At Home with the Sapeurs of the Congo

The Sapeurs of the Congo have been making a surreal style statement since the 1920s, but until now few have captured these fashionable dandies in the slum communities they call home. The series is about people who are part of a fashion subculture in the 2 capitals cities of Congo Kinshasa and Congo Brazzaville called: La Sape, Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (Society of Ambiance-Makers & Elegant People). Its followers are known as “Sapeurs”. Most have ordinary day jobs as taxi-drivers, tailors and gardeners, but as soon as they clock out they transform themselves into debonair dandies. Sashaying through the streets they are treated like rock stars – turning heads, bringing ‘joie de vivre’ to their communities and defying their circumstances. True Sapologie is about more than expensive labels: the true art lies in a sapeur’s ability to put together an elegant look unique to their personality. As Papa Wemba (1949–2016, Congolese singer and fashion icon who popularised Sape) once said: “White people invented the clothes, but we (Africans) make an art of it.” This series, which I started making in 2017, is part of a larger body of work which will be published as a book in August 2020 - “Sapeurs: Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congo” 176 pages with 121 colour illustrations - designed by Stuart Smith, published by Kehrer Verlag, Germany and co-editioned by Seigensha Art Publishing, Japan.