Kura Shomali, born in 1979 in Kananga, lives and works in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. He discontinued his medical studies in 2001 and joined the Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa. After that, he also studied at School of Decorative at Strasbourg, France.

He describes his work as a way of “digesting” the megalopolis of Kinshasa. Shomali works on paper and combines it with charcoal, ballpoint pen, ink, glitter, gouache and collage to give a rich and unique texture to his work. His work is a reflection of the megalopolis where he lives as he is inspired by the chaos of daily life and the images of advertising, newspapers and magazines that show the street culture of Kinshasa.

He even makes puppets from recycled materials and animates them in videos to condemn corruption and conflicts in Democratic Republic of Congo. His focus is on drawings where he highlights colorful characters who are shown in both cynical and humorous way.

In his work, he also appropriates the images taken by famous African photographers Samuel Fosso, Sammy Baloji, Malick Sidibe, Seydou Keita and Jean Depara as well as the images from popular culture like Mick Jagger, John Cougar, Mobutu and others.

Kura Shomali’s exhibitions include Museum of Marrakech, Le Magasin – Center National of d’art Contemporain (France), Foundation Cartier (France), Saatchi Gallery (England). His work is also in the collections in The Jean Pigozzi Collection at Magasin Grenoble (France) and The Studio Museum (Harlem)