Guy Tillim has been photographing in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire) over the past decade. In 2006 he revisited the contact sheets of his travels in the eastern Congo in 2002 and came across this series of child soldiers, which he had previously overlooked. In his exhibition and book Leopold and Mobutu (2004), a poignant reflection on the sad similarities between the colonial powers and the African dictators empowered by them, he included a series of eight portraits of young Mai Mai militia taken outdoors (view here). At the time he photographed the child soldiers they were not being used as a traditional defence militia but being drafted into one of the rebel factions in the battle for the mineral riches of east Congo.

Installation, South African Art Now exhibiton, 2006

Portrait I

Portrait II

Portrait III

Portrait IV

Portrait V

Portrait VI

Portrait VII

Portrait VIII

Portrait IX

Portrait X

Portrait XI

Portrait XII

Portrait XIII

Portrait XIV

Portrait XV

Portrait XVI