14/04/2022
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Barly Baruti is a Congolese comic author artist, and probably the best-known African comic artist in Europe.
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BBC has described him as 'the Congolese author best known outside his country' ✏️
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He was born into a family of painters as Baruti Kandolo Lilela in Kisangani. He was working at the graphics departments of French cultural centres in Kisingani and Kinshasa, when he made 'Le Temps d'Agir' in 1982. This first comic book in commission, dealing with environmental issues, was followed by other similar works, like 'Le Village des Ventrus' and 'Aube Nouvelle à Mobo'.
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In 1985 he started working for Segudo, a Parisian publisher that specialized in comics for the French regions of Africa. Baruti drew the story 'Le Bolide' from a script by Serge Saint-Michel. He also worked at Studio Hergé for several months in 1987, and subsequently published the humorous comics 'La Voiture c'est l'Avonture' and 'Papa Wemba : Viva la musica!' with Afrique Édition.
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He additionally published political caricatures for TV and newspapers, and did contributions to the Segudo children's magazines Kouakou and Calao. He was co-founder of the A.C.R.I.A. (Atelier de Création Recherche Initiation à l'Art) in Kinshasa, an association of young authors to create and promote Zaïrese comics. He became editor-in-chief of the group's comic magazine Afro-BD in 1990, and was appointed President of the first African festival for comics and youth literature, held in Kinshasa in 1991. He continued to produce such comics as 'L'Héritier' and 'Le Retour'. His style had matured by the time he published 'Objectif Terre!' in 1994, and ecological plea in commission of the Cultural Centrein Kinshasa.
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He made the drawings for 'Madame Livingstone', a graphic novel set in Central-Africa during World War I. It was written by Christophe Cassiau-Haurie and published by Glénat in 2014. Barly Baruti lives in Kinshasa today.
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Source: https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/baruti_barly.htm
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