interview with Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga

written by Trevor To

Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga's second solo exhibition with October Gallery opened this month. Titled 'Fragile Responsibility', the theme of the exhibition is the transition between "tradition and modern, colonial and indigenous" cultures in the life of Congolese society. 

His use of vibrant colours on the subjects in the foreground, together with subtle symbols in the underlying patterns on the skin of the characters in the paintings and the monolithic background, create a visual tension for the viewers to explore the canvas.

The surrealist nature of the paintings is also depicted through the gesture of the characters in the paintings. With their non-photogenic eyes and lack of direct eye contact with the viewers, they look more like ancient stone carving than contemporary people. They resemble more to static statues frozen in time or an Congolese version of terra-cotta army turning up in today's street scenes by mistake of the time tunnel. 

We have interviewed the artist during his visit in London for the exhibition, to share his creative insight with our followers:

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Q1: Your paintings often feature human figures in an abstract background. What is the thinking behind this?

EKII work much on human figures as they are the foundation of humanity. I draw upon my personal experiences and I try to question reality through these figures. The abstract background represents a grey, hazy past – a history that we are not able to grasp nor understand due to the fact it was written in an insincere way.


Q2: How do you decide what symbols you select to be featured in your paintings?

EKII approach these signs, these ideographs, as a pre-colonial savoir-faire, which has existed for centuries. Today, these symbols do not exist as the society they are from was eradicated by colonialism. They were once used in politics, justice, religion, however, today they have been erased from the memory of the Congo.


Q3: Your art practice seems to focus in paintings. Do you have any interest in other media? Will you consider to explore other media (e.g. sculpture, digital etc.) in the near future?

EKII have a strong relationship with painting. For me there is a sort of life in paintings; when I see them in museums I see a life after beyond the artist’s signature. Paintings transform over time. In twenty years, I will look at my works and they will probably be different. I am also interested in other media, for example during my researches I took pictures and made films that I have never exhibited. This summer I am going to present in Austria a series of photographs of the Mangbetu people.


Q4: Could you share some insight about your international exposure - are there any first-hand inspirations or observations in person over the past few years that has some profound impact to you?

EKIThere is a particular moment that inspired me: the first time I saw a vitrine full of objects from our colonial past in the Royal Museum for Central Africa at Tervuren. It raised a lot of questions for me. This was about two years ago.


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Further Readings -
Official instagram of the artist
Understanding the present through the past, Financial Times 11.05.2018 - link

(Images are part of the artist's paintings. All art work courtesy of the artist and October Gallery)