Photos: Vivid snapshots of everyday life in the war-torn Congo

Cool duds, hard times, and the faces of human connection

A client photographed by Lema Mpeve Mervil of Studio Photo Less. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1970.

Studio portraits are a fast-disappearing vestige of pre-digital photography. Except for school and wedding photos, few people require a photographer to mark time or occasion. We have cell phones for that now. Likewise, the family album as a household trove of personal history, though still in use, is all but subsumed by Facebook and Instagram.

Accumulating vintage snapshots nowadays is more often an act of curation than nostalgia. American curator Sarah Stacke’s D.R.C. Archive Project takes the capital city of Kinshasa as subject, employing civilian imagery as a reprieve from what (at least for Westerners) has become a reflexive association of the central African nation with civil war.

The photos—scanned from family collections and small portrait studios—offer a window into the everyday lives and fashions of Congolese families since the early 1970s. Lema Mpeve Mervil, a prolific photographer and peer of West African visionaries Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé, is represented in a number of images shot against the humble backdrops of his Studio Photo Less. Other photos are uncredited snaps made in casual commemoration of daily life. Throughout the project we see people self-styling in ways they want to be seen—well-dressed or casual, smiling or serious. These portraits are true collaborations between subject and shooter in a way that photos made by a visiting photojournalist could never be.

Beyond underlining the fact that daily Congolese life persists through conflict, these images are a reminder of the strength of photography in the hands of so-called amateurs. Photography necessitates no advanced equipment, style or technique, because ultimately intention—not concept—is what makes a photo compelling.

All photographs courtesy the D.R.C. Archive Project by Sarah Stacke.

Self-portrait of photographer Lema Mpeve Mervil at Studio Photo Less. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1975.

Jules Muya on Boulevard Triomphal. From a Muya family photo album. Photographer unknown. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 2010.

Lema and a friend. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1970.

A friend of Nelly’s. Photograph by Lema Mpeve Mervil of Studio Photo Less. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1981.

From a Muya family photo album. Photographer unknown. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 2010.

1: Nelly Lema at Studio Photo Less. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1981. 2: Lema and friend. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1975.

From a Nshindi family photo album. Photographer unknown. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1990.

Emmanuel Nshindi and Nicole Nshindi on their wedding day. From a Nshindi family photo album. Photographer unknown. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1975.

From a Nshindi family photo album. Photographer unknown. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1975.

Portrait by Lema Mpeve Mervil Or Lema senior. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1940–1980.

1: Nelly expecting. Photograph by Lema Mpeve Mervil. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1980. 2: Photo by Lema Mpeve Mervil of Studio Photo Less. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1980.

Biwa Muya and friends. From a Muya family photo album. Photographer unknown. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 2005

Lema Mpveve Mervil and a friend in front of Studio Photo Less. Kinshasa, D.R.C., c. 1970.