Born in Africa’s third largest urban area, Eddy Ilunga Kamuanga draws influence from the cultural hybridity and structural complexity of Kinshasa. In spite of the limiting conditions imposed by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s volatile conditions, the artist’s paintings emerge out of a materially rich visual world of patterns and textures. Having recently set up an artist collective, Kamuanga’s persevering vision is characteristic of the vibrant intellectual community that continues to flourish in Central Africa. Often as bystanders to the political and social turmoil to which they are subjected, in a place where lives are too often derailed by urban delinquency and crime, Kinois artists are increasingly compelled to produce art that gives voice to their inner desires and hopes for the future.