- The Eiger African Photobook of the Year Award picked The Uncanny as one of the 4 finalists for this year’s prize
September 2024
- Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene at The Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University.
August 29, 2024 – January 05, 2025
- Photobook Journal review by Steve Harp
August 14 , 2024
The complexities of what is seen and what is understood is reflected on eloquently – indeed poetically – in the concluding essay, “There are no roads. Not even a body. Nor even a glance.” writes the French philosopher Nadia Yala Kisukidi.
– Steve Harp
The complexities of what is seen and what is understood is reflected on eloquently – indeed poetically – in the concluding essay, “There are no roads. Not even a body. Nor even a glance.” writes the French philosopher Nadia Yala Kisukidi.
Steve Harp
- “Encounters” group exhibition. Primordial Earth shows with Blackrock Senegal, curated Jareh Das part of the Dakar biennale “Off”. May 16 – June 16 at the Blaise Senghor Cultural Center in Dakar, Sénégal
May-June 2024
- Het unheimliche van Congo door de ogen van topfotograaf Léonard Pongo publication at “De Standaard” (Dutch)
February 2024
- “Les paysages émancipés de Léonard Pongo”, exposé aux Rencontres photographiques de Guyane article at Fisheye Magazine (French) by Eric Karsenty
December 2023
- Agence d’Information d’Afrique Centrale: “The Uncanny est un message polysémique sur la réalité complexe de la RDC” Interview with Patrick Ndungidi (French)
December 2023
- Rencontres Photographiques de Guyane: “Notre paysage est son propre monument”
November 15 – January 14
- Book Review @ Huck Magazine: A Dreamlike Journey Into The Democratic Republic Of Congo
October 2023 - Book Review @ The Guardian ‘Bigger than life’: exploring the Democratic Republic of the Congo – in pictures “
September 2023 - Book Review for first monograph “The Uncanny” by Colin Pantall @PhMuseum: Jumping on the stream of consciousness to Léonard Pongo’s Uncanny
August 2023
- Studio Visit @ Blackrock residency in Dakar, Senegal
August 2023
- Contemporary African Photography prize 2023 Winner
July 2023
The CAP Prize is the international Prize for Contemporary African Photography awarded annually since 2012 to five photographers whose works were created on the African continent or which engage with the African diaspora.
Contemporary African Photography prize 2023 winners – in pictures @ The Guardian UK
- 11e Biennale De Photographie en Condroz
August 5th-27th 2023 – Marchin, Belgium
- Dazed Digital: the trailblazing new wave of African photographers
Exhibition review and interview
July 2023 - Tate Modern UK Exhibition: A World in Common
Contemporary African Photography, curated by Osei Bonsu
July 2023-January 2024, London, UK
- Primordial Earth, Interpretations: Sunday 11 December – 22 January 2023
December 2022
A new collaboration opens up a new chapter to Primordial Earth: Exhibition Kristof De Clercq Gallery
- Camera Austria International review by Stefan VanthuyneI
October 2022
The Primordial Earth Exhibition at Mu.zee was reviewed in Camera Austria International #159
- Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2022
July 2022
Primordial Earth has been shortlisted as one of the 12 shortlisted candidates for the internationally-renowned Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) photo competition
- “Can an Artists’ Collective in Africa Repair a Colonial Legacy?”
July 2022
New publication in The New Yorker
- Enter 14@Mu.Zee
Primordial Earth will be on show at the Oostende Museum of Fine Arts, Mu.Zee
02 July – 13 November
- “Je suis moi-même le soleil”
Primordial Earth will be on show at 31 Project’s in Paris, initiated by Liz Gomis
02 April 2022 – 14 May
- European Photography 110
January 2022
New publication for “The Uncanny” in the “Black and White” Issue
- “A Kinshasa, des citadins s’attaquent à l’immense défi de l’assainissement”
December 2021
New publication on Congolese-lead initiatives in Kinshasa published at “Le Monde Afrique”
- Primordial Earth will be shown at the sixth edition of The Photo Vogue Festival in Milan and online
From 18 November 2021
The photographic exhibitions will revolve around the theme “Reframing History“: an exploration of projects that aim to present an alternative view, reinventing neglected historical figures or questioning stereotyped narratives.
- “My whole body changed into something else”, Cape Town/Johannesburg, SA
July-September 2021
Group exhibition including works from “The Uncanny” series, taking place across Stevenson Gallery’s spaces in Cape Town and Johannesburg, curated by Sisipho Ngodwana and Sinazo Chiya, from July 15th until September 3rd
- Strangely Familiar at Foreign Agent, Lausanne, CH
July-August 2021
Solo Exhibition of “The Uncanny” and “Primordial Earth” at Foreign Agent gallery in Lausanne, Switzerland from 8th of July until 21th of August
- Presence: Five Contemporary African Photographers at The Photographers’ Gallery, London
July 2021
A group exhibition exploring the practices of five contemporary artists from The Photographic Collective working in South Africa, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Curated by Julie Bonzon (Dr) in collaboration with the Print Sales Gallery.
- Radio interview at Klara’s “Pompidou” show in conversation with philosopher Marlies De Munck (Dutch): Pompidou 25 mei 2021
May 2021
- Solo Exhibition at ‘The Agprognostic Temple‘
May 22 – June 12 2021
- Group Exhibition ‘Radically Naive / Naively Radical’ at Extra City, Antwerpen with Thomas Bellinck, Ben Benaouisse, Seyni Awa Camara, Saddie Choua, Helga Davis & Anouk De Clercq, Vesna Faassen & Lukas Verdijk, Iman Issa, Léonard Pongo, Egon Van Herreweghe, Gert Verhoeven, Katarina Zdjelar
07 May 2021 – 10 October 2021
- Group Exhibition “Extractions” at “A Two Dogs Company” with Laura Colmenares Guerra, Niko Hafkenscheid & Valentina Stepanova, Felix Luque Sánchez and Kris Verdonck
24 April – 16 May 2021
- Shortlisted for CAP Prize 2021, The Contemporary African Prize
April 2021
- The Uncanny wins the ICP/GOST First Photo Book Award!
Book release scheduled for spring 2022
February 2021
- RTBF/La Première published an interview about Primordial Earth (French):
Au micro de Pascal Goffaux
February 2021
- Interview about Primordial Earth published in Bruzz:
A kind of paradise: Rejecting the single story of the Congo
February 2021
- Primordial Earth: Inhabiting the landscape
Solo Exhibition at Bozar
January-March 2021
- The Uncanny has been selected as PHmuseum Editors’ Top Projects of 2020
December 2020 - Talk with Michèle Magema, Anne Querrien, moderated by Yala Kisukidi: Kinshasa Star Line, part of Yango 2, Kinshasa Biennale 2021. Organised By Mac-Val Contemporary Art Center, France
December 2020
- Talk with historian of modern and contemporary African arts and photography Dr. Sandrine Colard organised by FOMU Antwerp and Futures Digital Festival
October 2020
- Group exhibition at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair with The Photographic Collective featuring works by Ala Kheir, Amina Kadous, Godelive Kasangati Kabena, Léonard Pongo, Lorraine Kalassa, Maheder Haileselassie, Nii Obodai, Nonzuzo Gxekwa, Pippa Hetherington & Rijasolo⠀curated by Julie Bonzon and Laura El Tantawy
October 2020
- Metro Imaging UK: Spotlight on the exhibition
October 2020
- Primordial Earth featured at Vogue.it in an interview with Astrid Lepoultier, Independent Curator (Bamako Encounters 19) and Chiara Bardelli Nonino, Photo Editor at Vogue.it
October 2020
- Talk with Ekow Eshun and Martina Bacigalupo for Visa Pour l’Image with Canon Student Development Programme: Africa as a State of Mind
September 5th 2020
- The Uncanny on show at Volklinger Hutte
April 2020 – November 2020 - The Necessary Evil short movie on show at the Institut des cultures d’Islam in Paris
March 12 – extended until December 27 2020
– Article in Le Monde: Images, religions et métissage à l’Institut des cultures d’islam, à Paris
– ICI made a Coronafree virtual exhibition
– Interview about The Necessary Evil by French newspaper “La Croix”
May 2020 - Participant in the 2020 edition of Plat(t)form at Fotomuseum Winterthur
January 2020 - Feature in RCRC Magazine: Life in the hotspot
December 2019
- Feature in the New York Times: On the Frontier, the Lubumbashi Biennial Makes Art From Obstacles
December 2019
- Recipient of “Prix OIF” at Bamako encounters
December 2019
- Rencontres de /Bamako/ Encounters
November 2019 - Residency/Workshop with “Le Point du Jour” art centre, Cherbourg
November 2019 - Biennale de Lubumbashi 2019
October 2019
- JRSLM – Paradise Lost Again: Exhibition at VUB, Brussels.
October 2019 - Mosso Residency, Bohicon, Benin
September 2019 - IncarNations Bozar: Exhibition at the Brussels Palace of Fine Arts
July-October 2019 - FOMU exhibition: 31 days of .TIFF
June 2019 - The Observer – Interview
May 2019
- FOMU – Photobook belge
March 2019
- ICRC – Publication: Mali-Niger, climate change and conflict make an explosive mix in the Sahel and Earthtime – Interractive Website
February 2019 - Jury member for the SO Award 2019
February 2019 - A Year in Pictures/Médecins Sans Frontières
January 2019 - Workshop Tutor, Masterclass at Keystone-SDA and the Nikon Switzerland headquarter , Zurich (CH)
December 2018 - Kokela Exhibition with MSF.be and Philips Antwerp
December 2018 - .TIFF Talk@FOMU (Antwerp Photo Museum)
October 2018 - The Uncanny on show at ICP Projected
October 2018 - Recipients of Getty Reportage Grants
September 2018 - An ugly truth behind ‘ethical consumerism’
April 2018
- Nominated for the 2018 Joop Swart Masterclass
April 2018 - Workshop at Kinshasa’s Académie des Beaux Arts with support from the Goethe Institut and EUNIC
February 2018
- Kasai publication in Le Monde
January 2018 - 9 Photo Stories That Will Challenge Your View Of The World – Buzzfeed
December 2017 - Winner 2017 Visura Grant for Outstanding Personal Project
December 2017 - Searching for a new experience of Congo – The Washington Post
December 2017 - Volkskrant Publication
June 2017 - The Necessary Evil on National Geographic
March 2017 - The Uncanny on CNN
March 2015 - Leica Magazine: Nothing But Ordinary Congo
January 2015 - Gomma Interview with Scott Typaldos
September 2014
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