The Photograph as Palimpsest of Unruly Temporalities: Sammy Baloji’s Radical Excavations in the Colonial Archive

Since 2005, Sammy Baloji's artistic practice has focused on examining the architectural, cultural, and industrial heritage of the Katanga region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), his place of origin. This engagement operates as a critical lens for interrogating the enduring legacies of Belgian colonization in contemporary Congo. By seamlessly merging archival photographs with his own images, Baloji constructs photomontages, collages, and installations that intricately weave together multiple temporal layers, fostering connections between the country’s fraught histories and contemporary forms of economic imperialism. This article investigates Baloji’s sustained engagement with photographic archives through the series Mémoire (2006), Congo Far West (2010–2011), and Pauwel’s Album (2013–2014). These works are analyzed as instances in which latent archival potential is mobilized to confront Belgium’s colonial amnesia, provoking accidental encounters with cultural imaginaries of the past that continue to shape collective memory.