Sammy Baloji: When Extraction Becomes Form It Speaks in Borrowed Tongues

Since 2005, Sammy Baloji (b. 1978, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)) has traced the entangled histories of the DRC. He delves into the cultural, architectural, and industrial legacies of the mineral-rich Katanga region while scrutinizing the enduring structures of Belgian colonialism. 
 
Baloji lives between Brussels and his hometown and is pursuing a PhD on contemporary Kasala (a ceremonial poem) and Lukasa (a memory board used in ritual performances) as forms of geopolitical knowledge. A Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, founder of the Rencontres Picha/Biennale de Lubumbashi, and participant in major biennials worldwide, he is widely recognized as one of the most influential artists working today. Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (2025); Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, London (2024–25); Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC (2017); and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2015–16); among others.

Gloria Cabral (b. 1982, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian-Paraguayan architect known for her work as a partner at the firm Gabinete de Arquitectura in Asunción, Paraguay, and her commitment to sustainable design and social impact. Cabral, who studied architecture at the Universidad Nacional de Asunción in San Lorenzo, Paraguay, has received international acclaim for her design approaches, particularly her focus on resource economy and material reuse. She was the project leader for the Teletón Children's Rehabilitation Center in Lambare, Paraguay, which won first prize in the rehabilitation category at the 2010 Pan American Biennial for Architecture. Along with her partner in the firm, she was also awarded the Golden Lion for Best Participant in the Venice Biennale’s 15th International Exhibition REPORTING FROM THE FRONT (2016). She received the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture in 2018.

Cécile Fromont is a French-born (Martinique) American art historian and educator. She specializes in the visual, material, and religious cultures of early modern Africa, Latin America, and Europe (1500–1800). After earning her degrees from Sciences Po Paris and Harvard University, she held professorships at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and Yale University, and she is currently a professor at Harvard University. Fromont’s scholarship examines the cross-cultural exchanges in the Portuguese-speaking Atlantic world, particularly related to the historical Kingdom of Kongo. Her research has garnered multiple awards, and she has authored several books, including The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo (2014) and Images on a Mission in Early Modern Kongo and Angola (2022).