Venice Biennial: Sammy Baloji (Congo/Belgium)
Congo, Far West Series, 2011.
About:
Sammy Baloji was born 1978 in Lubumbashi in the resource rich province Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Essay on Urban Planning, 2013.
With a borrowed camera, he began photographing scenes as sources for his cartoons. He soon enrolled in photography courses in DRC, and continued with photography and video at Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, in Strasbourg, France. Today he lives and works in Lumumbashi and Brussels.
Kolwezi Series, 2011.
Baloji created several works about the culture of the Katanga region and the colonial heritage in DRC. He views architecture and the human body as traces of social history, sites of memory, and witnesses to operations of power.
Pauwels Album, 2013.
Balojis work is displayed worldwide in Africa, Europe, Japan and USA and shows a diverse and expressive picture of Congolese realities. His works encourage social awareness and stimulate artistic creation in the region of Katanga. He is, amongst others, the initiator of the Biennale “PICHA” which takes place in Lumumbashi since 2008. (text Contemporary And)
Travailleurs.
Copyright: Sammy Baloji
Courtesy: Galerie Imane Farrès, Paris.