Kuckei + Kuckei

Guy Tillim

Leopold and Mobutu, 2003

  • Left: Portrait of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, kept at the place where he stayed in Boma, Right: The flagpole at Stanley's house at Matadi, 2003
    Left: Portrait of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, kept at the place where he stayed in Boma, Right: The flagpole at Stanley's house at Matadi, 2003
    Left: Portrait of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, kept at the place where he stayed in Boma, Right: The flagpole at Stanley's house at Matadi, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Left: The terrace of Stanley's house at Matadi which overlooked the Congo River, Right: The marble terrace that extended from Mobutu Sese Seko's bedroom, overlooking a wide valley, at his palace in Gbadolite, 2003
    Left: The terrace of Stanley's house at Matadi which overlooked the Congo River, Right: The marble terrace that extended from Mobutu Sese Seko's bedroom, overlooking a wide valley, at his palace in Gbadolite, 2003
    Left: The terrace of Stanley's house at Matadi which overlooked the Congo River, Right: The marble terrace that extended from Mobutu Sese Seko's bedroom, overlooking a wide valley, at his palace in Gbadolite, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Centre Malemba Yulu in Kinshasa, a traditional psychiatric institution led by the Prophet Mbetado. Patients are chained to engine parts to restrain them for the duration of their treatment and to give symbolic weight to their eventual cure and release, 2003
    Centre Malemba Yulu in Kinshasa, a traditional psychiatric institution led by the Prophet Mbetado. Patients are chained to engine parts to restrain them for the duration of their treatment and to give symbolic weight to their eventual cure and release, 2003
    Centre Malemba Yulu in Kinshasa, a traditional psychiatric institution led by the Prophet Mbetado. Patients are chained to engine parts to restrain them for the duration of their treatment and to give symbolic weight to their eventual cure and release, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Left: Memorial to the slaves who built the railway between Matadi and Kinshasa during the Mobutu era, Right: Statues from the colonial era litter a transport ministry depot in Kinshasa, 2003
    Left: Memorial to the slaves who built the railway between Matadi and Kinshasa during the Mobutu era, Right: Statues from the colonial era litter a transport ministry depot in Kinshasa, 2003
    Left: Memorial to the slaves who built the railway between Matadi and Kinshasa during the Mobutu era, Right: Statues from the colonial era litter a transport ministry depot in Kinshasa, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Left: The Congo River at its lower reaches, Right: Lake Tumba, 2003
    Left: The Congo River at its lower reaches, Right: Lake Tumba, 2003
    Left: The Congo River at its lower reaches, Right: Lake Tumba, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Left: Colonial-era monument depicting a dead slave, in storage in Kinshasa, Right: Colonial-era graves at Boma, 2003
    Left: Colonial-era monument depicting a dead slave, in storage in Kinshasa, Right: Colonial-era graves at Boma, 2003
    Left: Colonial-era monument depicting a dead slave, in storage in Kinshasa, Right: Colonial-era graves at Boma, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Left: Accommodation at a mission station at Kananga, Right: A hotel bed at Boma, 2003
    Left: Accommodation at a mission station at Kananga, Right: A hotel bed at Boma, 2003
    Left: Accommodation at a mission station at Kananga, Right: A hotel bed at Boma, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Left: Statue of a miner at the Central African Museum erected by King Leopold II, Brussels, Right: The gold mines at Bunia, northeastern DRC, 2003
    Left: Statue of a miner at the Central African Museum erected by King Leopold II, Brussels, Right: The gold mines at Bunia, northeastern DRC, 2003
    Left: Statue of a miner at the Central African Museum erected by King Leopold II, Brussels, Right: The gold mines at Bunia, northeastern DRC, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Left: Moneychangers at the diamond town of Mubji-Mayi, Right: Diamond buyers at Mubji-Mayi, 2003
    Left: Moneychangers at the diamond town of Mubji-Mayi, Right: Diamond buyers at Mubji-Mayi, 2003
    Left: Moneychangers at the diamond town of Mubji-Mayi, Right: Diamond buyers at Mubji-Mayi, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Left: Guard at the state mine, Mbuji-Mayi, Right: Independent diamond miners and the holes they have dug, Mbuji-Mayi, 2003
    Left: Guard at the state mine, Mbuji-Mayi, Right: Independent diamond miners and the holes they have dug, Mbuji-Mayi, 2003
    Left: Guard at the state mine, Mbuji-Mayi, Right: Independent diamond miners and the holes they have dug, Mbuji-Mayi, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Gum trees planted in colonial times, stripped of their branches, line the eastern edge of Lake Kivu, 2003
    Gum trees planted in colonial times, stripped of their branches, line the eastern edge of Lake Kivu, 2003
    Gum trees planted in colonial times, stripped of their branches, line the eastern edge of Lake Kivu, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Colonial-era steamboat wreckage at Boma, 2003
    Colonial-era steamboat wreckage at Boma, 2003
    Colonial-era steamboat wreckage at Boma, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP
  • Young swimmer and a captured bird on the Congo River, Kinshasa, 2003
    Young swimmer and a captured bird on the Congo River, Kinshasa, 2003
    Young swimmer and a captured bird on the Congo River, Kinshasa, 2003
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 2 parts: each 47,5 × 73 cm
    edition of 5 + 2 AP

information

‘the incorruptible Kodak … The only witness I have encountered in my long experience that I couldn’t bribe’ King Leopold in Mark Twain, King Leopold’s Soliloquy

Tillim has visited the Congo region repeatedly over the past three years. He spent July – September 2003 photographing traces of the colonial occupation of the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium’s and vestiges of more recent plunder under Mobutu Sese Seko. This latter series of images were taken to accompany a documentary based on Adam Hochschild’s book, King Leopold’s Ghost, due to be released at the end of 2004. The exhibition comprises a series of single images and diptychs and triptychs juxtaposing historical sites in the Congo and Belgium with contemporary views of daily life in the DRC.

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