Bill Kouelany

Bill Kouélany’s art work deals with the current political situation in her home country of Congo Brazzaville. She looks at crime and war through installation pieces and painting. For the individual examination of the consequences of war and violent tendencies she uses different techniques: sewing, gluing, drawing, painting, making collages with press cuttings and monitors showing her own films. One material appears again and again – paper mache. Wherever she uses it, whether in bricks to build walls or to create bodies, it always emphasizes the fragility of the depicted object. She has exhibited work throughout Africa and Europe, and is currently represented by the Peter Herrmann Gallery in Berlin. At the 2006 Dakar Biennale, Kouélany was awarded the Prix de la Francophonie and a fellowship to the Lucas Artists Program at Montalvo.  Kouélany was born in 1965 in the city of Brazzaville, where she lives and works as a writer, stage designer and artist.