Prisca Tankwey & Paulvi Ngimbi

Prisca Tankwey was born in 1997 in Kinshasa. She graduated in 2019 with a masters degree , at the Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa, in Visual Arts/Painting.

Paulvi Ngimbi was born in 1997 in Kinshasa. He obtained his master in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa in 2019.

Since 12 October, both artists have been in residence at the AfricaMuseum. They are also lecturers at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa. Prisca is assistant to DG Henri Kalama and heads the painting department, while Paulvi heads the sculpture department.

Having grown up in a country marked by Christianity, religious symbols have great importance in Kinshasa. What is perceived as sacred symbolism are mainly symbols from Christianity and the colonial era. At the same time, traditional symbols and forms of artistic expression from the pre-colonial times are perceived as negative in today's Christian Kinshasa. This is why their artistic work addresses themes such as colonial Christian traditions and contemporary Congolese Christian tradition.

Since arriving at the museum, they have been exploring multiple areas of research. They have a broader interest in the museum's collections and how collections are presented, shared, exhibited and discussed. Therefore, they gained access to different collections. They also have a keen interest in the concept of provenance studies, which does not appear to mean the same thing in Belgium and the DRC. As a result, many encounters with AfricaMuseum researchers took place suddenly.