Congo

In this sumptuously printed, large-format publication, distinguished Magnum photographers Paolo Pellegrin and Alex Majoli present a collaborative document of the Congo and its people. Bringing together the best of each photographer’s personal styles as well as experimental forays into abstraction and collage, this volume captures what Alain Mabanckou describes as a full range of the landscape, “from urban scenes to great forests and back, reflecting the way it is in most African societies today.” With no captions or individual photo credits, the densely printed images?presented on full-bleed pages, as gatefolds, or as double-spread gatefolds?become wholly immersive. Mabanckou writes in his introduction that, “for the duration of this project [the photographers] must have become full-time ‘Congolese,’ living with the people in cities and in villages, sharing their joys and sorrows, crossing rivers and floods, stepping over public garbage bins, mingling with crowds of wildly excited children, roaming the banks of tributaries and streams, watching the endurance of the river dock workers.” The outcome is a profound study of Congo, and the resulting object exemplifies the expressive possibilities of contemporary documentary photography. The proceeds of the sale of this book go to Lynx for Hope, a non-profit dedicated to cultural development programs.