launched by the solar-powered police robots that control the traffic in the congested capital and make video recordings of infringements.

Maxime Mabudi Woto - Dweki-Di-Mayaye (Cicadas’ swimming migration) (2014)

The young Congolese are aware that the global market of creativity, above all, is where they must try to carve out their place in the sun. This is the case for the fashion industry developing around Kinshasa Fashion Week, attended by many local designers, but also by foreign brands of Congolese origin. Congolese styling is considered to have a fresh creative potential that can lead to the foundation of an industry able to reach those growing African countries that will soon have a demand for fashion.

Joseph Nkenda Lulembe - The passion of Christ (2014)

The roots of Congolese art, however, go much deeper and have always interested the lives of the diverse populations in their everyday, widespread, aesthetic taste. The German anthropologist Leo Frobenius, for example, described the objects of art he saw in 1906 in the Congolese lands bordered by the Kasai and Sankuru rivers, in villages whose main streets were bordered with rows of palm trees and whose huts were masterpieces of weaving and carving. “There was not a man who did not carry sumptuous weapons of iron or copper, with inlaid hilts and damascened blades. Everywhere there were velvets and silken stuffs. Every cup, every pipe, every spoon was a piece of artistry, fully worthy of comparison with the creations of the Romantic style of Europe.”