Founders
CATPC
The Congolese Plantation Workers Art League CATPC – in full: Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise – is a cooperative of plantation workers based in Lusanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since its foundation in 2014, CATPC has been working steadily to make art, using its income to purchase ancestral lands once confiscated by Unilever and its subsidiaries. As of today, 500 hectares of depleted soil have been reclaimed and recultivated to provide sustenance to the Lusanga community and regrow the surrounding forest. Through a process of sharing and discourse, the collective decides in unison what to produce and how.
CATPC’s artworks are cathartic vessels that absorb the pain and evil of colonialism’s ongoing disaster while also acting as objects of hope and repair. CATPC defines art as a living force borne of a sacred Earth and art making as a sacred endeavor. This endeavor is central to the community’s attempts to recuperate the knowledge of its ancestral lands and its desire to forge more regenerative relationships between art, culture, economy, and ecology.
Members of the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC):
Alphonse Bukumba, Alvers Tamasala, Athanas Kindendi, Djonga Bismar, Ced'art Tamasala, Charles Leba, Daniel Muvunzi, Daniel Manenga, Emery Muhamba, Phélicien Kisiata, Huguette Kilembi, Irène Kanga, Jean Kawata, Jéremie Mabiala, Mbuku Kimpala, Matthieu Kaskiama, Mirra Meya, Muyaka Kapasa, Olele Mabamba, Philomène Lembusa, Plamedi Makongote, Richard Leta, Tantine Mukundu. CATPC is presided by René Ngongo.
Human Activities
Human Activities believes that art about inequality can redress this inequality, not symbolically, but in real, material terms. Its mission is to do just that: create a programme that eliminates inequality through art.
CATPC and Human Activities have been working together since 2014.
Internships
If you are interested in an internship at CATPC / White Cube Lusanga or Human Activities, you can send your CV and motivation to info@catpc.org or janke@humanactivities.org respectively.
