On the occasion of an exhibition held at The Copper House Gallery, May 8-31, 2017; Project 2.0/Gallery, The Hague, November 2017; AKAA, Also known as Africa Art Fair VisionQuesT, Paris, November 2017. Includes bibliographical references.
Summary:
For the Ekonda pygmies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the most important event in the life of a woman is the birth of her first child. The young mother is called Wale (primiparous nursing mother). For several years after giving birth, she lives in semi-seclusion, separated from her husband, cared for by other female tribe members and covered daily in red powder made of Ngola wood. When the time comes to reenter society, she puts on a show for the community, translating the lessons learned during seclusion into songs and dances. These celebrations captured the attention of French photographer Patrick Willocq, who, in a unique collaboration with some Wales, their respective clans, an ethnomusicologist, an artist and many artisans of the forest, constructed elaborate and surreal sets, in the middle of the jungle and without any photoshop montage nor collage, inspired by the Ekonda mothers' chants, and then photographed staged scenes of the women within them. This book presents the series produced between 2013 and 2015, among them I Am Wale Respect Me and Forever Wale. Through this work Patrick Willocq (b. 1969) takes his images far from the usual hackneyed and cliched depiction of the Congo (where he grew up) and brings a fresh interpretation of Africa. Exhibition: The Copperhouse Gallery, Dublin, Ireland (08.-31.05.2017)/ Project 2.0/Gallery The Hague, The Netherlands (November 2017)/ AKAA, Also Known As Africa Art Fair VisionQuesT, Paris (November 2017).
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