HOMO DETRITUS

99pp., 4to., colour illus., hardback, (Arles), 2022

Text in English and French.

Portraits by French photographer and reporter Stéphan Gladieu.

Creatives and artists in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, inspired by ancestral clothing arts, dress in masks and costumes made from garbage as a form of protest against the growing plastic and waste crisis their country faces. 

The art collective ‘Ndaku, life is beautiful’, founded by the visual and performance artist Eddy Ekete, turns discarded cell phones, plastic, corks, synthetic foam, inner tubes, fabrics, electric cables, syringes, capsule boxes, car parts, cans, and other rubbish into full-body suits and organises street performances to raise awareness.