Kinshasa Workshop By Santiago B. Olmo*
In the history of African colonisation and de-colonisation the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a story of cruelty and cynicism. The Congo was a private colony “owned” by Belgian King Leopold II, an absolute and despotic ruler, who enslaved the people to obtain ivory and rubber. Ownership was transferred to the Belgian state in the early 20th C., and after a turbulent independence struggle beginning in 1960, Mobuto seized power and ruled from 1964 until 1997. Authoritarianism, greed, and despotism impeded the development both of an organised society and of the economy of a country blessed with rich and varied natural resources. The Congo is now undergoing a fragile transition to democracy, with elections scheduled to take place later this year. Against such a political backdrop, the photographic workshop held in Kinshasa this past January was a wonderful opportunity to show how the relations between artists working on specific projects can spawn and invigorate changes that sometimes spill over into the political sphere. Kinshasa is a city of more than 5 million people who live in a degraded and insecure urban setting. Criminal gangs make the streets unsafe to walk, and an undisciplined police force offers little protection. If we consider that for many years state officials and employees have received their salaries irregularly and with long delays, it is easy to understand this insecurity and the abuses of power with which the country is rife. Corruption and graft have not diminished with the recent political changes, and any official position is regarded as an opportunity to enrich oneself. Infrastructures have crumbled to the point of uselessness. The Kinshasa harbour is a graveyard of hundreds of semi-sunken ships where thousands of squatters now dwell, surrounded by pestilent waters, since there is no sewer system. Roads are full of potholes and few railroad lines remain in service. Despite these hardships, the city throbs with vitality, which often takes the form of music and dance, but there is also a vibrant theatre and film scene, since here, as in many African countries, these media somehow carry on the central narrative tradition. Poverty has obliged musicians to make their instruments from cast-off materials –plastic bottles to create marimbas, and metal boxes as drums. One local band, called Konono, led by Mawangu Mingiedi, who is a virtuoso of the likembé, a kind of acoustic piano, has won international attention, and has realised a CD called “Congotronics”, merging percussion with electronic sounds. Among the city’s many busy theatre companies is Les sapeurs, a
group of highly imaginative elegantes or dandies, who stage spontaneous parades down the streets of Kinshasa, sometimes wearing expensive overcoats. Since the early 20th C. photography has been a popular channel of Congolese creativity, thanks to the presence in colonial Leopoldville of photographers from other West African countries and Angola, but also from Belgium, such as Van Eyck, and the Pole Zagourski, who established the city’s first photography studios. Many new studios were opened after independence, and tradecraft is passed from parents to children across the generations. Folk painting is widely practised, and tends to portray everyday life from a somewhat satirical perspective, using some traditional elements mixed with others borrowed from comics. A leading exponent of this art is Chéri Samba, which is perhaps the most widespread and closely linked to the concerns of the people. Though often abused as an instrument of political propaganda, photography is still used as a channel for the expression of an internal viewpoint and a critical reflection that extend beyond the immediate. Some years ago the Senegalese critic and curator N’Goné Fall undertook a study of photography on Kinshasa for Revue Noire. The results were displayed in the exhibition “Photographers of Kinshasa”, held as part of the IV Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine in Bamako en 2001, and also published as a book which has enjoyed a wide circulation.1 There are many photographers who run their own studios and make portraits on commission, while also doing photo stories and covering sports events for newspapers and magazines. But only a small handful are also able to make worthwhile pictures at their own initiative. In 1971 when the Congo became Zaire, Mobutu launched a campaign of forcible “Zairisation”, or “Africanisation”, and obliged photographers to reflect his ideas of what was “authentic”, in an exercise more of propaganda than of interpreting reality. At the same time there was a severe shortage of photographic paper, film, and darkroom chemicals, which made photograph and even more precarious activity. Since the Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine in Bamako, Simon Njami, its artistic director, has promoted photography workshops in numerous African countries, as a methodology of work, research and experimentation, permanent training follow-up, and a search for new talent. In the most recent exhibition a selection of those made in the course of these workshops were the most popular.
3Antoni Socias, one of the directors of this workshop, surrounded by policemen who joined the group of photographers. Photo: © SBO
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