Born on 29 December 2003 in Bukavu (DRC). He lives in Kinshasa.

Eli Made, whose real name is Elie Mafundwe, grew up in Bukavu. Eli has a great gift for drawing, and as a teenager exhibited his works here and there in his home city, before moving to Kinshasa in 2022.

A keen t-shirt bleach tie-dyer, one day towards the end of 2022 Eli realised that this technique could be used to create art. He bought some black fabric and started “painting” on it, using a brush soaked in bleach. He showcased his work on social media and came into contact with Angalia. Shortly afterwards, the gallery exhibited and sold in Paris one of his very first works. Eli was 19 years old at the time.

His works are portraits that convey people’s mental states: suffering, inner struggle, meditation, mental transformation, resilience, and so on. This artistic world reflects his personal experience, particularly a tough period of his life which he managed to get through by himself, due to the internet, or rather due to his amazing ability to self-educate and analyse. A self-taught artist (Eli only studied at Kinshasa School of Fine Arts for a few months), he forged a totally unique style in just a few short months, all before turning 20.