Baudouin Mouanda Le ciel de saison
Chez la marchande de légumes (At the Vegetable Seller’s), 2020
Series
These photographs are based on real events during floods in Brazzaville, Congo, during lockdown in 2020. They are a reminder of the need to respect the environment or face reprisals from nature. The seasons have changed, the threat from the rains is permanent.
When thunder arrives at night, no one stays indoors, everyone is keeping watch on the sky. They find a shovel, a saucepan or a bucket to clear the sand and water, they try to create a dam against the torrent. For the elderly, the effort seems futile. They abandon their homes, pointing at the sky saying, ‘God alone knows.’
It was impossible to get into inundated streets. Mouanda instead gathered personal testimonies to reconstruct the desolation later. Residents brought their belongings and posed in a flooded basement to recreate the situations they faced. Thanks to them, this project saw the light of day.
About the photographer
Ouésso, Congo, 1981
Congolese
Brazzaville, Congo
About Baudouin Mouanda
Mouanda started taking photographs in 1993, using his father’s Zenith camera. He was soon working for local papers, chronicling life in Brazzaville. He turned away from conventional photographer’s work, such as family portraits and souvenir photographs, to focus on the history of his country and the consequences of the repeated wars in both Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He is equally known for photographs of daily life in Congo and wider themes including climate and education.
Mouanda’s series Les séquelles de la guerre (The Aftermath of War), mainly shot in Kinshasa, DRC, was exhibited at Rencontres de Bamako, Mali, in 2009, where he won the Young Talent Award. This led to his acceptance on to a photojournalism course at the Centre de formation et de perfectionnement des journalistes, Paris. His encounter there with a society of extravagantly dressed Congolese dandies led to his successful series Sapeurs, shot in Brazzaville.
Work by Mouanda has been exhibited at numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally, including at the Gasworks gallery, London i (2011); MIA Gallery, Seattle, Washington (2013) and the Breda International Photo Festival, Netherlands (2016).
He has won numerous prizes, including the Central Africa category in the 2011 African Beauty in All Its States Award, presented by the African Union and the European Union; and the Prix Roger-Pic, Paris, in 2022.
He works regularly with news publications including Jeune Afrique, Planète jeune, Afrique Magazine, Le Monde, L’Express styles, VSD and L’Humanité. Mouanda is co-founder of the Brazzaville-based collective Génération Elili, which promotes Congolese photography and encourages the community to participate.