Photo: & Department of Photography at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa

Photo: facilitated a project at Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa which entailed a series of training workshops and networking meetings, online support and feedback encounters which took place over a period of more than eight months, partnering with the Goethe Institut Kinshasa. As part of the project, photography department members and photographers Arsene Mpiana and Jackson Tshisekedi were invited to visit various photography educational and artistic institutions in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. These encounters were led by John Fleetwood.

Initiated in 2020, The Department of Photography at the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Kinshasa offers students technical and artistic instruction in photography and video in the production of reportage, documentary film; art photography and experimental film. Students learn to utilise their expertise in sectors such as fashion, advertising, photojournalism and documentary photography. The department is headed by Arsene Mpiana.

Arsene Mpiana

Born June 14, 1992 in Kinshasa, Arsène Mpiana Monkwe is a visual artist and a teacher in the Department of Photography at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa. Having graduated in 2019 in visual communication, he also holds a certificate in photography obtained after a two-year Masterclass, initiated by the Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa and implemented by the Goethe Institut in Kinshasa, sanctioned by a large collective exhibition with John Fleetwood, Director of Phototool, as curator. Mpiana currently heads the Photography Department at Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa.

Jackson Tshisekedi

Born in Kinshasa on August 26, 1992, in the DRC, visual artist Jackson Tshisekedi Mutambayi lives and works in Kinshasa. He has a degree in painting, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa (2018). He is the founder of the TOKEYI Collective. He works in the mediums of painting and photography. He is a teacher and secretary of the photography department at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa.

As part of the project partnered by the Goethe Institut Kinshasa and Photo: at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Kinshasa, photographers Arsene Mpiana and Jackson Tshisekedi met with various industry professionals and educators at their institutions in South Africa, such as Svea Josephy at the Photography Department at University of Cape Town, Ashley Walters at Stellenbosch University, photographer Jansen van Staden, Jason Ormond at ORMS, Federic Agelucci at Stevenson Gallery, photographer Gianluigi Guercia, Marco Longari from AFP, photographer Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo, Michelle Loukidis at Through The Lens, Khona Dlamini and Bongani Mahlangu at Market Photo Workshop, Jabulani Dlhamini at Of Soul and Joy, and Neo Ntsoma at Wits Photography Department.

Posted 23 October 2023