(Born in 1991, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Lives and works in Kinshasa and in Brussels, Belgium.)

Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga developed his unique style after his mobile phone broke when he was 20. He became fascinated when he found out that the circuit board was made of minerals found in the Congo, so he decided to create a unique depiction of human flesh, clothed with microchips, thereby exposing the exploitation of man and minerals. He paints in acrylic and oil from photographs of scenes posed with live models, and his work explores the profound shifts in the political, economic and social identity of the DRC since colonialism.

Eddy Ilunga’s work is in important private and public collections including at the Zeitz Collection of Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa, and the Hood Museum of Art, Hannover, USA. He has been exhibited across Africa, including at Dak’Art; Biennale Senegal in 2014, and he made his London debut at the Saatchi Gallery’s Panagaea II in 2015. Ilunga was longlisted for the FT/Oppenheimer Funds Emerging Voices Awards 2016, and in 2017 his work was included in the exhibitions: African-Print Fashion Now! at the Fowler Museum, UCLA, and in the 249th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.