Leopold and Mobutu

by Adam Hochschild

Congo (Democratic Republic)

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Photographs taken by Guy Tillim between December 2002 and September 2003 convey not only the tragedy of the land and people of today's République démocratique du Congo, but evoke the ghosts of the Congo Free State when King Leopold II's conquest and pillaging of the land and enslavement of its people reduced the population by nearly half. The Congo became the focus for one of the earliest human rights movements in the late 19th-early 20th century. The photographs and essay by Adam Hochschild suggest that Leopold's spirit lived and live on in familiar forms.

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