Kolwezi

Since 2004, Sammy Baloji has been documenting artisanal mining by Chinese companies in Kolwezi, Katanga. The Kolwezi series is rooted in the context of the first democratic elections in Congo in 2006, where the increase in demand for copper and cobalt caused an influx of international investors in Katanga, including Chinese companies. The collapse of the price of these two ores during the economic crisis of 2007 led to the collapse of Gécamines, whose bankruptcy brought out a new mode of work: artisanal mining of former mining sites. Kolwezi offers an exploration of the real and fantasized relationship between China and Africa, combining photographs of miners in their fortunes shelters and at work, with Chinese posters featuring idyllic urban or rural landscapes. The contrast between fantasy and reality is all the more striking when documentary photographs are brought together with these kitsch posters, which are very popular in the DRC. Baloji explains integrating these into his work“as the utopian extension of a future born of artisanal mining, the export of minerals and the continuous displacement of populations.