Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC)

Established in 2014 in Lusanga, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), by environmental activist René Ngongo with the support of Dutch artist Renzo Martens, the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise or CATPC (Art Circle of Congolese Plantation Workers) is a cooperative and collective of artists and agricultural workers from palm oil and cocoa plantations.

Comprising twenty-three members, the collective creates works—sculpture, embroidery, and video—using local materials like clay, cocoa, and palm oil, products that are all inextricably linked to the region’s farming and colonial history. The sale of these works allows them to finance the gradual reacquisition of farmland that was confiscated in the early 20th century by Lever Brothers (which became Unilever in 1929) to create the plantations managed by the Belgian Congo Oil Mills.

The CATPC has since acquired 400 hectares and is in the process of developing an inclusive “post-plantation” project. Belonging to the workers, this land has been transformed into a “sacred forest” based on the principles of regenerative agriculture that aim to ensure food security. In 2022, with the support of Ibrahim Mahama, the CATPC founded the Luyalu School in Lusanga, DRC, working towards the decolonization of the plantation through education. The initiative also extends to advocating for the restitution of historical works created locally by previous generations and taken from their original environment.