Hangar presents a selection of black and white prints of the Koglweogo report, the mirror of a state bankruptcy. Presented for the first time, the Koglweogo series won the “Golden Visa for Digital Information” at the “Visa pour l’image” festival in Perpignan in September 2018.
Koglweogo, mirror of a state bankruptcy / Rewarded as one of the best photojournalistic subjects by Visa for Image in 2018, the project Koglweogo, mirror of a state bankruptcy is exposed for the first time.
With the journalist Valentine van Vyve, Olivier Papegnies went to meet the Koglweogo, these Burkinabé self-defense groups as necessary as they are controversial. The result is black and white prints, halfway between reportage and artistic project.
Since 2015, these groups settled down as “guardians of the forest” and as a social Burkinabe movement. Originally from rural areas, they have now won the cities and the capital of the country. These groups were born out of the blood of a population victim of robbers, highwaymen, thieves, terrorists, who decided to take the reins of their security. These “militias” call themselves actors of peace, defenders of the common good and want to fight against two problems: the injustice and the corruption of the police. Welcomed by the population, which seems to have found a certain serenity, Koglweogo give themselves the right to stop, judge and punish savagely, after rudimentory trials. Not respecting the law, they become difficult to manage, which worries human rights defenders who fear they imperil the rule of law. The popularity of Koglweogo prevents political representatives from fighting them openly.
Olivier Papegnies: Koglweogo, miroir d’une faillite d’Etat
Hangar / art center gallery
January 25 – February 23, 2019
18, Place du Châtelain 1050 Brussels Belgium
