Dialogue with the Source

What do you hear when you listen to the earth? For almost a decade, Belgian-Congolese artist Léonard Pongo has travelled through the Democratic Republic of Congo, exploring its landscapes as living entities shaped by knowledge, memory and transformation. Expanding on his 2024 film Tales from the Source, Pongo has developed Dialogue with the Source, a spatial installation for FOMU that combines photography, video and textiles and invites us into a sensory encounter with the land.

Rooted in Congolese traditions, symbolism and philosophy, Pongo’s work moves beyond the idea of landscape as something to be mapped or observed. Instead, the land emerges as its own ageless being. Using modified full-spectrum cameras and techniques inspired by multispectral imaging, Pongo captures wavelengths invisible to the human eye. Surreal colours and unfamiliar light transform the natural environment into an otherworldly presence, revealing its richness while reminding us that what we see is always partial and subjective.

People remain absent from the images, yet the relationship between humans and the land lies at the heart of the work. Throughout his journeys, Pongo has engaged with researchers and local communities, drawing on their stories and knowledge. A recurring motif is the banana tree as a symbol of life, fertility and cyclical renewal.

Dialogue with the Source challenges us to look beyond the visible and enter into a dialogue with the unfathomable power, diversity and knowledge of the congolese landscape.