Unsung Heroes: The informal economies of Kinshasa

This body of work is inspired by years spent in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this megacity of over 17 million the streets are crisscrossed by street vendors who carry their merchandise on their heads with remarkable poise and grace.

Carrying a centuries-old tradition into the 21st century, these men and women with their “head stores” form a significant system of economic survival that often supports entire families.

caryatides congolaises I, 2023
archival pigment print
22 × 16 1/2 in | 55.9 × 41.9 cm
Edition of 10 | $850 | To place order, please contact Sozita Goudouna/The Opening Gallery  1 (347) 971-8670 or send an email.

In “Caryatides Congolaises”, I reimagine these vendors as caryatids— load-bearing human figures used as architectural supports in Greek classical architecture—as becoming part of the urban fabric of Kinshasa.

Several of these mobile displays captured my attention for their striking architectural quality: “sundries stores” constructed from cardboard boxes held together by rubber bands, vertical stacks of egg cartons crowned by pyramids of hard-boiled eggs, and multi-packs of bottled water, also carried vertically.

I am particularly fascinated by how the “head stores” seem to obey their own kind of architectural logic, as if guided by a building code.

Unsung Heroes is a tribute to the dignity and strength of these men and women and a meditation on the informal economies across the Global South.

Eggs and Sundries, 2023
Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Hemp. (60% hemp fibre, 40% cotton; acid- and lignin-free)
10x 20 in | 25x50cm
edition of 5 | $950 | To place order, please contact Sozita Goudouna/The Opening Gallery  1 (347) 971-8670 or send an email.

Water and Sundries, 2023
Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Hemp. (60% hemp fibre, 40% cotton; acid- and lignin-free)
10x 20 in | 25x50cm
edition of 5 | $950 | To place order, please contact Sozita Goudouna/The Opening Gallery  1 (347) 971-8670 or send an email.

Placid precarity, 2023
Archival pigment print
24x18 inches
edition of 3 | $1250 | To place order, please contact Sozita Goudouna/The Opening Gallery  1 (347) 971-8670 or send an email