At its launch event in October 2024, the Defise Foundation announced its first pioneering project: a three-year partnership with Studio Voltaire, through which three Congolese artists would undertake a 12-week residency in South London. These residencies will provide each artist with essential support to develop their specific practices, whilst benefiting from specialist professional development, in turn creating opportunities for meaningful international exchange between the Congo and the UK.

The first artist-in-residence is Godelive Kasangati Kabena, selected from a highly competitive group of applicants. Kabena’s work explores how different bodies interact, challenging traditional human-centred perspectives. Her practice examines reproduction and the assumption of equality, creating a space to rethink these ideas. During her residency, from May-July 2025, Kabena will deepen her research into reproduction and distribution, particularly examining archival images as contested spaces, affording Kabena the time and resources to experiment with new approaches.⁠

Godelive project
Godelive’s work centres on the political acts of creating, archiving and circulating images of human and non-human bodies through the mediums of performance and photography. During her residency, she has furthered her research into these questions in new geographic contexts and media. 

A key focus of her current project, ‘Mbwa’, explores how images of the Basenji dog, native to the Democratic Republic of Congo, shift through reproduction and circulation. This challenges the idea of an “authentic” original, instead suggesting that meaning is constantly reinvented.

During her residency, she has furthered her research into these questions in new geographic contexts and media. Working with local practitioners, she has created a new piece of blown-glass work to explore the medium's resonance with notions of materiality and repetition. This work will be presented during her open studio, alongside other new pieces created during her residency, which, together, continue her interrogation of archival images and their reproduction.

Working with local practitioners, Godelive has produced a new blown-glass work to explore the medium's resonance with notions of materiality and repetition. This work will be presented alongside other new work made during her residency, which together continues her interrogation of archival images and their reproduction.

The Open Studio is open to the public on:
Friday 18th July 2025: 11 am - 6pm
Saturday 19th July 2025: 11 am - 6pm
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