Strong women from Congo in The Hague gallery Project 2.0
For his new photo series, Patrick Willocq conducted lengthy interviews. This led to portraits in which the modern Walés present themselves - in African glamourous fashion - as photo models. Together with Coen van den Oever of Galerie Project 2.0, the Frenchman is working on the exhibition concept and on a book
DATE
26 January 2022
TEXT
Hendrik van Leeuwen
IMAGE
Patrick Willocq and Fleur Beemster (portrait)
Strong women from Congo in The Hague gallery Project 2.0
For his new photo series, Patrick Willocq conducted lengthy interviews. This led to portraits in which the modern Walés present themselves - in African glamourous fashion - as photo models. Together with Coen van den Oever of Galerie Project 2.0, the Frenchman is working on the exhibition concept and on a book
Patrick Willocq needs to feel the jungle around him. His studio at an industrial site in Rijswijk is only a temporary workplace. He settles down somewhere for the sake of a project and moves on.
Coen van den Oever (gallery owner Project 2.0) and French photographer Patrick Willocq (right).
Yesterday it was Shanghai, today it is La Haye as the 1969-born Frenchman says, tomorrow it could be New York. But always playing in the background is the jungle of the Congo, an immense territory where an outsider can fatally stumble upon himself. Not for nothing did the writer Joseph Conrad speak of 'The Heart of Darkness'.
Magical childhood
Patrick Willocq lived there in magical childhood. It is of course cramped into a utilitarian space, but the man-sized plants surrounding the computer on which he edits his photos of the orange-coloured Walés reduce the distance nonetheless.
From speakers sounds the rhythmic chant of their piercing girl voices. The afternoon sun plays a shadow game with palms and banana leaves. Can't he miss the weave of green shapes, with all its smells and sounds?
 | Read also: 'Art is allowed to wriggle a bit' 'Most of the artists exhibiting here have "an edgy side"' |
Willocq shrugs. "The jungle is my best friend from childhood on," he says in the traveller's international English, with a slight French accent. "The jungle is the cradle of all my work."
'The jungle is the cradle of all my work'
He has settled in Rijswijk to present his latest project - 'I BeKoZ YoU, Act 1: the confinement of life-giving stars' Co-created by Boomo Bialé & The Walés - into the world. A job he is completing together with Coen van den Oever, his gallery owner in The Hague. In addition to the exhibition concept, work is under way on a book that will last longer than the fleeting actuality.
Gallery Project 2.0
Galerie Project 2.0 on the Noordeinde has been profiling top global photographers for years. Van den Oever mainly establishes contacts with artists and the public at Paris Photo, the most important art fair in this area, but he met Willocq by chance during the photo festival in Arles. They turned out to have a lot in common. In the wake of fathers with international careers, they both developed a fluid attitude to life with an interest in cultural phenomena.
The bare breasts and orange dye on the skin mark both her exalted status (the tribe lives on in her firstborn) and her sexual seclusion, this to protect the child as it is believed that semen poisons breastfeeding.
Media vita, Willocq decided to abandon his commercial career in Asia and embrace being an artist. He qualified as a photographer and went back to Africa. Could he use up-to-date technology to make the magic he experienced as a child palpable to a wider audience? Photography by documentary standards falls short of that.
Theatrical staging
The ethnographic image is truthful but also creates distance. "I call that the Salgado effect," says Willocq. "You look at communities on the verge of extinction, then it stops."
 | Read also: 'Artist of the year' Casper Faassen creates work with dancers NDT 'I haven't seen work like this before' |
To reduce the distance with an alien world, he chose theatrical staging. Not one plastic bucket, but dozens of them occupied the village square. The message will be clear. The strategy of stimulating the eye in this way is very common in contemporary art.
While working on 'The Road from Bikora to Bokonda', he took an unusual turn one day and ended up in a ritual that only after repeated visits did he delve deeper into: the 'liberation ceremony' of a Walé.
Orange dye
The entire tribe is present as a young 'breastfeeding mother' concludes a prolonged period of isolation. The bare breasts and orange dye on the skin mark both her exalted status (the tribe lives on in her first-born) and her sexual isolation, this to protect the child as it is believed that semen poisons breastfeeding.
The Walé can only wait patiently until she is redeemed
With song, dance and much spectacle, the Walé expresses her experiences. She can only wait patiently until she is bailed out, preferably by her husband, but with the growing influence of Western consumer goods, the gifts required become almost unattainable. Each Walé wants to surpass the previous one. These days, it sometimes takes up to seven years to find a solution.
Every Walé wants to surpass the previous one. These days, it sometimes takes up to seven years to find a solution.
The magnificent 'tableaux vivants' were built using local materials and techniques.
Patrick Willock won the trust of the community and re-staged the stories. Posing in front of his camera, one Walé expresses that she was fed badly, another Walé bluffs that she will transcend the mundane drudgery on a plane.
Contact with western culture also has consequences deep in the jungle
The magnificent 'tableaux vivants' were built using local materials and techniques. The plane, for instance, was woven from reeds. Ethnomusicologist Martin Boilo Mbula recorded their chants and was indispensable as a translator. It was not just the photos that went around the world. 'Songs of the Walés' also led to a documentary, which can be found on his website.
Popular beer
The latest project looks at modern Walé. Contact with western culture also has consequences deep in the jungle. Traditions such as styling the hairdo with a greasy, black paste seemingly remain intact, but the added crown corks of a popular beer indicate the competitive influence of 'fashion'.
'Men in danger of becoming 'losers'''
Every Walé not only wants to be more beautiful than the others, but also more up-to-date. People want to show off the latest find. "Women's self-confidence is steadily increasing," says Willocq, "but their increasing demands put pressure on men's position. They can hardly meet them. Men are in danger of becoming 'losers'."
For his new photo series, he conducted lengthy interviews. This led to portraits in which modern Walés present themselves - in African-style 'glamourous' - as photo models. That men embrace the global football shirt culture is rather shabby. They forsake their cultural background and fail to express their own unique personalities.
Unique, confident women
Patrick Willocq's photographs testify to human resilience to change, but gain also comes with loss. What commands admiration is Willocq's empathy. "I try to understand that strange, different story," he says. "It is much less different from ours than you might think at first glance. Definitely don't lump the Walés together, they are unique, self-aware women."
'I BeKoZ YoU, Act 1: the confinement of life-giving stars'
Co-created by Boomo Bialé & The Walés. Until 13 March.
text Hendrik van Leeuwen image Patrick Willocq and Fleur Beemster (portrait)
Patrick Willocq needs to feel the jungle around him. His studio at an industrial site in Rijswijk is only a temporary workplace. He settles down somewhere for the sake of a project and moves on.
Coen van den Oever (gallery owner Project 2.0) and French photographer Patrick Willocq (right).
Yesterday it was Shanghai, today it is La Haye as the 1969-born Frenchman says, tomorrow it could be New York. But always playing in the background is the jungle of the Congo, an immense territory where an outsider can fatally stumble upon himself. Not for nothing did the writer Joseph Conrad speak of 'The Heart of Darkness'.
Magical childhood
Patrick Willocq lived there in magical childhood. It is of course cramped into a utilitarian space, but the man-sized plants surrounding the computer on which he edits his photos of the orange-coloured Walés reduce the distance nonetheless.
From speakers sounds the rhythmic chant of their piercing girl voices. The afternoon sun plays a shadow game with palms and banana leaves. Can't he miss the weave of green shapes, with all its smells and sounds?
| Read also: 'Art is allowed to wriggle a bit' 'Most of the artists exhibiting here have "an edgy side"' |
Willocq shrugs. "The jungle is my best friend from childhood on," he says in the traveller's international English, with a slight French accent. "The jungle is the cradle of all my work."
'The jungle is the cradle of all my work'
He has settled in Rijswijk to present his latest project - 'I BeKoZ YoU, Act 1: the confinement of life-giving stars' Co-created by Boomo Bialé & The Walés - into the world. A job he is completing together with Coen van den Oever, his gallery owner in The Hague. In addition to the exhibition concept, work is under way on a book that will last longer than the fleeting actuality.
Gallery Project 2.0
Galerie Project 2.0 on the Noordeinde has been profiling top global photographers for years. Van den Oever mainly establishes contacts with artists and the public at Paris Photo, the most important art fair in this area, but he met Willocq by chance during the photo festival in Arles. They turned out to have a lot in common. In the wake of fathers with international careers, they both developed a fluid attitude to life with an interest in cultural phenomena.
The bare breasts and orange dye on the skin mark both her exalted status (the tribe lives on in her firstborn) and her sexual seclusion, this to protect the child as it is believed that semen poisons breastfeeding.
Media vita, Willocq decided to abandon his commercial career in Asia and embrace being an artist. He qualified as a photographer and went back to Africa. Could he use up-to-date technology to make the magic he experienced as a child palpable to a wider audience? Photography by documentary standards falls short of that.
Theatrical staging
The ethnographic image is truthful but also creates distance. "I call that the Salgado effect," says Willocq. "You look at communities on the verge of extinction, then it stops."
| Read also: 'Artist of the year' Casper Faassen creates work with dancers NDT 'I haven't seen work like this before' |
To reduce the distance with an alien world, he chose theatrical staging. Not one plastic bucket, but dozens of them occupied the village square. The message will be clear. The strategy of stimulating the eye in this way is very common in contemporary art.
While working on 'The Road from Bikora to Bokonda', he took an unusual turn one day and ended up in a ritual that only after repeated visits did he delve deeper into: the 'liberation ceremony' of a Walé.
Orange dye
The entire tribe is present as a young 'breastfeeding mother' concludes a prolonged period of isolation. The bare breasts and orange dye on the skin mark both her exalted status (the tribe lives on in her first-born) and her sexual isolation, this to protect the child as it is believed that semen poisons breastfeeding.
The Walé can only wait patiently until she is redeemed
With song, dance and much spectacle, the Walé expresses her experiences. She can only wait patiently until she is bailed out, preferably by her husband, but with the growing influence of Western consumer goods, the gifts required become almost unattainable. Each Walé wants to surpass the previous one. These days, it sometimes takes up to seven years to find a solution.
Every Walé wants to surpass the previous one. These days, it sometimes takes up to seven years to find a solution.
The magnificent 'tableaux vivants' were built using local materials and techniques.
Patrick Willock won the trust of the community and re-staged the stories. Posing in front of his camera, one Walé expresses that she was fed badly, another Walé bluffs that she will transcend the mundane drudgery on a plane.
Contact with western culture also has consequences deep in the jungle
The magnificent 'tableaux vivants' were built using local materials and techniques. The plane, for instance, was woven from reeds. Ethnomusicologist Martin Boilo Mbula recorded their chants and was indispensable as a translator. It was not just the photos that went around the world. 'Songs of the Walés' also led to a documentary, which can be found on his website.
Popular beer
The latest project looks at modern Walé. Contact with western culture also has consequences deep in the jungle. Traditions such as styling the hairdo with a greasy, black paste seemingly remain intact, but the added crown corks of a popular beer indicate the competitive influence of 'fashion'.
'Men in danger of becoming 'losers'''
Every Walé not only wants to be more beautiful than the others, but also more up-to-date. People want to show off the latest find. "Women's self-confidence is steadily increasing," says Willocq, "but their increasing demands put pressure on men's position. They can hardly meet them. Men are in danger of becoming 'losers'."
For his new photo series, he conducted lengthy interviews. This led to portraits in which modern Walés present themselves - in African-style 'glamourous' - as photo models. That men embrace the global football shirt culture is rather shabby. They forsake their cultural background and fail to express their own unique personalities.
Unique, confident women
Patrick Willocq's photographs testify to human resilience to change, but gain also comes with loss. What commands admiration is Willocq's empathy. "I try to understand that strange, different story," he says. "It is much less different from ours than you might think at first glance. Definitely don't lump the Walés together, they are unique, self-aware women."
'I BeKoZ YoU, Act 1: the confinement of life-giving stars'
Co-created by Boomo Bialé & The Walés. Until 13 March.
