The Intonal festival at Inkonst in Malmö, Sweden presents an exhibition by Kris Pannecoucke, Performers of Kinshasa, portraits of street artists from Kinshasa, true artists of survival, creating costumes from waste.
Photographer Kris Pannecoucke has worked mainly in Congo these last few years. Over the past year he has been depicting artists/performers from Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he wanted to dig deeper into the harsh world of street artists, creating and living their lives on and off the polluted streets.
Kinshasa is “the city of survival” and if you have no other means, art is an exceptional way to denounce abuse. What is waste for the inhabitants is material for some artists who recycle it into works of art. The results are surreal and impressive costumes highlighting political and environmental issues. Shaka Fumu Kabaka uses broken dolls or toothpaste tubes, Sarah Ndele works with plastic pots, Etabe recycles sardine cans or cigarette wrappers and Falonne Mambu uses electrical wires to create real sculptures. They find inspiration in their past, such as the war or what they have endured in a chaotic metropolis where insecurity increases as darkness falls.
The streets are also a place to show their artwork through performances such as rituals and parades, using their costumes as a starting point to talk to people on the street.
With this series of portraits I want to pay tribute to the artists. Each artist has a personal motivation to create a particular work of art. Witnessing a war, violence or a lot of pollution in the city are sources of inspiration.
The exhibition is presented at the Intonal festival in Malmö, Sweden, and will be shown later in the year at the “Monde des Flamboyants” in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo), the French Institute in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo) and the Kunstverein Biberach (Germany).
Intonal festival
https://www.intonalfestival.com/
INKONST
Bergsgatan 29
214 22 Malmö
Sweden
www.inkonst.com
http://www.krispannecoucke.com/kinshasa-street-artists.
