Chevon McClenney- Weekly Artist Post 3

Lemvo Jean Abou Bakar Depara

Born in Angola in 1928 Depara first picked up a camera to record his own wedding in 1950. Years later he became the official photographer for Zairian singer Franco. While photographing Franco, Depara began photographing the Kinshasa social scene, an area located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here he captured an unfiltered look into the clubs and gatherings pulsating with the Cha- Cha and Rumba rhythms that define the city in the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. He photographed the Kinshasa social scenes but what he captured was a society that was transitioning, finding it's identity years after colonial rule. By 1975, Depara began the National Photographer for the Congolese Parliament. After Leaving behind archives of untitled negatives at his death in 1997, similar to Vivian Maier,  Depara's work has been printed and released, but with the permission of his family.

Though there was not much information on this artist, I was drawn in by the street photography, fly-on-the-wall approach to his work. It gives the viewer a glimpse of a country, a culture and a time frame which most seeing the photos weren't privy to. Many of the photos in his archives are at night as he mainly focused on the evening social scenes in Kinshasa. It's clear that some sort of flash was used to make the pictures and I enjoy that spotlight quality that illuminates the center of his photographs. I am positive that in this time frame there were difficult aspects of life as a country and people newly free from colonialism, but I like that Depara has focused on the good times that were had in the midst of all of the upheaval.

I found a familiarity with these photos, with the black frames that are around most of his photos they remind me of the infamous Instagram selfies that we are inundated with on a daily, hourly bases. I like the fact that his subjects are showing off a bit. It reminds me that although technology has changed greatly, that everyone wants to be seen, admired and "liked". All these photos need are a few hashtags..