Instagram @krissmunsya
Kriss Munsya
CONGO-BELGIUM
Kriss Munsya is a Belgian, Congolese born visual artist living in Vancouver BC. From a very young age, Kriss has been exploring art through drawings, photography and video. But his journey started with his long feature film “Us And Them” in 2015, shot on his hitch hike trip from New-York to Rio de Janeiro. Being on the road as a Black male, shifted his vision of the world and transformed his approach to art. After having directed his first documentary, Kriss focused on photography and decided to tell his story of racism and abuse he was victim of for a long time. Saying without saying, showing without showing. That is his mantra of his projects THE ERASER and GENETIC BOMB. These projects reflect critically on the past to inform transformational offerings for the future as the protagonist revisits memories to reimagine their past and condition their future. In his latest work KILLING DA VINCI, Kriss is raising awareness on environmental justice all over the world through a compelling and engaging photographic message from the most vulnerable voices of the planet.
Special thanks to OD Photo Prize• SERIES •
Genetic Bomb
Genetic Bomb is an interrogation of blackness, diaspora and identity that I have been conceptually developing for many years. This interrogation has evolved into a photography series that I have worked on from the beginning of 2022 and that I shot in November and December 2022 in Congo (DRC). My own life and experiences have inspired me to take this project from concept to artistic creation. I was born in Kinshasa, DRC and moved with my parents to Belgium when I was two years old. Like many people who have experienced similar emigrations, I carry generational guilt, confusion and disenchantment. Guilt of being a chosen one, one who was granted the opportunity to escape poverty, insecurity and war that colonialism created. Confusion stemming from the realization that the warmth, love and energy of my family’s native land could never be replaced, no matter where we went. And disenchantment from realizing the place we grew up upheld, and continues to uphold, racism and white supremacy directed against us. These realizations raised several questions. How are we supposed to come together with our homeland? How can we embrace our roots and at the same time live in a system that is poisoning them? How can we love if we are a product of hate? Are we doomed to reproduce the same colonial patterns or do we have the ingredients within ourselves to create a change... a GENETIC BOMB.
