Castélie Yalombo Lilonge

Castélie Yalombo Lilonge is a Belgian-Congolese-Spanish artist, trained in choreography and communication (ULB, ISAC – ARBA-ESA). Since 2020, she has been working as a performer and collaborator with various artists, including Clément Thirion (2016), Fabian Barba (2017), Ingrid Midgard Fiksal (2019), Faustin Linyekula (2019), Louise Vanneste (2021–2025), Emilienne Flagothier (2023), Rosie Sommers (2024), Lisa Vereertbrugghe (2024), Jorge Leon (2024), and Simon Van Schuylenberg (2020–2025).

Her artistic work takes the form of performative assemblages that blend choreography, installation, and poetic language. She explores notions of otherness, self and mutual perception, the gaze, and the status of bodies within relational and power dynamics.

In 2022, she created Water, l’atterrée des eaux vives, her first solo piece, which premiered at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts and was subsequently presented in France, Switzerland, and Morocco.

Since 2023, she has been developing a collaborative approach to research and knowledge transmission, particularly through teaching engagements at art schools such as the Beaux-Arts in Brussels and Nîmes.

She also initiated Chair Work (2023–2024), a research group bringing together artists from different disciplines to reflect on representations of the audience’s body, its modes of engagement, and the implicit roles it performs. The project aims to invent artistic forms that blur the lines between those who look and those who are looked at.

Together with Sophie Farza, she leads Motherness Galaxy (2024–2025), a research project focused on the multifaceted dimensions and sociopolitical implications of motherhood. This cycle of meetings, workshops, and resource-sharing invites participants to “build a school” around issues of reproductive justice. Chapter 1: The Bad Mother took place at Beurschouwburg, and Chapter 2: Mourning & Mothering was presented during the Almost Summer Festival at Budakunstencentrum.

Finally, she is developing Cultural Hegemonies & Artistic Creations: Fostering Influences & Alliances with Dramaturgy, a project supported by FrART in collaboration with La Bellone. This series of dramaturgical seminars specifically addresses the challenges of coloniality in artistic practices in Brussels and Belgium.