A textile with bright colors and varied patterns, wax fabric is instantly recognizable. Often perceived as “African,” this fabric has stood the test of time and crossed borders. For over a decade, its popularity in Western societies has been unprecedented—appearing in clothing, accessories, and household items. Wax fabric is becoming increasingly present in homes and wardrobes. Yet, its unique history remains largely unknown.

Sammy Baloji and Sinzo Aanza are taking part in the collective exhibition Kinshasa, la ville vue par ses artistes contemporains, cur. : Dominique Malaquais, Sébastien Godret, Fiona Meadows, Claude Allemand, and Éric Androa Mindre Kolo.
Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine, Paris, France — co-produced with MIAM, Sète

On the themes of memory, restitution and transmission, nine contemporary artists invite us to reflect on the African heritage that has been forcibly uprooted since colonization.

Novelist, playwright, Congolese visual artist, Sinzo Aanza, 29, knows Kinshasa, alias Kin, like no one else, the violence of his polyphonic nights, streaked with power outages.
Following a blunder by the army, it is up to citizens from a working-class district of Kinshasa to decide how much compensation each of the families of the victims is entitled to. With a lightness of touch, Aristide Tarnagda brings to the stage a caustic debate on the socio-political situation in Congo and its prevailing cynicism.
Coproduced by Festival d’Automne à Paris.
Event organized within the framework of the Africa 2020 Season.

Stage director Aristide Tarnagda, himself an author and director of the festival Les Récréâtrales in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) where the show was created, invited eight actors from all over Africa, but also from France, to serve Aanza’s lyrical eloquence, to bring the poet’s city to life and experience “the capacity of dreams to rob the world of its misery”. The show, originally designed to be performed outdoors, is recreated here indoors. “Que ta volonté soit Kin”, Éditions Nzoi and Passage(s), libres courts au Tarmac, 2018 (in French).
Atelier Berthier, Paris 17e, as part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris and “Africa 2020” season

Cur. Nadia Yala Kisukidi and Sara Alonso Gómez; Artistic Director: Sinzo Aanza
Kinshasa, DR Congo

Sinzo Aanza nominated for the Future Generation Art Prize.