Kiripi Katembo

On my old blog I had an article about the great Congolese photographer, Kiripi Katembo. I just looked him up again because I wanted to share his pellucid and surreal images with a student who was interested in photographing reflections in water. Of one of his photos of reflections in puddles, Katembo said “Even though the picture looks surreal, I wanted it to reflect the reality of life in Kinshasa – these big contrasts of colour, bright oranges and yellows, the taxis and the billboards. For me, these reflections are like windows into another, more beautiful reality. It’s a doorway into a dream.” Tragically, he died last month of cerebral malaria aged only 36 – a great loss to his country, as he documented its life and people, and to the world of photography. You can see more of his photos here and here.