Mangoboom te Leopoldstad in de regentijd 1896

This photograph captures a mango tree in Leopoldstad, now Kinshasa, during the rainy season. It was taken by Franz Thonner, a European explorer and botanist, in the late 19th or early 20th century. The image is part of a visual archive produced during the height of European colonialism. While seemingly benign, it’s impossible to separate this image from the power dynamics of the time. As a European man Thonner was one of many who came to the Congo Free State, which was then under the brutal control of King Leopold II of Belgium. What did the Congolese make of these outsiders with their cameras, who cataloged their land as if it was empty of people and history? Consider the act of naming and claiming a place through photography. Whose perspective is privileged, and whose is silenced? The photograph invites us to reflect on the complex interplay between observation, documentation, and the legacy of colonial exploitation.