Primordial
earth
Léonard Pongo
Curated by Clémence Houdart
Exhibition from September 26 to November 4, 2023
Primordial Earth explores the diversity of landscapes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The artist Léonard Pongo offers us an allegorical imagery of the country. Imbued with a feeling of magical beauty and mystical power, the landscape becomes through his gaze a place of self-reconstruction, and the earth, the origin of an awareness from which emerge tradition, philosophy and conceptions of the universe. Because for him, it is a peregrination in the environment and sensory experience that emerges a vision of the world, it is by being at one with the landscape, that it is possible to consider life.
Inspired by Congolese traditions and Kasaian cultures, Primordial Earth presents the landscape as a character with his own will and power. This photographic series works like an open book that tells a certain story of humanity and the planet, whose center is located in Congo.
Primordial Earth was presented at the Biennale de Lubumbashi and at the Rencontres de Bamako where it was awarded the 'OIF Prize'. In 2021, he has a solo exhibition at Bozar Brussels. In 2022, he exhibited at the gallery 31 PROJECT during the exhibition 'I am myself the sun' curated by Liz Gomis. The same year, the Mu.Zee in Oostende in Belgium dedicates him a personal exhibition. He is also one of the participants in the Black Rock residence in Dakar (SN), founded by Kehinde Wiley.
Born in 1988 in Belgium. He lives and works between Brussels, Belgium, and Kinshasa, Congo (DRC).
Visual artist, Léonard Pongo is a photographer. He considers photography as a tool for reappropriating his Congolese culture and, with a project like Uncanny, documents the daily life of the large metropolises of Congo. This project has earned him several international awards.
It now focuses on exploring the diversity of the landscapes of the Congo and offers an allegorical imagery of the country, imbued with a feeling of magical beauty and mystical power. This long-term work unfolds with a series entitled Primordial Earth.
Léonard Pongo’s work has been published worldwide and presented in numerous exhibitions, notably at IncarNations at the Bozar Center for Fine Arts in Brussels (2019), organized by Kendell Geers and Sindika Dokolo, and the 3rd Beijing Photography Biennial at the CAFA Art Museum. He was chosen as one of PDN’s 30 emerging photographers to follow in 2016. He is a winner of the 2017 Visura Fellowship, the 2018 Getty Reportage Fellowship and participated in the 2018 Joop Swart Masterclass.
Primordial Earth, his latest project, was presented at the Biennale de Lubumbashi and at the Rencontres de Bamako where he was awarded the "OIF Prize". In 2021, he has a solo exhibition at Bozar Brussels. In 2022, he exhibited at the gallery 31 PROJECT during the exhibition 'I am myself the sun' curated by Liz Gomis. The same year, the Mu.Zee in Oostende in Belgium dedicates him a personal exhibition. He is also one of the participants in the Black Rock residence in Dakar (SN), founded by Kehinde Wiley.
In 2023, he published his first monographic catalogue 'The uncanny' with Gost editions and he participated in the exhibition 'A world in common : contemporary african photography' at the Tate modern in London.