Witness

Christian Bokenga, known as Bok, is the founding President of the online art collective and gallery Horizon Paris 8eme Art.

He is also an artistic director and painter born in 1980 in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where he is a descendant (6th generation) of King Ngongo Lutete. He has lived in France since the age of 13, France which is his adopted country and his heart.

A graduate in art history from the Sorbonne, Christian Bokenga, known as Bok, has worked in the artistic community as a member of several art associations such as the prestigious Taylor Foundation, Levall'art, and 16eme art.

His elders and relatives always reminded him that he had been drawing since he was very young, and his teachers reminded him that he was very gifted at drawing.

This passion for drawing accompanied him throughout his childhood.

At the age of 16, young Christian, while walking through the streets of Paris, happened to come across the works of the famous Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, which left a lasting impression on him.

Around 2004, he became a human rights activist at the age of 24 before becoming president of an association campaigning for the same causes.

Some time later, he was caught up in his passion for expressing himself through art and decided to show his talent as a designer to a greater number of people through a satirical magazine that he had just created in 2005, which appeared in various communication networks.

In 2008, he was asked by activists of a major French political party to design a municipal campaign poster that had received the validation of the candidate running for mayor of Cergy. The artist's satisfaction increased with this mark of recognition. He was also asked to illustrate a book with his image "porter son espoir" published by the Panthéon editions and whose echoes were heard as far as the Elysée Palace and the Ministry of National Education.

In 2013 he moved closer to the business world by becoming a business provider and ended up setting up a consulting firm that connected European investors for French-speaking Africa, the firm was based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

2 years later, his passion caught up with him again and he developed and perfected his artistic signature by starting to work with color and material and started painting.

The elongated and circular shapes of his imaginary characters are part of his universe and his artistic signature. He also draws his inspiration from the fact that he campaigned for human rights during his various humanitarian engagements.