Paysage Prisme: Une traversée katangaise

For the 57th edition of the Rencontres d”Arles, Sammy Baloji was invited to exhibit his work at l”Église des Trinitaires.

In 2017, Sammy Baloji traveled with anthropologist Filip De Bœck to retrace the Katanga secession, drawing on both his own family history in the region and the anthropologist’s research conducted between the DRC and Angola. The exhibition centers on the Hotel Impala in Kolwezi, once owned by the artist’s great-uncle. Requisitioned twice during conflicts in Katanga, this family property—claimed by history—becomes the point of departure for a broader narrative. In this exhibition, Sammy Baloji’s work examines the status of images themselves: how they are used, how people represented themselves, and how we read them today. Photographs of environments, landscapes and portraits are set alongside autobiographical narratives, family and European archives to challenge dominant narratives about Congolese history and the country’s colonial-era borders.

Alongside the photographs, Sammy Baloji presented a newly produced film entitled RN1: Katangese Crossing, created in co-production with Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains and Twenty Nine Studio & Production.