Gelatin silver print, printed later
In 1954 Depara established his studio in Leopoldville (present-day Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo), a city that boasted a thriving music scene of some three hundred clubs. Depara quickly became a devoted chronicler of Congolese nightlife. His entrancing images present young, self-possessed women, contemplative musicians, and dynamic, aspiring intellectuals. The writer Yasmina Price has noted that Depara’s portraits “synthesized how political currents registered on the lived scale of people off the clock—not just from their daytime obligations but also from official timelines.”, normal
Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination, 2025
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Portraiture and Political Imagination
2 SouthCan a photographic portrait inspire political imagination? Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination examines how photographers and their sitters contributed to the proliferation of Pan-African solidarity during the mid-20th century.
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