The Uncanny

The Uncanny is a personal visual exploration of the Democratic Republic of Congo by Belgian photographer Léonard Pongo.

Collaborating with friends and family in the country, Pongo became immersed in their vision. He let them decide what he should witness as he attempted to understand the region, reconnect with his heritage and reconcile his preconceptions with realities.

In 2011, Pongo travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to photograph the country’s general election and its impact on society. He soon became aware that, as a European educated photographer he could neither define which stories mattered nor were they his to tell. As his awareness of this increased, he came to terms with the limits of photography to show ’the truth’ as well as his own limitations in accessing and understanding the environment, bias, and stereotypes. The project evolved into the photographs which form his first book The Uncanny.

Photographer and visual artist Léonard Pongo was born in Liège in 1988, and grew up in Belgium. His predominantly long-term projects have been exhibited internationally. Primordial Earth was shown at the Lubumbashi Biennale, Rencontres de Bamako (where it received the Prix de l’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie), Oostende Museum of Modern Art and at the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts, as part of Pongo’s first solo exhibition in Belgium. He teaches Documentary Photography at the Kinshasa Academy of Fine Arts (ABA) and at the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels.