The Magical Garbage Dump Spirits of the Congo

In Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, groups of locals are turning mountainous piles of invasive trash into surreal costumes. The city is utterly plagued by garbage. As well as its own waste, it has to deal with tons more which is exported and dumped there by richer countries, and the unwanted byproducts generated by the industrial exploitation of Congo’s rare minerals.

When French photographer Stephan Gladieu traveled to the city’s “apocalyptic” waste sites, he discovered a collective of artists called Ndaku Ya La Vie Est Belle, who were finding inventive ways to draw attention to this spiraling trash crisis. Playing with the tradition of African masks, they transformed plastic containers, old car parts, flip-flops, CDs, electronic devices, and cans into wry acts of defiance.

We caught up with Gladieu to learn more about the situation in Kinshasa, how he executed this project, Homo Detritus, and what he learned about those he photographed.

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