Kinshasa Contemporary Art: A Creative City in Turbulence
Kinshasa has produced some of Africa's most significant contemporary artists — Chéri Samba, Bodys Isek Kingelez, and others whose work addresses Congo's history with extraordinary power
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Chéri Samba: Popular Painting
Chéri Samba's satirical, text-heavy paintings of street life in Kinshasa have been exhibited at documenta and collected by international museums — his work is deeply rooted in the city's popular culture
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Bodys Isek Kingelez Architecture Models
Kingelez's extraordinary model cities—fantastic urban utopias made of everyday materials—are in MoMA's collection and represent a visionary Congolese reimagining of urban life
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Académie des Beaux-Arts de Kinshasa
Founded in 1943, the Art Academy has educated generations of Congolese artists – its architecture, atmosphere and student work represent the continuity of formal art education in Kinshasa
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Kanga painting tradition
Kangan — large-format portraiture and political painting — is the distinctive Congolese popular art form; political leaders, religious figures and celebrities painted on fabric and displayed in homes
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Galerie Tantine Contemporary Space
Contemporary gallery spaces in Gombe exhibit and support current Congolese artists — the art market for Kinshasa artists has grown internationally with collectors from Europe and North America
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Political Murals and Street Art
Kinshasa's walls bear political murals and street art that address DRC's history of conflict, mineral extraction and the aspirations of young Congolese - public art as political speech