Artist
Léonard Pongo
Léonard Pongo started as a documentary photographer who gradually evolved to include snapshot, diary and abstraction into his approach. Pongo's use of the photographic medium covers Art, Documentary, Photojournalism and assignments work. His long-term project “The Uncanny”, shot in the Democratic Republic of Congo has earned him several international awards and world-wide recognition.
Pongo’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA and published in WSJ, The Guardian UK, The Washington Post, National Geographic and several other international publications. He was chosen as one of PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2016 and recipient of the Getty Grant in 2018. His work is also part of institutional and private collections. Pongo was a member of Noor agency from 2017 until 2019.
He is based between Brussels and Kinshasa and shares his photographic career between his long term projects in Congo DR, teaching and assignment work.
Primordial Earth
Primordial Earth is a long immersion in the daily life of Congo DR. It started in 2011 and is still ongoing. It was shot in and around the Provinces of Kinshasa, Katanga and in Kasai occidental. It began from a need to live in the country and experience its daily life. Instead of trying to analyse and explain, it try to connect with an experience of Congo DR as a complex and polysemous environment.