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, 200 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):

Djonga Bismar, Alphonse Bukumba, Irène Kanga, Muyaka Kapasa, Matthieu Kasiama, Jean Kawata, Huguette Kilembi, Mbuku Kimpala, Athanas Kindendi, ⁠Felicien Kisiata, Charles Leba, Philomène Lembusa, Richard Leta, Jérémie Mabiala, Plamedi Makongote, Blaise Mandefu, Daniel Manenga, Mira Meya, Emery Muhamba, Tantine Mukundu, Olele Mulela, Daniel Muvunzi, Alvers Tamasala, Ced’art Tamasala. CATPC is presided by René Ngongo.

CATPC's website.

CATPC members with White Cube in the background. From left: Olele Mulela Mabamba, Irène Kanga, Huguette Kilembi, Jérémie Mabiala, Jean Kawata, Mbuku Kimpala, Ced’art Tamasala and Matthieu Kasiama.

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.

Human Activities website

CATPC and Human Activities have been working together since 2014.

Jobs & Internships

Hoofd Bedrijfsvoering - Human Activities

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.