Guy Tillim

Avenue Patrice Lumumba

10 July - 23 August 2008

In many African cities, there are streets, avenues and squares named after Patrice Lumumba, one of the first elected African leaders of modern times, winning the Congo election after independence from Belgium in 1960. His speech at the independence celebrations in Léopoldville, in the presence of the Belgian King, Baudouin, unequivocally signalled his opposition to the West's idea of neo-colonial order that would replace overt domination with indirect control. He was assassinated in January 1961 by Belgian agents after UN complicity in the secession of the provinces of Katanga and South Kasai, and a Western power-supported military coup led by Mobutu Sese Seko. Today his image as a nationalist visionary necessarily remains unmolested by the accusations of abuse of power that became synonymous with later African heads of state.

Guy Tillim embarked on this project as the recipient of the first Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography granted by the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. Avenue Patrice Lumumba will be shown in 2009 at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris, France; The Photographers' Gallery in London; Foam Photography Museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and the Serralves Museum in Porto, Portugal. A book has been published by Prestel.

In 2008 Tillim has held solo exhibitions at Haunch of Venison in Zurich and Haus für Kunst in Altdorf, Switzerland, and has been included on Biennale Cuvée at the OK Center for Contemporary Art in Linz, Austria; the Hereford Photography Festival - Contemporary Photography from South Africa Part 2 - in the UK; and Presumed Innocence: Photographic Perspectives of Children at DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Massachusetts, USA.

Avenue Patrice Lumumba runs concurrently with Ângela Ferreira: For Mozambique and Manthia Diawara: Maison Tropicale. The exhibitions open on Thursday 10 July, 6 - 8pm. Tillim will give a walkabout of his exhibition for the Friends of the National Gallery on Thursday 17 July at 11am. All are welcome; cost is R20 for members and non-members. The gallery is open from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and Saturday from 10am to 1pm.

Private residence, Kolwezi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4931	Corner of Almeida Ribeiro and Patrice Lumumba Avenues, Maputo, Mozambique, 2007 IMG_2332	Lubumbashi City Hall, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_1151
Administration office, Department of Commerce, Antsiranana, Madagascar, 2007 IMG_0206	Botanical Gardens, Maputo, Mozambique, 2007 IMG_2794	Apartment building, Beira, Mozambique, 2007 IMG_6245
High school, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_0820	Park in the centre of town, Gabela, Angola, 2008 IMG_7463	University of Lubumbashi residences, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_5280
Statues of Kwame Nkrumah, reinstated at the National Museum in Accra, Ghana, after having being torn down during a military coup in 1977, 2007 IMG_0060	New town square with wrapped statue of Agostinho Neto, Sumba, Angola, 2008 IMG_7391	Post Office, Likasi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4810
Bust of Agostinho Neto, Quibala, Angola, 2008 IMG_7542	Apartment building, Avenue Kwame Nkrumah, Maputo, Mozambique, 2007 IMG_2420	Apartment building, Avenue Bagamoyo, Beira, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_6054
Grande Hotel, Beira, Mozambique, 2008 Diptych, IMG_5987 & IMG_5996		Grande Hotel, Beira, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_5954
Library, sports club, Kolwezi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4724	Wires linked to private generators, apartment block, Luanda, Angola, 2007 IMG_4081	Apartment building, Luanda, Angola, 2007 IMG_3670
Avenue Bagamoyo, Beira, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_5386	Apartment block, Avenue Patrice Lumumba, Maputo, Mozambique, 2007 IMG_2782	Quelimane, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_6799
Quelimane, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_7045	Apartment building, Maputo, Mozambique, 2007 IMG_3358	Old landline exchange, Post Office, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_1097
Post Office, Likasi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4902	Apartment building, Beira, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_6322	Kolwezi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_5034
Colonial-era statues in storage in Kinshasa, DR Congo, 2003 GT_141	General Workers Union offices, Beira, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_5870	Likasi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4648
Colonial-era governor of Quelimane, Avenue Patrice Lumumba, Quelimane, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_6628	Game of petanque, Porto Novo, Benin, 2007 IMG_0231	Former bank building, Kolwezi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4993
Athénée Royal High School, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_0772	City Hall, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_1146 Small sold out	Typing pool, Town Hall, Likasi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4637
City Hall, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_5190	Administration office, Kolwezi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4434	Administration building, Department of Commerce, Antsiranana, Madagascar, 2007 IMG_0197
Administration office, Department of Tourism, Antsiranana, Madagascar, 2007 IMG_9967	City Hall offices, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_5149 Small sold out	Court records, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_1392 Small sold out
University of Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_1309	University of Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_1302	Chemistry and Geography building, University of Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_1017
Administration building, Antsiranana, Madagascar, 2007 IMG_0208	Administration building, Antsiranana, Madagascar, 2007 IMG_0218 Small sold out	Administration building, Antsiranana, Madagascar, 2007 IMG_9955
Cashier, Town Hall, Likasi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4635	Typists, Likasi, DR Congo, 2007 IMG_4581 Small sold out	Investigations to preserve building, Porto Novo, Benin, 2007 IMG_9908
Quelimane, Mozambique, 2008 IMG_6997	National Museum grounds, Avenue 24 de Julho, Maputo, Mozambique, 2007 IMG_2766	Maputo, Mozambique, 2007 [veranda] Small sold out
Former mayor's residence, Antsiranana, Madagascar, 2007 IMG_0359