#Patrick Willocq

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Bontongu, one of the last bantu walé, 2012

© Patrick Willocq

“Dans la forêt équatoriale du Congo (RDC), certaines femmes pygmées Batwas chez les Ekondas, mères pour la première fois, vivent recluses avec leurs enfants au milieu d’autres femmes chargées de leur bien-être. On les appelle les « Walés », ce qui signifie « femmes qui allaitent ». Le rituel a la particularité de mettre les jeunes femmes en concurrence. Elle s’attribue donc elle-même un sobriquet qui la différencie de ses rivales. Chaque jour, la jeune femme s’engage dans une toilette élaborée conçue pour attirer l’attention de tout le monde sur elle et faire étalage de son unicité. Le respect de l’interdit sexuel pendant cette période, en dépit de son attractivité et de sa jeunesse, lui confère un statut semblable à celui d’un patriarche. Pendant ce temps de réclusion, elles doivent aussi créer un spectacle de danses et de chants pour le grand jour : leur libération. Les chansons interprétées sont spécifiques à chaque Walé. Depuis plusieurs années, le photographe Patrick Willocq collabore avec ces jeunes mères, actrices très complices de sa démarche, et tente ainsi de percer les mystères de ce rite initiatique ô combien symbolique.”

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ph.: patrick willocq

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Patrick Willocq, From: Songs of the Walés, 2017

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Si je quittais mon pays from Julie Gilles on Vimeo.

Un film de Maria Pia Bernardoni and Patrick Willocq

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Read Adjoah Amah's (@adjoaarmah) review of Nuku Photo Festival (@nukufestival) - Ghana’s first festival for photographic encounters, exchanges and story telling - Nuku Photo Festival: link to read in bio. - Image: Patrick Willocq, (@patrick_willocq) One Finger Cannot Pick a Atone - traditions and modernity - #NataalMedia #NukuPhotoFestival #Ghana #accra https://www.instagram.com/p/Bogx4kcHNqq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=nei2ml4t0qrp

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The Arch of Walé Oyombé. Patrick Willocq.

[miss-rosen]

CELEBRATING THIS DAY IN 1965 WHEN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO TOOK ITS NAME THE CLASSICS | PATRICK WILLOQ: SONG OF THE WALES Miss Rosen for Feature Shoot

The Bantu (Pygmy) tribes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are among the oldest peoples living on earth. Believed to be the direct descendants of Late Stone Age hunter-gatherers of the central African rainforest, they have maintained traditions and rituals that date back thousands of years. When women of the Ekonda pygmy tribe become first-time mothers, they become Walés (“nursing mothers”), living in seclusion with their children. Here they are tended to by other women who teach them about their health and that of their children, who regardless of gender are the heir of the family and sometimes the entire clan. Read the Full Story at Feature Shoot Photo: NTEMBE, SPARROW-HAWK WALE. Ntembe — the doubter. From the village of Bokondobuna. Boonde clan. © Patrick Willocq

Bottom: WALE BAKUKU, ANTS DISH. Bakuku — the queen. From the village of Bokondobuna. Boonde clan. © Patrick Willocq

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From Hope to Labyrinth: Summer Exhibitions Review – The Euroculturer

By Maeva Chargros

Besides reading all days long, summer holidays are also a perfect occasion to visit some museums… or enjoy some festivals. I had been willing to go to the Rencontres d’Arles for years: I finally managed to go there last month! This festival allows you to stroll through the streets of this centuries-old city while visiting various photography exhibitions. Art photography, photoreportage, experimental, contemporary art, light and sound, video artworks, you name it! If you’re a visual art enthusiast, Arles is definitely the place to go to during the summer! Here is a very small excerpt of what can be seen during this year’s edition (open until September 23!), as well as some comments about two other exhibitions I’ve been to, both in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.

#HOPE – Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (Arles)

An entire building dedicated to this word: hope. In the first three rooms, you discover the fate of 50 refugees in a small French village through the camera of Patrick Willocq. It could be summarised with two words in French, three in English: “welcome, go back!” (“bienvenue, dégage !”). The presence of tens of flashy orange life jackets – used by refugees crossing of the Mediterranean Sea – reminds the visitor this is not just about art: this building is home to humanity’s best quality, the ability to keep hoping no matter what happens around us. The testimonies shared in the fourth room also covering the theme of refugees in Lebanon are simply heart-breaking and the pictures – taken by Omar Imam, himself a Syrian refugee – stunning. “Experience: ex-jihadist”, one of the pictures says, showing how complex the topic of reintegration into the society is for those who come back from ISIS and other terrorist groups. Read more about his project here.

“God told me one day to stop beheading people.”

One of the most vibrant and emotional rooms contained only three artworks: collages of various known or less known pictures from archives, developed with the collodion process (a 19th century photography technique), with a text engraved in them. One was showing the atrocities related to violence in the Middle-East; the second one was focusing on Hiroshima, the Vietnam War, and other terrible events that took place on the Asian continent; the third and last one was covered with illustrations of the consequences of xenophobia and racism, be it slavery, torture or other forms of discrimination. The first one had verses of the Bible engraved on it – “in” the pictures – in Latin, Hebrew and Arabic languages. The second one had a Tibetan prayer (the heart sūtra) written in Old Kanji. The last one, the Declaration of Human Rights written in an African dialect (probably Mande or Kru). Though the images are absolutely terrible, I understood it as a form of prayer from the artist, Matthias Olmeta, hoping such abominations won’t occur again, and therefore I thought this exhibition, “Traité de Paix”, was the most “beautiful” among all projects despite its tragic topic.

Even though everything was captivating in this exhibition, I had to focus on only a few projects. The last two I would like to mention are both related to Latin America – a region I knew very little about until the second semester of Euroculture, by the way! Patrice Loubon and his “L’autre c’est le même” project (“The other is the same”) mix photography with “arpilleras” (see below), a patchwork technique typical of Chile and especially the Pinochet period. Nowadays, this art is mainly used for touristic purposes: the photographer gave back to these artists – women – their original purpose. Last but certainly not least was “Puro Pueblo”, by John Hall. It took decades for him to find an editor who would accept to publish some of his pictures taken in the 1970s during the pro-Allende demonstrations that followed the coup d’état – some still remain unpublished today! Every single one of his shots speaks louder than thousands of words; he developed them in a sink of a hostel room, just before leaving the country. If you can read French, I recommend you click here to know more about the story behind his pictures.

“Under torture you cannot see the line between real and surreal. I saw myself in a serene place holding my daughter. That image motivated me to survive.” (“Live, Love, Refugee”, by Omar Imam)

You can learn more about the exhibition and its different projects here and here.

Extensions de Graffitis & Labyrinthes (Villeneuve-lès-Avignon)

If you don’t know the name of this French city, it is rather normal: its good old rival, Avignon, stole the show for quite a few centuries, on the eastern shore of the river Rhône. Popes are more important than cardinals, after all, right?

The first exhibition, Extensions de Graffitis, was located in the Fort Saint André, on top of the hill overlooking the city. My favourite artwork is not hard to guess: it is the featured picture of this article. It represents the Saint Michel prison in Toulouse, drawn in iron powder on a magnetised structure by Nicolas Daubanes. I can’t quite explain why I was mesmerised by this work: it is almost hypnotising, as if the magnet had some sort of influence on the spectator, perhaps. The rest of the exhibition was also very interesting, covering a wide range of techniques – including graffitis from the late Middle-Ages and the 18th century, for instance, found on the walls and floors of the fort itself. Pascal Lièvre’s project of drawing the names of feminist activists in grey sparkles had an effect close to a meditation session – which is not so surprising given its title, “Rêver l’obsur” (dreaming the darkness). In the same city, I found “by chance” another art exhibition in the Chartreuse monastery. It is called “Extensions Labyrinthe” and it was very well adapted to the monastery itself: I got lost quite a few times during the visit, completely forgot any sense of time, and ended up waiting for a drop of water to fall in a room put in complete darkness. The pictures below show a few “expressions” of the theme “labyrinth” as interpreted by the artists of the exhibition.

Overall, all exhibitions were very interesting, including the one I haven’t mentioned in detail, “Le Dernier Testament” by Jonas Bendiksen – closed now, unfortunately. However, I highly recommend you visit HOPE before September 23rd: a couple of hours minimum will be necessary to seize the greatness of every project presented there. The Rencontres d’Arles mix techniques, topics, and perspectives in a unique way: if you can’t make it this year, include it your agenda for summer 2019! As for Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, you have until November 4 to see the labyrinth… don’t hesitate to lose yourself in the contemplation of the artworks, but don’t forget also to pay attention to this wonderful historical place. Indeed, France is currently struggling to maintain most of its historical heritage, sadly, and such exhibitions also aim at drawing more attention and more visitors to these monuments.

Note: all pictures have been taken by the author of this article with the permission of the exhibitions’ managers.

Source

https://euroculturer.eu/2018/09/16/from-hope-to-labyrinth-summer-exhibitions-review/

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Patrick Willocq, dalla serie Walè 2éme regard - Walè Ntembe, the doubter, 2014,

Courtesy: VisionQuesT contemporary photography

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【可口農民曆】宜 後天形成 | 忌 天生的

國曆07月12日 / 農曆05月29日

" 真正的愛情本當承受對方的偶然性，就是說，承受對方的缺點、局限、原始的無緣由；愛情不會成為一種拯救，而是成為一種人際關係。"——西蒙．波娃(Simone de Beauvoir)《第二性》

Photography by Patrick Willocq

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Berlin Street Art and the Leica Oscar Barnack Award

Photography and street art are two of my favourite things and Berlin has to be one of the best places to experience them. I was invited to Berlin to meet the finalists of the prestigious Leica LOBA Awards and to try my hand at photographing street art with the Leica TL2. Housed in a stylish yellow leather case, it’s an intriguing mix of retro style and modern technology. There are touch screen controls and high tech features such as Wi-Fi transfer and 4x video. I loved the slow-mo effect when filming! Paul and I have long been fans of Leica lenses for their precision but I’d never tried a Leica camera before. All their cameras are handmade at their factory in Germany and the quality really shows. I’d had a tutorial at Leica’s Mayfair store on Bruton Place but thankfully it’s easy to use once you get the hang of it.

Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2017

First we had the chance to interview the winners, Terje Abusdal and Sergey Melnitchenko, at the gallery exhibition in Neue Schule für Photografie. The overall winner of the awards, Terje Abusdal, has documented the lives of the Finnskogen ethnic group in Norway. His series, “Slash and Burn” portrays the lives of the Finnish descendants, also known as Forest of the Finns. Their 17th century ancestors originally used slash and burn techniques to clear agricultural land and the photos have an eery quality, reflecting their former shamanic rituals.

Sergey Melnitchenko won the Newcomer award and got into photography when he had a tongue piercing and his Grandma said she’d buy him a small camera if he removed it! Born in Ukraine, he currently lives in China and whilst working as a dancer there, he took fascinating portrait photos of his fellow dancers for his series “Behind the Scenes”.

London based photographer Vera Torok was one of my favourite finalists, with her innovative techniques. She accidentally loaded a pre-used film into her Leica L6 and exposed it twice. The series of photographs is entitled “Accidentally on Purpose” and aims to show the complexity of living in a digital world, continually surrounded by information.

Patrick Willocq also wowed with his colourful series of photographs, “You Cannot Pick a Stone with One Finger”. The French photographer worked closely with the Dagomba, an ethnic tribe living in Ghana to produce these vibrant images.

Then we walked to the evening venue, the atmospheric St Elisabeth Kirche, a former church that was lit up beautifully for the awards ceremony – Berlin at night looks as great as during the day. Dr Andreas Kaufmann – majority shareholder and chairman of the supervisory board, Leica Camera AG gave an interesting talk about the founder of Leica and awards namesake, Oskar Barnack. This visionary inventor realised that photos with a human element, such as someone running into your shot accidentally, can be much more interesting than “perfect” images. if someone runs into your shot. He photographed his children and the shots had a lot more life than most at the time. He also documented catastrophes, street scenes and events including reportage on local  floods. The Leica was introduced in the 1920s and Oscar invented new aesthetics like cropping people to the side of the frame rather than always having them in the centre.

Beautiful Places in Berlin

Earlier in the day, I had time for a quick walk around Berlin. I haven’t been for many years and was blown away by the majestic buildings and sense of history. Walking to Brandenburg Gate, I came across monumental museums and leafy parks. The most striking of these was the Tiergarten and the memorial for the 220,000-500,000 Sinti and Roma victims of Nazi genocide. Designed by Israeli artist Dani Karavan , it’s a circular pool with a triangular stone at its centre upon which a flower is placed daily. There’s a sense of calm and reconciliation about this place. The Leica TL2 really picked up on the nuances of light playing on the water and leaves.

It was here that the first person approached me to find out about my camera. He was to be the first of many, as I soon found out that it’s a real conversation starter!

Photo by Chris Beastall

Brandenburg Gate was built between 1788 and 1791 and has an impressive statue on top with the goddess of victory and four horses. The weather turned dark and stormy when I visited and my camera picked up on the mood perfectly.

It’s hard to imagine that the photos above and below were taken within a few minutes of each other. Clearly the weather in Berlin is as changeable as in London. The Reichstag dates from 1894 and is the meeting place of the German Parliament, known as the Bundestag.

The TL2 seemed to lend itself particularly well to architectural details, like the patterns on Oberbaum Bridge and the colonnaded walkways of the Neues Museum. There isn’t a viewfinder, which can be disconcerting in bright sunlight although it’s possible to buy a bolt-on. My particular Leica didn’t have a zoom lens, which actually helps you to learn how to crop your photos better. Being a mirrorless model, it’s extremely light and fast to focus and shoot.

Flowers and a fountain gave me the perfect opportunity to attempt the bokeh effect for which Leica is famous. Bokeh is basically focusing on an object in the foreground such as a flower whilst deliberately blurring the background.

Berlin Street Art

The next day we were treated to a street art tour in the trendy Kreuzberg Berlin area. There are some interesting artworks here, many of which were created by famous street artists such as OSGEMEOS. These Brazilian twins once both had a dream in which they saw all people as being yellow, so now their signature style incorporates yellow characters.

Some of the street art aims to make you think but as our guide said, there are often multiple possible interpretations. For example, The Pink Man depicts a giant man and a multitude of smaller men, but are they helping each other or fighting? Is the character in the giant’s hand going to be consumed by him and what could this mean? He’s a different colour to all the others so is he being singled out for being different and could this be a statement about the situation in wartime? Italian artist BLU leaves it up to you to decide.

At first glance, this street art might look like a couple embracing but look a bit closer and the figure on the right could be engulfing the other person…

I asked our guide how the street artists managed to create such huge paintings without detection. Apparently the larger artworks are commissioned by the local council and sometimes by restaurants. However it’s a fine line as the street art is causing property prices to rise and they want to keep the area accessible for locals. Amidst the urban landscape there are occasional pockets of green.

After our tour we headed to RioGrande for a quick riverside lunch of goulash and the obligatory German beer ;-). My final destination was the infamous Checkpoint Charlie. After East Germany built the Berlin Wall to stop the mass exodus of its citizens to the West, this famous sentry point was established in 1961 as a gateway for foreign tourists and Allied diplomats. It’s a bit bizarre to see the fake American soldiers who pose with tourists for photographs for a fee.

Sadly, Checkpoint Charlie was often the final destination for those trying to escape. At least 140 people died and tributes to some of the victims are displayed close by, as well as the photo of an unnamed American soldier. The Allies could not officially assist anyone trying to escape although American serviceman Eric Yaw did help Hans-Peter Spitzner and his daughter to flee in the trunk of his car. The wall was finally knocked down in 1989.

It’s moving to think that East and West Berlin are now reunited. Berlin street art is a unifying element thanks to the diversity of artists that you’ll come across in Berlin. The past should not be forgotten but like this vintage Trabant car reimagined by Thierry Noir, it has been infused with a new lease of life and colour.

Similarly, the variety of photographers entering the Leica LOBA Awards is heartening to see. I can see why the LEICA brand inspires so much devotion from it’s fans, and hope that you like the photos of Berlin. If you’re visiting the city, you can see all the finalists’ photographs at a free exhibition at the Neue Schule für Photographie until 15 October, when the exhibition heads to Rome.

Are you a fan of street art?

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Patrick Willocq

Patrick Willocq investigated the the Ekondas pygmies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For these people, the first birth of a child is known to be sacred. The young mother is called walé (‘primiparous nursing mother’).

A walé carries both responsibilities and status. The mother returns to her parents, where she becomes isolated for a period of 2 to 5 years. It is essential to obey to several strict taboos during this time..

Each day the woman take part in a beautification ritual to draw attention to herself. They distribute a red mixture of powder of ‘ngola’ wood with palm oil, over her own body. The sophisticated hairstyles, made of a mud like paste, a mixture of ashes from bopokoloko leaves and palm oil, are yet another way for walés to flaunt their uniqueness.

“Actresses act and stage appearance.”

The use of colour in Willocq’s work is what caught my eye. In our society, in the modern world going out with powder spread all over your body will be seen as an embarrassment. However, in Congo it seems to be a normal, everyday act that the women comply to.  I believe that negative perceptions and stereotypes would be extracted from this tradition if similar actions were completed in a dense, developing population such as London. The negative stereotypes of people are sometimes exiled from their lifestyle. In my opinion, background plays an impressive role in how we are judged as a person. An example is: if there had been a group of Africans in an expensive shop, people may assume that they are thieves because in ‘Africa’ most of the population suffers from poverty – having no money encourages them to steal from other in order to survive. This is incorrect however, judgements are formed everyday just by people looking at you. This shoot that Willocq has completed, emphasises how beauty is different for everyone but it does not mean you are less beautiful because you are different. I think that his work is revealing a message of how you define beauty as person, everyone is beautiful in their individual way.

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This is the first photo project I worked when I started to work at Save the Children. Loads of learnings and challenges.  We worked with Patrick Willocq  who recreated the experiences of children who have fled Burundi and Syria using personalised theatre sets. 

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HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO ! THE CLASSICS | PATRICK WILLOCQ: SONG OF THE WALES Miss Rosen for Feature Shoot

The Bantu (Pygmy) tribes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are among the oldest peoples living on earth. Believed to be the direct descendants of Late Stone Age hunter-gatherers of the central African rainforest, they have maintained traditions and rituals that date back thousands of years.

When women of the Ekonda pygmy tribe become first-time mothers, they become Walés (“nursing mothers”), living in seclusion with their children. Here they are tended to by other women who teach them about their health and that of their children, who regardless of gender are the heir of the family and sometimes the entire clan.

Read the Full Story at Feature Shoot

Photo: WALE ASONGWAKA TAKES OFF. Asongwaka — the beautiful. From the village of Bioko. Ilongo clan. © Patrick Willocq

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LensCulture

https://www.lensculture.com/explore/editors-pick?modal=project-4694-on-the-road-from-bikoro-to-bokonda

After browsing the different artists on lensculture.com for a bit, I discovered many different artists, and many different techniques/styles.  In particular, I really enjoyed Patrick Willocq’s photographs.  Patrick Willocq’s collection focuses on different themes pertaining to everyday village life in the Democratic Republic of congo.  I like the colors and angles in his collection, however I also like that he is trying to portray the peaceful side of the West, which is often masked by the war-filled side of the East.