Lot 35

To Kende is part of Genetic Bomb, an award-winning photographic and multidisciplinary series by Congolese-Canadian artist Kriss Munsya. It explores themes of Black identity, the African diaspora, and the psychological impact of colonialism. The project, which won the 2024 Contemporary African Photography Prize, blends personal nostalgia with socio-political critique.

Conceived over several years and realized in late 2022 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the series transforms deeply personal reflections into a broader interrogation of systemic power, intergenerational conflict, and cultural erasure. Through a highly stylized and symbolic visual language, Genetic Bomb challenges the notion of history as fixed, instead proposing it as a mutable space where agency and resistance remain possible. Munsya’s work complicates the relationship between memory and transformation, interrogating whether the structures of oppression can truly be dismantled or if they persist in ever-evolving forms.