DR Congo artist uses religious symbolism to condemn prison conditions: Video
A 28-year-old Congolese artist, Niamba Malafi, has adopted a merger of religious symbolism and art to denounce the harsh realities of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s prison system.
In a dramatic performance with his crew, Malafi carried a heavy wooden cross on his shoulders, to symbolise the burden inmates endure at Makala, the country’s largest prison.
His show, titled "Mort en exercice à Makala" to wit, 'Death in Exercise at Makala', portrays prison as a place where convicts are "buried alive."
Malafi was recently released after serving a one-month sentence in Makala. He was imprisoned for publicly defending a group of dancers jailed for "indecent exposure." Reflecting on his experience with the AFP, he expressed shock at being arrested for advocating artistic expression.
"For me, it's a shock," he said. "To be arrested because you're a cultural centre, to be arrested because you want to defend artistic expression... I went into prison, and it's like dying in action, dying in what you're doing."
Malafi’s performance wants his performance to be a call for justice for collaboration between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Culture to protect artists. He argues that artists are the "guardians" of community education and deserve better legal protections.
A director and actor in the show Bavon Diana, praised Malafi’s powerful use of religious symbolism, noting that his portrayal of Jesus speaks to the suffering he endured in Makala. "You can feel it's Jesus, and it tells us what he experienced in prison," he remarked
Congo’s largest prison, Makala was built with a capacity for only about 1,500 inmates, however now, it hosts over 12,000 inmates.
