SIXTE KAKINDA
BIOGRAPHY
Sixte Kakinda began his artistic practice as a self-taught comic book artist before graduating with a Master's degree (2020) and Doctorate (2023) in Global Art Practice from the Tokyo University of the Arts. His work Intimate Moments/Monologue won first prize there.
As a drawer and visual artist, Sixte is generally interested in the line, the basic element of drawing, and its properties (connectivity, connection, separation, exchange, circulation, grouping, identity, subtraction, multiplication...), with the aim of exploring new creative possibilities, extending, liberating and decolonizing drawing by intersecting the line with its properties and with other artistic disciplines. This led to the creation of concepts such as “Drawing as Crossing”, which he continues to explore in his work. In particular, Sixte is also interested in the lines that form the Congo, lines drawn in, to or from the Congo before, during and after colonisation. These lines, evidence and traces of human activity, are bearers of Congo's history and memory.
Sixte has had a solo exhibition in Hiroshima and participated in several group shows in Hiroshima, Tokyo, Seoul, Leipzig, Antwerp and Lubumbashi. He took part in the KLA ART 24 Festival, joined several art residencies and collaborated with artists such as Sinzo Aanza, Lindiwe Matshikiza and Hiraku Suzuki. Sixte lives and works in Goma (DR Congo).
STATEMENT
Statement 2023
Drawing As Crossing.
Drawing is all about the meeting of several elements. Drawing is about cross-fertilization.
Drawing is about encounters, crossovers, and hybrids. Drawing is about generating lines. Drawing is all about drawing lines.
A line connects one, two or more points. It separates or joins surfaces. It tells a story. It gives life to a story. It lives, grows, and dies. It is visible or invisible. It can be felt or not. A line carries a voice. It is also a path, a tube, a thread of ideas running from point A to point B or from point A to point B itself. A line is a space where people meet, where they cross, where they move. It is a living space.
Statement 2020
Drawing is making lines. A line connects one, two or many dots. A line can divide a space in new spaces, it also has the power of reunite again these spaces. Lines have a story we can read. They have a life and they die. Lines give life to a story. Lines can be visible or not. You can feel lines. Lines are paths, are thread to conduct an idea from a point A to a point B, or from a point A to the same point. Lines produce rhythm and sounds. Drawings are the extension of the brain. Drawings can be extended.
I started to think on all these potentialities and work on the possibilities of connecting the drawing with other disciplines such as photography, performance, music or adding some technics or materials such as cutting, de-constructing, printing, smart-phone applications or daily life movements and gestures. By mixing or putting in harmony (or not) these technics, in order to have different approaches for talking about social issues.
EDUCATION
April 2020 - March 2023
Doctor in Fine Arts/
Global Art Practice
Tokyo University of the Arts,
Tokyo, Japan.
Dissertation Title:
“Drawing invisible through the body as crossing points -The Role and Possibilities of Drawing-Performance through the study of Modern and Contemporary African Arts”.
Thesis supervisor:
Professor Yusaku Imamura
April 2018 - March 2020
Master’s in fine arts/
Global Art Practice,
Tokyo University of the Arts,
Tokyo, Japan.
2013
Diploma in Agroeconomics Engineering,
University of Lubumbashi,
Lubumbashi, DR Congo.
GRANT
2017 - 2023
MEXT Scholarship
(Japanese government)
March 2017
ProHelvetia Johannesburg
COLLECTION
2023
Intimate Moments/Monologue
Miyamoto Yasuteru
Tokyo, Japan
2019
Intimate Moments/ Monologue
The University Art Museum/
Tokyo University of the Arts
Tokyo, Japan