New outdoor exhibition brings Congo to London’s South Bank

 

Famous for his portraits of Kate Moss, Kylie and the Queen, photographer Rankin has joined forces with Oxfam to bring the faces of those caught up in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo to London’s South Bank.

 

Opening tomorrow (21 October 2008), his exhibition – sponsored by the Cooperative Bank and hosted outside the National Theatre – sees Rankin’s celebrity portraiture being used with entirely different subjects – the residents of Mugunga camp, home to 17,000 people displaced by Congo’s harrowing violence.

 

Photographed against Rankin’s trademark white backdrop rather than in their everyday surroundings, those in the portraits boldly defy the war victim tag and shine out as real people with individuality, humour and warmth. Jasmine, a young girl, mimics Rankin with her own camera made from a tin can; Tumanini, a tailor, smiles broadly as she balances her sewing machine on her head; and Marina, a grandmother, stands proudly with her grandchildren by her side.  

 

The exhibition’s name Cheka Kidogo, meaning “laugh a little” in Swahili, celebrates the spirit of the Congolese people in the face of adversity, but was also the phrase that people called out to their friends being photographed.  

 

Rankin said:

 

“I think we have become anesthetised to traditional photographs of conflict victims. By taking my celebrity portraiture style of photography and applying it to the survivors in the camps in Congo I have tried to get beyond the statistics and show the human side of the conflict.

 

“It is crazy that we hear nothing about the Democratic Republic of Congo. The level of suffering there is horrendous, but it hardly makes the news. I heard awful stories of young girls being raped and people fleeing attacks on their villages.   Despite the suffering that they have been through the people of Congo are just like us and need our help. I hope the exhibition will wake people up to what is going on.”

 

The scale of Congo’s suffering defies belief. Since 1998, the country has lost 5.4 million people to conflict, and the deadly disease and hunger that it has unleashed.   Over a million people are displaced in the eastern part of the country, with over 500,000 people having fled from violence in the last year alone. Rape is epidemic. This year more than 1,100 women a month have reported being raped, although the real figure is likely to be much higher.

   

Speaking about his experience in the Congo, Rankin said:

 

“I felt energised by the strength of the people and their will to survive and to make their lives better. Yet they all have these really awful stories. They have all seen their brothers and sisters, wives, husbands, daughters or sons killed in front of them, and you can see it in their eyes.”

 

As well as taking portraits of people, Rankin and Oxfam staff put on an impromptu exhibition of Rankin’s work in Mugunga camp, with printed photos hung by clothes pegs on washing lines.

 

“It got an amazing reception. Hoards more people lined up and insisted I took their photographs too. They all wanted to have their pictures taken, so they could have their stories told in the West. It was humbling stuff”, said Rankin.   

 

Oxfam hopes the exhibition will raise awareness of the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has launched an appeal to raise funds for its work there.   The charity is supplying clean water and sanitation to camps and communities across eastern Congo.   It is also lobbying nationally and internationally for better protection of civilians. To make a donation to Oxfam’s DRC appeal, please text DRC to 87099 or go to oxfam.org.uk

 

ENDS

 

Notes to editors:

 

1. The London exhibition is comprised of 32 images mounted on 7ft stands outside the National Theatre and will be running until 21 December 2008.   The portraits will be displayed together with video screens playing footage of Rankin at work in the Congo and interviews with people in Mugunga camp. The exhibition is free.

 

2. ‘Cheka Kidogo is sponsored by The Co-operative Bank who is a long term supporter of Oxfam. Money raised from the Oxfam Credit Card, which is kindly provided by The Co-operative Bank, supports our work across the world, including the Democratic Republic of Congo.’ For more information visit www.oxfam.org.uk/creditcard ’

Tags: Humanitarian

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