Genetic Bomb

Dates

2022 - 2023
Author

Kriss Munsya
Location Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Recognition

Main Prize Shortlist - PhMuseum 2023 Photography Grant

I was born in Kinshasa, DRC and moved with my parents to Belgium when I was two years old. Like many people who have experienced similar emigrations, I carry generational guilt, confusion and disenchantment. Guilt of being a chosen one, one who was granted the opportunity to escape poverty, insecurity and war that colonialism created. Confusion stemming from the realization that the warmth, love and energy of my family's native land could never be replaced, no matter where we went. And disenchantment from realizing the place we grew up upheld, and continues to uphold, racism and white supremacy directed against us. These realizations raised several questions.

How are we supposed to come together with our homeland? How can we embrace our roots and at the same time live in a system that is poisoning them? How can we love if we are a product of hate? Are we doomed to reproduce the same colonial patterns or do we have the ingredients within ourselves to create a change... a GENETIC BOMB.

The Social paradox. Toxic Patterns - Genetic Bomb, 2022.

Distance Within. String Theory - Genetic Bomb, 2022.

© Kriss Munsya - Image from the Genetic Bomb photography project

Keep On mixing. Toxic Patterns - Genetic Bomb, 2022. - M: I remember like it was yesterday. I was playing with my friends on the street, and I saw it appearing on my skin. I became different. I could see how those men would look at me. K: I think I remember that day... M: Every morning when I woke up, I was hoping they disappeared, but the patterns were more visible, taking over my body, polluting my thoughts K: So what did you do? M: I tried to love myself, even if I was different, I try to survive... My question is "What did you do?" I was there suffocating, breathing less and less, hoping for more oxygen everyday, and when I couldn’t see anymore, I was hoping for the warm feeling of your hand on my shoulder, I was hoping for a hand, I was hoping for a friend... Where were you?

Resort. Toxic Patterns - Genetic Bomb, 2022. - I join my three cousin at the terrace of a bar on a warm afternoon. They all came back from Church. I didn’t go with them because… You know! One of my cousin is there with his girlfriend, Briana. He’s really happy to introduce me to her. She’s pretty shy and seem to not want to be there, with four dudes drinking alcool. I am trying my best to get her comfortable but… C: We are gonna get get married! K: Oh congrats I guess. She looks surprised and suspicious B: We are not getting married. Not with your ex-girlfriend in the picture C: It’s over, I told you a million times… I will marry you! She still doesn’t seem convinced K: Ok, tell me the first reason you wanna get married to Benie C: Sex! K: Sex??? C: Yeah, sex! K: Why sex? C: Because if we can have sex, I won’t be interested in cheating K: …? I’m sure I don’t want to know the answer but I have to ask K: Ok, so what’s the second reason you wanna get married to Briana C: To go to Heaven! K: To go to Heaven??? C: Yeah, because sex is the main reason why people commit sin, so if we are married, I won’t commit any sin, and I will go to Heaven I am baffled, and have no word. And my cousins look so calm, like nothing happened K: Do you have another reason why you wanna get married? C: No, I don’t think so K: What about love? C: … Yeah, that too!  K: OMFG

Hope & Despair. Toxic Patterns - Genetic Bomb, 2022. - If it weren’t for you, I would have probably disappeared If it weren’t for you, I would probably be whole If it weren’t for you, I would have more tears to spare, many years to share If it weren’t for you, I would have learned how to love If it weren’t for you, I would see future instead of limbs If it weren’t for you, I would never have denied my pain and chased that wealth I would never have turned my back so many times and doubted my path I would never have held your hands for so long and sang you that song But I needed you to be you so I could become me If you weren’t you, who would I be? I needed you to be you so I could be me But would I be you if you were me?

Micro disney. Talkabout - Genetic Bomb, 2022.

Hidden Gems. Toxic Patterns - Genetic Bomb, 2022.

Demons. Toxic Patterns- Genetic Bomb, 2022. - Like a cloth coming from afar, imprisoning your every thought, following your every move, we created the toxic patterns to restrain you You suffer, you suffocate and we watch... Hoping that one day you will free us from the dark

Even. Washed Out - Genetic Bomb, 2022. - M: I don’t know if they realize... I had to wash my languages and my culture away for them I used to be myself, I used to dance everyday, I used to break bread with my cousins Now look at what they left us You could say something! I just shared my thoughts with you... W: I don’t know if you realize... I had to wash myself away for you I used to be listened and cared for, I used to dance without fearing for my life, I used laugh with my brothers and sisters Now when you look at me, it’s that woman you see... that woman you created in your mind... not me anymore M: Oh... I guess we are even W: Damn, you will never get it

Hazel Eyes. Talkabout - Genetic Bomb, 2022. - M: Do you remember when I graduated in High School? K: Yeah I remember, you had baby powder all over you. It was one of the greatest day of my life. M: It was one of the scariest day of my life! K: What?? What are you talking about? You were so happy! M: I wasn’t! K: Why? M: I realized I had to be somebody. K: And? M: The somebody I wanted to be was different from the somebody people expected me to be K: So what did you do? M: You tell me! K: I don’t know who you were, but when I saw your hazel eyes, I remember I knew I found someone different. You had something in you. M: Thank you for saying that

Got Blinded. String Theory - Genetic Bomb, 2022.

Love Factory. Washed Out - Genetic Bomb, 2022. I returned to my mother land after long years of absence. The mother of my dreams, the mother of my sins, the mother of my sun. The eyes of a stranger, the smell of gas, a chorus playing from afar. Something had changed, the place wasn’t the same anymore. The colors were washed out. K: Why aren’t people dancing anymore? E: I don’t know, it just happened. K: When did it happen? E: I can’t remember. K: If I close my eyes can I see them dancing again? E: Probably... The colonial exploitation of our land and bodies is still washing out the essence of our mother. But even washed out, we will keep our true color. I inherited of this bomb. It was my present from ancient times, received between their past and your future. K: Please be there the day it explodes. An explosion of joy and perfume. The last explosion. E: I can’t wait!

Traditions. String Theory - Genetic Bomb, 2022. - K: Why don’t you want to look at the future? T: I can’t! K: Why? T: The strings. K: Oh yeah, the strings of the past. T: They sing in harmonies for me everyday, why would I change that? K: I know it’s seems comfortable but you have to move on T: Their sound is marvelous, no one sings like that anymore K: If you keep adding strings in front of your eyes, you won’t be able leave the darkness T: I know, I’m scared

Airplane Mode. Washed Out - Genetic Bomb, 2022. - I’ve always loved the sun. Sunny landscapes, bright colors and sweat dripping in my back. I love to walk and stop, then turn my faces towards the sun to feel it more, and maybe become its friend. M: Hey, don’t stay too long in the sun! K: Who the fuck are you? M: Don’t stay too long in the sun! K: Why? M: You will become too dark, it’s not pretty. I thought I would stop receiving those comments in my adulthood. I thought I would not have to feel that shame again, even less in my homeland. This is a genuine conversation I had few weeks ago. It is crazy to me that growing up, you are not becoming yourself with the help of other people... I feel like most of the time I’m becoming myself against everyone. But I have loved, I am loved and I am love. I have what it takes to restore the natural balance of colors in my sight and the natural weight of light. That’s the idea of the GENETIC BOMB. It activates your drive, your motivation to paint the world with your real colors, and not with this washed out bullshit.

Fading Frontier. String Theory - Genetic Bomb, 2022. - My face disappeared. You were there when it happened. The strings started to dance in front of my eyes, I was hypnotized, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think. What a beautiful movement… the past. The strings of the past are not honest. Their colours are so vivid you can go back when everything happened, but it’s never exactly the same. My high school diploma, my first hand shake, your birth… K: Are they not fading after a while? Y: Yeah they are… That’s why I have so many K: Can you see past them? Y: I don’t want to K: Of Course… The String Theory! Y: What do you mean? K: Every event that happened to you constitute a string. They add up in front of your eyes until the only things you can think of is the past. They say the strings of the past sing in harmonies, the sound is so comfortable that you turn your back on the future forever. I think that’s what is happening to you… Y: I don’t think so K: I want you to have a better life, a life full of music and colours, but not that life. You are the future, please take this bomb and destroy those strings even if they sing in harmonies… The colonial and patriarchal dynamic of the world is based on those strings… let’s make our own music

Genetic Bomb

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