Léonard Pongo 1988
Lives in Brussels x Congo DR. Works in Brussels x Congo DR.
Represented by:
Kristof De Clercq gallery
Léonard Pongo (BE, °1988) is a photographer and visual artist. He started as a documentary photographer who gradually included snapshots and abstraction into his approach. His long-term project ‘The Uncanny’, shot in Congo DR, has earned him several international awards and world-wide recognition.
Pongo’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA and published in WSJ, The Guardian UK, The Washington Post, National Geographic and several other international publications. He was chosen as one of PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2016 and recipient of the Getty Reportage Grant in 2018.
‘Primordial Earth’, his latest project, was shown at the Lubumbashi Biennale, the Recontres de Bamako, BOZAR and Mu.ZEE. By exploring the diversity of landscapes in Congo DR, Pongo offers an allegorical imagery of the country. Imbued with a sense of magical beauty and mystical power, the landscape seen through his eyes becomes a setting to rebuild the self, and the earth becomes the source of an awareness from which tradition, philosophy and conceptions of the universe emerge. Drawing inspiration from Congolese traditions and Kasaian cultures, Primordial Earth presents the landscape as a character with its own will and power, like an open book that tells the story of humanity and the planet, with Congo at its centre.
Pongo is based between Brussels and Kinshasa and shares his photographic career between his long-term projects in Congo DR, teaching and assignment work. Pongo is also a member of The Photographic Collective‘s advisory board. His work is part of institutional and private collections
Pongo’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA and published in WSJ, The Guardian UK, The Washington Post, National Geographic and several other international publications. He was chosen as one of PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2016 and recipient of the Getty Reportage Grant in 2018.
‘Primordial Earth’, his latest project, was shown at the Lubumbashi Biennale, the Recontres de Bamako, BOZAR and Mu.ZEE. By exploring the diversity of landscapes in Congo DR, Pongo offers an allegorical imagery of the country. Imbued with a sense of magical beauty and mystical power, the landscape seen through his eyes becomes a setting to rebuild the self, and the earth becomes the source of an awareness from which tradition, philosophy and conceptions of the universe emerge. Drawing inspiration from Congolese traditions and Kasaian cultures, Primordial Earth presents the landscape as a character with its own will and power, like an open book that tells the story of humanity and the planet, with Congo at its centre.
Pongo is based between Brussels and Kinshasa and shares his photographic career between his long-term projects in Congo DR, teaching and assignment work. Pongo is also a member of The Photographic Collective‘s advisory board. His work is part of institutional and private collections
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LEONARD PONGO
Born in 1988 in Liege, Belgium.
Lives and works in Brussels and Kinshasa.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Art Brussels | solo booth (with Kristof De Clercq gallery), Brussels, Belgium
2022
Primordial Earth – Interpretations, Kristof De Clercq gallery, Ghent, Belgium
Enter 14: Léonard Pongo – Primordial Earth, Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium
2021
Léonard Pongo: Primordial Earth, Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
Primordial Earth – The Beginnings, The Agprognostic Temple, Brussels, Belgium
Strangely Familiar, Foreign Agent, Lausanne, Switzerland
2015
The Uncanny, Contretype, Brussels, Belgium
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography, TATE Modern, London, UK
2022
Horst Festival: The Act of Breathing, Asiat, Vilvoorde, Belgium
Consume by, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, the Netherlands
BredaPhoto Festival 2022: Theatre of Dreams, Breda, the Netherlands
Dak’Art 2022 Biennial: (Un)Charted Grounds, Dakar, Senegal
Je suis moi-même le soleil (curated by Liz Gomis), 31 PROJECT, Paris, France
2021
PhotoVogue Festival, Milan, Italy
My Whole Body Changed Into Something Else, Stevenson, Cape Town & Johannesburg, South Africa
Presence: Five Contemporary African Photographers, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK
Radically Naive / Naively Radical, Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium
Extractions, A Two Dogs Company, Brussels, Belgium
2020
L’Afrique - Vue par les Photographes, Patrimoine Culturel Mondial, Völklinger Hütte, Völklingen, Germany
Lagos Photo Festival: Home Museum, Lagos, Nigeria
1:54, The Photographic Collective, London, UK
Croyances : faire et défaire l’invisible, Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris, France
2019
IncarNations (curated by Kendell Geers & Sindika Dokolo), Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
6th Lubumbashi Biennale: Future Genealogies, Tales from the Equatorial Line, Lubumbashi, Congo DR
Rencontres de Bamako, Bamako, Mali
The New Jerusalem, VUB, Brussels, Belgium
31 Days of .TIFF - Highlighting Emerging Image Makers, FOMU, Antwerp, Belgium
2018
The 3rd Beijing Photo Biennial, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China
2017 Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France
2016
Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos, Nigeria
Art Basel (with Edition POPCAP), Basel, Switzerland
Nuits de la Photo, Arles, France
2015
Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen, the Netherlands
Delhi Photo Festival, Delhi, India
Fotofestiwal Łódź , Łódź, Poland
Edition POPCAP, Gallery Weekend Berlin, Kasino der Fahrbereitschaft, Berlin, Germany
PRIZES
2022
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2022 (shortlisted)
2021
CAP Prize - The Contemporary African Prize (shortlisted)
ICP/GOST First Photo Book Award
2020
Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography (finalist)
2019
Prix de l’OIF (Rencontres de Bamako)
2018
Getty Reportage Grant 2018
2017
Visura Grant
NOOR agency
2016
PDN’s 30 under 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch (in selection)
Vocatio Grant
2014
CAP prize
RESIDENCIES
2022
Black Rock Sénégal, Dakar, Senegal
2019
Le Point du Jour, Cherbourg, France
Research residence with Dokoutine, Bohicon, Benin
2016
KAS/Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, Congo DR
2013
Lubumbashi Art Biennale
COLLECTIONS
Pongo’s work is part of institutional and private collections.
PUBLICATIONS
Pongo’s work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post, National Geo- graphic and several other international publications.
Born in 1988 in Liege, Belgium.
Lives and works in Brussels and Kinshasa.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Art Brussels | solo booth (with Kristof De Clercq gallery), Brussels, Belgium
2022
Primordial Earth – Interpretations, Kristof De Clercq gallery, Ghent, Belgium
Enter 14: Léonard Pongo – Primordial Earth, Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium
2021
Léonard Pongo: Primordial Earth, Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
Primordial Earth – The Beginnings, The Agprognostic Temple, Brussels, Belgium
Strangely Familiar, Foreign Agent, Lausanne, Switzerland
2015
The Uncanny, Contretype, Brussels, Belgium
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography, TATE Modern, London, UK
2022
Horst Festival: The Act of Breathing, Asiat, Vilvoorde, Belgium
Consume by, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, the Netherlands
BredaPhoto Festival 2022: Theatre of Dreams, Breda, the Netherlands
Dak’Art 2022 Biennial: (Un)Charted Grounds, Dakar, Senegal
Je suis moi-même le soleil (curated by Liz Gomis), 31 PROJECT, Paris, France
2021
PhotoVogue Festival, Milan, Italy
My Whole Body Changed Into Something Else, Stevenson, Cape Town & Johannesburg, South Africa
Presence: Five Contemporary African Photographers, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK
Radically Naive / Naively Radical, Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium
Extractions, A Two Dogs Company, Brussels, Belgium
2020
L’Afrique - Vue par les Photographes, Patrimoine Culturel Mondial, Völklinger Hütte, Völklingen, Germany
Lagos Photo Festival: Home Museum, Lagos, Nigeria
1:54, The Photographic Collective, London, UK
Croyances : faire et défaire l’invisible, Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris, France
2019
IncarNations (curated by Kendell Geers & Sindika Dokolo), Bozar, Brussels, Belgium
6th Lubumbashi Biennale: Future Genealogies, Tales from the Equatorial Line, Lubumbashi, Congo DR
Rencontres de Bamako, Bamako, Mali
The New Jerusalem, VUB, Brussels, Belgium
31 Days of .TIFF - Highlighting Emerging Image Makers, FOMU, Antwerp, Belgium
2018
The 3rd Beijing Photo Biennial, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China
2017 Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France
2016
Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos, Nigeria
Art Basel (with Edition POPCAP), Basel, Switzerland
Nuits de la Photo, Arles, France
2015
Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
Noorderlicht Photo Festival, Groningen, the Netherlands
Delhi Photo Festival, Delhi, India
Fotofestiwal Łódź , Łódź, Poland
Edition POPCAP, Gallery Weekend Berlin, Kasino der Fahrbereitschaft, Berlin, Germany
PRIZES
2022
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2022 (shortlisted)
2021
CAP Prize - The Contemporary African Prize (shortlisted)
ICP/GOST First Photo Book Award
2020
Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography (finalist)
2019
Prix de l’OIF (Rencontres de Bamako)
2018
Getty Reportage Grant 2018
2017
Visura Grant
NOOR agency
2016
PDN’s 30 under 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch (in selection)
Vocatio Grant
2014
CAP prize
RESIDENCIES
2022
Black Rock Sénégal, Dakar, Senegal
2019
Le Point du Jour, Cherbourg, France
Research residence with Dokoutine, Bohicon, Benin
2016
KAS/Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa, Congo DR
2013
Lubumbashi Art Biennale
COLLECTIONS
Pongo’s work is part of institutional and private collections.
PUBLICATIONS
Pongo’s work has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post, National Geo- graphic and several other international publications.
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