LÉONARD PONGO: IN DEN BEGINNE WAS ER CONGO De Belgisch-Congolese fotograaf Léonard Pongo geldt tot nog toe vooral internationaal als een van de meest getalenteerde van zijn generatie. Eindelijk krijgt hij een solo-expo in een van zijn thuissteden: Brussel. Primordial Earth dompelt de Raadzaal van Bozar onder in een totaalervaring, ontstaan uit de samenwerking van de fotograaf met de onafhankelijke curator Sorana Munsya, die de kosmogonie die de fotograaf inspireerde helemaal tot haar recht doet komen. “Ik suggereer dat Congo een bron kan zijn, of zelfs dé bron,” zegt Pongo. “De omgeving die ik creëer, is ontstaan uit de confrontatie tussen mijn verbeelding en het terrein, maar ook uit heel veel lezen.” De kijker, ondergedompeld in een imaginair land dat verankerd is in de schoonheid van het reële, wordt verrast door nieuwe narratieven over Congo, en uitgedaagd om een veelvoud aan ervaringen van het territorium te omarmen. Ver weg van de clichés die de westerse fotografie tientallen jaren heeft gevoed.
Léonard Pongo: “Environmentalism is not really the issue for people who have figured out how their environment functions.”
“What appeals to me about Léonard Pongo’s work is that there is doubt in it” SORANA MUNSYA
beautiful natural sites in the DRC. “You feel extremely small and you also feel like you’re in danger. These are environments in which you are very quickly directed by nature and where you are not in control,” says the photographer. “But it’s also an extremely good feeling, because you are in the hands of people who know how to read those environments.” In these majestic sites, Léonard Pongo feels at ease, in harmony with the elements. “I grew up with a mother from the Ardennes, so I find the forest extremely reassuring. When I am in these natural environments, I feel comforted.” An intensely sensory experience that is also like an apprenticeship. “I don’t know the Equatorial forest, I don’t know the topography of the DRC. I don’t necessarily know how to navigate an arid landscape like the summit of Nyiragongo (a stratovolcano in the Virunga mountains, west
of the border with Rwanda, Ed.),” says Léonard Pongo. “When I am taking photographs, I am accompanied by people who know the flora and fauna and know how to read it, the names of certain animals, and how to identify their tracks. That helps me to understand why such mythologies were created in such an environment. In many stories, we find the idea that humans do not see all that exists, that some things have a double or a ghost.” The dreamlike imagery composed by the artist seems to take on the same magical properties as the cosmogonies he explores. Trails are constantly obscured by a thick blanket of fog. A wondrous fruit shines like a diamond. The silhouettes of children escape the photographer’s gaze as they run through some tall grass. “When I am taking a photograph, I try to represent that which we cannot really perceive with our senses, which are limited. Not everything is accessible to humans. This idea deeply influenced the image creation process, which relies on visual techniques that record light outside of the spectrum visible to humans.” In 2009, in a lecture that has since been viewed more than 25 million times on TED, the American media organization that posts influential talks online, the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warned her audience of the danger of single stories and of the importance of not talking about Africa only in terms of catastrophes and misery, thus depriving African populations of their dignity. She ended her powerful speech: “When we reject the single story, when we realise that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.” LÉONARD PONGO: PRIMORDIAL EARTH > 10/3, Bozar, www.bozar.be
BRUZZ | INTERVIEW
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LÉONARD PONGO : AU COMMENCEMENT, IL Y EUT LE CONGO Si Léonard Pongo s’est surtout fait une réputation à l’international, le photographe belgo-congolais parmi les plus prometteurs de sa génération reçoit enfin un solo dans l’une des villes où il est basé : Bruxelles. Primordial Earth débarque dans la salle du Conseil de Bozar sous la forme d’une exposition immersive, née d’un dialogue avec la curatrice indépendante Sorana Munsya. Une expérience sensorielle faisant la part belle à la cosmogonie qui a inspiré l’artiste. « Je suggère que le Congo pourrait être une source, si pas ‘la’ source », dit Pongo. « L’environnement que je propose est né de la confrontation entre mes imaginaires, le terrain mais aussi beaucoup de lectures ». Immergé dans un territoire imaginaire ancré dans la beauté du réel, le spectateur se surprend à accueillir de nouveaux narratifs sur le Congo, à embrasser la multiplicité de ses expériences et de son territoire. Loin des clichés nourris par des décennies de photographie occidentale. FR
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