Published on October 31, 2023 8:20 p.m. / Modified on October 31, 2023 11:22 p.m
From the ubiquity of streetwear to the creativity of textured hair, from the (Dutch) history of wax to the power of new black peplums, T Magazine dedicates a special issue to the Afro aesthetic. A pan-African tailor, a new star of French cuisine and, in Geneva, a powerful singer and a sensitive fashion designer… Find all these items in the special file: Luxury, fashion, creative industries: which Afro turning point?
With his intense gaze and proud appearance, his demeanor contrasts with the languid atmosphere of this Tuesday in September. At 27 years old, Priscitouf is the first of those who boldly assert their plural identity. Those for whom redemption comes from trauma, those whose therapy is artistic creation and sharing as healing. Sometimes a rapper, sometimes a dancer: the Genevan with Congolese roots finds his way easily in the French-speaking music landscape. From the Festival de la Cité to the Belleville stage at the Paléo last July, she mixes the Afro, lo-fi and dubstep sounds of her compositions with intense choreographed movements. She thereby asserts her love for God and her Africanness, which she found during a search for identity from London to Kinshasa.
On paper, however, Priscilla Mukundji was not or almost not predestined for artistic development. Shy but hardworking profile, young Priscilla and her hair on her tongue flew to London after she matured. There she experiences a cosmopolitan city and her own precarity, sometimes risking her health by spending the night in the subway. From hospitalization to divine revelation: the one who now calls herself Z MWANA NZAMBE – PRISCITOUF THE FIRST – THE LAST ZAÏRIAN, has extended her stage name over the course of the hardships, just as others would have tattooed their skin. Now quiet, the Geneva native is working on the basics of her first album, African Renaissance, scheduled for summer 2024, while promoting artistic creation through the NGO Zing Empire, founded with her cousins in Kinshasa. Priscilla Mukundji defines herself as a sour cherry – those traveling poets from Africa, keepers of oral culture and known for their supernatural gifts – and believes more than anything in the redemptive function of art to save the world. “Artists are the new prophets,” she asserts.
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