Gentlemen of Bacongo, by Daniele Tamagni (Italy, 1975), is a series of portraits of the sapeurs, members of the SAPE (Societé des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elégantes) in Bacongo, a poor district of the Congolese capital, Brazzaville. This society, professing an almost religious devotion to fashion, has spread from there across to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to Congolese immigrant communities in Paris and Brussels.
The sapeurs, dressed in clothes by leading international designers, stand in stark contrast to their social background. The way they choose and combine their outfits is a creative expression of local tastes, attitudes and aesthetics. Their style involves the somewhat theatrical posturing that befits the dandy, the studied poses of the fashion model. All this is conveyed in Tamagni’s photographs, which also capture the contrast between the sartorial splendour and the setting in which it is paraded, achieving a unique combination of fashion photography and social reportage. Tamagni’s work marks an interesting departure for a fashion photographer, and highlights the shifting, blending approach of contemporary photography, a blurring of the boundaries between genres. Tamagni shuns the superficial exotic appeal of the sapeurs – while not avoiding it – in order to focus on the fascinating, vibrant background in which these impoverished dandies flourish.
The cultural phenomenon so neatly captured here by Tamagni is clearly controversial. It may be dismissed as a feckless waste of money, as male exhibitionism, as surrendering to western values and the dictates of the international luxury market. Yet it may also be seen as an active, “incorrect” appropriation and resignifying of those values by the subject as agent, as a creative response to the values of his own context. At the same time, it champions individuality and subjectivity in the face of poverty, as a symbolic way of overcoming (or escaping) it. Néstor García Canclini argues that consumption “may be a stage for the commercial shaping of habits and distinction, or a place for creative innovation and intellection discernment: consumerism as a means of provoking thought”. African dandyism reflects the importance of aesthetics as a basic human need, and of fashion as a space for transgression, in terms not only of its design but also of its varied and inventive uses.
Gerardo Mosquera, Curator
Daniele Tamagni (Italy, 1975) has photographed several communities in Africa, and more recently in Bolivia. His work highlights the shifting, blending approach that marks contemporary photography, a blurring of the boundaries between genres. He has had shows at numerous venues, including the Visa pour l’image photo festival, the Paris Photo fair and several art centres, and has won prizes at the World Press Photo Contest and the ICP Infinity Awards.
Gentlemen of Bacongo – Daniele Tamagni
07.06 – 22.07.2012
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