Godelive Kabena Kasangati: Congolese documentary and conceptual photographer exploring bodies, life, and the complexity of image-making

Godelive Kabena Kasangati is an artist from the Democratic Republic of Congo. She currently lives and works between Kinshasa and Kumasi, where she continues her studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Her work is rooted in speculative research, exploring the engagement of different bodies.

Kasangati’s work has been included in numerous exhibitions, such as 2025: Space and Time: Dynamics of Extractivism, co-curated by Prisca Tankwey and Paulvie Ngimbi, Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria; 2025: Toxic Lands, Living Narratives, co-curated by Sammy Baloji, Gallery Imane Farès, Paris; 2025: Open Studio Mbwa, Studio Voltaire, London; and 2025: the Stellenbosch Triennale, curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa.

In 2024, she participated in How Much Do You Weigh? FCA - Ghana 2023. In 2023, she was represented by The Efie Gallery at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London. That same year, she also participated in Worldmaking, Mitchell-Innes, New York, curated by Gideon Appah and Ylinka Barrotto.

In 2022, Kasangati participated in JAOU PHOTO, Commissioner Karim Sultan, the 6th edition of Jaou Tunis, organised by the Kamel Lazaar Foundation and the French Institute of Tunisia.

She also took part in the Kinshasa – (N)Tonga exhibition: Between Future and Dust, where the Kinshasa Academy of Fine Arts missed the start of the “Living Traces” project between Kinshasa and Brussels.

In 2021, she participated in the collective exhibition “Materials and Things”, curated by Exit Frame, as part of the “Un Quartier Généreux” season by Public State, on the occasion of the Africa 2020 season.

Between 2019 and 2022, she participated in the PICHA workshops as part of the Lubumbashi Biennale. In 2019, she exhibited and participated in the 12th edition of the Bamako Encounters, African Biennale of Photography.

How did you get started in photography?

I was introduced to photography through two open calls and started taking pictures with my phone in 2018. The second open call opened a larger scope of what photography could offer. Finally, the Bamako Biennale in 2019 became a catalyst for me in disrupting what photography used to mean to me.

How would you describe yourself?

I would say someone from a part of the world where people die every day. I am from Goma.

What are the main themes that inspire your photography?

The idea of photography has always been important to me, and one of my main interests has been people, their relationship to life, and the very idea of an image.

What moment in your career are you most proud of?

I believe my proudest moment was the few days I spent in Boya, one of the most remote diamond mines in the DRC. This experience allowed me to understand the full complexity of photography as a practice.

What is the biggest challenge you've faced as a photographer?

In 2023, while working for an institution, I travelled to a remote village by crossing the Congo River, one of the most powerful rivers.

While returning to the mainland, we were caught in heavy rain while travelling in a wooden boat, sitting on plastic chairs. The waves were so strong that I thought I was going to die that day. I remember praying, saying every prayer I could think of, and preparing myself for the worst.

When we finally returned to the mainland, the two people I was with told me that I was a strong woman because we had been in immediate danger and God had protected us. For me, this experience opened a new relationship with my work and made me realise how deeply my life is entangled with it.

What is your unique technical or visual approach?

I am in love with black-and-white photography, and this has been a long-standing interest since the first self-portraits I produced between 2019 and 2021.

Which global brands, photographers, or industries do you feel your work aligns with most?

Zanele Muholi, a South African photographer, has been important to me.

How's the photography and art space in Congo DRC?

In the 20th century, the DRC was home to a few important photographers whose work became deeply ingrained in the daily lives of Congolese people in Kinshasa.

In recent years, many photographers have become prominent. Furthermore, the opening, a few years ago, of the photography department at the Kinshasa Academy of Fine Arts, where young photographers are emerging, will provide a lasting educational springboard for future generations.