artist/ Made

République démocratique du Congo (RDC)

Born in 2003 in Buvaku, eastern Congo, the youngest of eight siblings, Eli lost his parents when he was a teenager. This was followed by years of depression, which he managed to heal himself by watching online conferences on mental resilience. In 2021, he moved to Kinshasa to enter the Academy of Fine Arts, but decided to leave after his first year to pursue a self-taught career. He produced commissioned portraits and T-shirt designs using the tie and dye technique, using bleach. He came up with the idea of using this bleaching technique on canvas. At the end of 2022, he launched into a series of portraits based on his personal experience of psychological pain and the quest for inner peace. His development was rapid. Despite his very young age, thanks to the originality of his technique and his mastery, he already has an extremely strong artistic signature.