Georges Senga's exhibition at Museo delle Civiltà explores a Congolese missionary's life through archival fiction

Georges Senga's exhibition, 'Comment un petit chasseur païen devient Prêtre Catholique,' is currently on display at the Museo delle Civiltà in Rome. It explores the remarkable journey of Bonaventure Salumu, a Congolese man born in the mid-1930s, who transitioned from being a 'pagan hunter' to becoming a Catholic priest. Senga has gathered around 120 images and documents from the archives of the Pères Blancs Missionaries and Jesuit collections in Rome to depict Salumu's experiences across Europe and Tunisia. His own photographs are included, blending fact and fiction. Moreover, three young Lubumbashi writers penned creative first-person stories inspired by these visuals. The exhibition, running until 5 March, critiques themes of memory and identity within a museum with Fascist ties.