Congo Biennale: ‘Le Souffle des Ancêtres’ (The Breath of the Ancestors)

Curated by Armelle Dakouo and Fahamu Pecou.

16 September – 23 October 2022

«Le Souffle des Ancêtres» «The breath of the ancestors»

We are opening a new chapter. One that reveals humanity rising to face its shadows. We are creating a world that will be more harmonious. A world that requires us to interact differently with nature and with one another.

These new revelations, however, are not new. Compassion for nature, the environment, and our fellow humans is deeply rooted in practices found in Africa, Asia, and the Americas in another related form, animism. The philosopher Gaston-Paul Effa, in «Le Dieu perdu dans l’herbe» (The God lost in the grass), explains that animism is a new under-standing of nature (...) it is the recognition that living is not the property of humans alone, we exist in a common space with other beings». If for him, «animism is a loving relation-ship to the world and to things,» for Birago Diop, it is a feeling of humility that should be imposed by our human condition towards nature and the sacred. In his poem «Breath», it is the soul of things that he calls to mind: «Listen more often to things than to beings (...) It is the breath of the ancestors».

Our ancestors recognized the power in contemplating the sky and «the discipline of breath». This embrace of the natural order is associated with an animist philosophy still largely inscribed in our collective memory. These concepts and beliefs are practiced broadly throughout the diaspora to this day. Marriage, death, baptism, and other major life events may be subject to the ancestors’ approval and protection. This memory is fundamental to our individual experience and transcends our collective being.

The histry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is challenged by its brutal colonial history. The legacies of trauma under Leopold II, the Belgian Congo, Zaire, Mobutu continue to shape DRC today. The richness of its soils, the extent of its territory, the incredible ethnic diversity, and its cultural specificities, as well as the violence suffered in its spiritual, economic, and political identity, give this country a unique dimension and an extraordinary destiny on the continent. The country has lived through many troubled periods of spoliation, colonial domination, and political chaos. However, there is a real sense of national identity, of belonging to a shared history rooted in a particular ancestral tradition. The incredible artistic effervescence testifies to this by its attachment to cultural, intellectual, and historical heritage.

Similarly, throughout the African Diaspora, the African continent’s sons and daughters continue to find their way home. The very ancestral breath that animates the Congo also swells the lungs of Africa’s stolen. Despite the effects of linguifam (erasure or lan-guage), the violent dismembering of cultural and spiritual context, centuries of abuse, deception, and manipulation, the power of the ancestors cannot be erased. Ongoing Black resistance to the effects of white supremacy and oppression has inspired artists and scholars to become silent and, in this silence, listen to «things more often than be-ings.» The work of African diaspora artists evinces this deep listening. Contact with Western aesthetics, materials, ideas, and other influences merge with traditional values and ambitions to forge a new language and builds bridges and portals back to its source. Fresh leaves spring forth on deeply rooted trees. We sit at its base and breathe deeply.

Kinshasa is a perfect space to explore this incredible creative energy. Being one of the world’s largest cities, it reflects the deep well of ancestral connections with visual artists, dancers, musicians, and performers reclaiming the public space. The way these artists look at their heritage invites us, as spectators, to better understand this particular story in today’s context. How much of the creative genius of this bubbling art scene comes from the breath of the ancestors?

Cultural legacy and memory impact artistic movement and contemporary crea-tion in Kinshasa. Foundational beliefs in Africa are inspired by the balance of order in all things because «the dead are not dead» said Birago Diop. Art is the link be-tween belief and practice; between the spiritual and physical. Art is the language of spirit; it allows us to communicate with the divine. Contemporary artists mirror the «breath of the ancestors» in listening to objects and materials and rearticulating that breath in their creations. Rehabilitating truths, they thus allow continuity of history.

This invitation will celebrate through its theme, the links between Africa, its diasporas and its Afrodescendants, our common roots and the diversity of cultural and artistic ex-pressions. It is also a remarkable opportunity to develop artistic exchanges between the Americas, the Congo, and the countries of the African continent.

This year, the Biennale wants to engage artists, performers, designers, architects and participants to work on the public space, to rethink the social, common and shared space. In dialogue with its history and its urban reality, the artists and the population in-volved will be invited to focus on part of the city of Kinshasa. This will be a way to sup-port artistic practices engaged in a local and regional context. international with inno-vative projects in the social space.

Featured Artists:

1. Alexis Peskine (France / Brazil)

2. Alioune Diagne (Senegal)

3. Ato Ribiero (Usa / Ghana)

4. Arturo Lindsay (Panama / Usa)

5. Ayanna Jackson (Usa)

6. Cristiano Mangovo (Angola / Portugal)

7. Demosthene Florine (Haiti / USA)

8. Elbia Polenca (Venezuela)

9. Fatime Zahra Morjani (Morocco)

10. Ghizlane Sahli (Spanish)

11. Hela Ammar (Tunisia)

12. Helene Jayet (France)

13. Hyacinthe Ouattara (Burkina Faso / France)

14. Isaac Mondele (DR Congo)

15. Jabulani Dhlamini (South Africa)

16. Jean-Servais Somian et Anna Zulma (Ivory Coast-France)

17. Johanna Bramble (France / Antilles)

18. Jorge Sanchez Di Bello (Colombia)

19. Kokou Ferdinand Makouvia (Togo)

20. Laeila Adjovi (Benin / Senegal)

21. Lamyne M (Cameroon / France)

22. Lawrence Lemoana (South Africa)

23. Ledelle Moe (South Africa)

24. Lebohang Kganye (South Africa)

25. Lucie Kamswekera (DR Congo)

26. Maliza Kiasuwa (Belgium / DR Congo)

27. Marc Bauer (Switzerland)

28. Marie-Ange Dakouo (Mali)

29. Matthias Degroof (Belgium)

30. Maurice Mbikayi (RD Congo / Afrique Du Sud)

31. Mehdi-George Lahlou (France / Maroc)

32. Nyugen Smith (Haiti, Trinidad And Tobago / Usa)

33. Okorie Johnson (Usa)

34. Owanto (Angleterre / Gabon)

35. Paul Maheke (France / RD Congo)

36. Phumzile Khanyile (Afrique Du Sud)

37. Rachel MALAIKA (RD Congo)

38. Raymond Tsham Mateng (RD Congo)

39. Remy Jungerman (Hollande / Suriname)

40. Rene Tavares (Sao Tomé )

41. Rita Alaoui (Maroc / France)

42. Sarha MUKADI (RD Congo)

43. Theaster Gates (Usa)

44. Wakariru Wambui (Kenya)