Guy Tillim

Exhibited

Stevenson, Cape Town, Leopold and Mobutu, 12 May to 19 June 2004, another example from the edition exhibited with the titles 'Memorial to the slaves who built the railway between Matadi and Kinshasa during the Mobutu era, July 2003' and 'Statues from the colonial era litter a transport ministry depot in Kinshasa, September 2003'.

Provenance

Property of a Gentleman.

Notes

Guy Tillim’s Leopold and Mobutu series (2003) was produced following extensive photographic work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the artist documented the enduring traces of colonial occupation under King Leopold II of Belgium alongside the more recent political legacy of Mobutu Sese Seko. By juxtaposing historical sites in the Congo and Belgium with contemporary views of the DRC, Tillim reveals how successive regimes of power and exploitation remain inscribed in the landscape and built environment.¹

Works from this series are frequently presented in diptych or triptych formats, pairing related images to draw visual and historical parallels between the Leopold and Mobutu eras. In the present lot, the first image depicts a weathered memorial sculpture commemorating the enslaved labourers who built the railway between Matadi and Kinshasa, erected during the Mobutu period. The second image shows colonial-era statues of King Leopold II on horseback and other figures, now discarded and deteriorating behind the Ministry of Transport depot, underscoring the physical and symbolic erosion of authority over time.

^1. No author (2002) Vu' l'Agence, Leopold and Mobutu, 2002, online, accessed 22 January 2026.

Literature

Joyce Monson (2003) 'Guy Tillim', Art South Africa, Spring 2004, illustrated in colour on page 75.